This past Saturday we finished the first ever Hoody Hoo Throwdown, using Las Vegas, Nevada as a backdrop and the Hogs and Heifers Saloon as our rally point. We had just over 40 riders take part, with about eight of them riding 2-up. We had a very mixed crowd, primarily made up of the American V-twin crowd, and we raised $3460 for the Veterans Charity Ride.

The weather gods gave us a great day and riders launched at noon, heading in all directions. Some were already familiar with using the REVER app, which shows the waypoints and tracks everyone’s ride, and those riders jumped out early on. In the early part of the ride, rider Brian Davis was chipping away, saving several short rides instead of one large ride.

Sign in started at 10am and several walk-in sign ups boosted the total number of riders. Photo: Cameron Smith.

This kept him at the top of the leaderboard (points don’t show up until you end a ride and upload it) until the halfway point, when eventual winner Carlos Gomez jumped ahead. This means that not only did Carlos win the halfway-point prize (a $100 gift card from Leather Headquarters), he held the lead and took the overall win, snagging a fat $1,000 cash prize from our title sponsor Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys, a 1-year premium membership to REVER, and some additional swag in the process.

Winner Carlos Gomez is presented with the $1,000 grand prize by Dave Frey of Veterans Charity Ride. Photo: Cameron Smith.

Although Carlos’s 16,000 point total put him on top, Brian Davis managed to threaten for the win with his 14,000 point total. Brian’s second-place finish earned him a $500 gift card from Biltwell Inc. along with some swag courtesy of Hogs and Heifers. Third place was a bit of an upset in that Jennifer Willey was shown in 5th. However, she had proof of hitting several waypoints that didn’t register in REVER, bringing her total to 12,250 points, catapulting her into 3rd place. Being given a choice of a skateboard, Motocross helmet, or Squier guitar (all donated by Monster Energy), she chose the guitar. Because this dropped Mike Roark to 4th place, we awarded him a 1-year premium membership to REVER and some extra swag as a consolation.

Jennifer Willey took 3rd overall and chose a Monster Energy guitar from the three different Monster items offered to the 3rd place finisher. Photo: Cameron Smith.

Best Instagram post might have gone to Jennifer Willey for her prolific photography during the event, but Jean Bolinger brought Cricket, her Boston Terrier that boasts 120,000 Instagram followers. He stole the show and the prize: a gift card from Main Street Moto, a pair of shades from Liberty, and a 1-month REVER premium membership. You can search the hashtag #hhthrowdown to see what people encountered on the ride. Jean also snagged the prize for furthest ride, coming from L.A. and taking home a $100 Mary Kay gift card. But Jennifer also managed to be the top-placing Indian rider on her Scout, snagging her a free oil change from Sin City Indian and a REVER 1-year premium membership.

Cricket draws all the attention wherever he goes, winning best Instagram post. Photo: Cameron Smith.

Jean rode the farthest to take place in the Throwdown, but she didn’t tally the most miles during the actual event. That distinction went to Mike Payne, who managed to log 213-miles during the event. That earned him a $250 gift card from CycleGear and a 1-year premium membership to REVER. Finally, we had a Hopeless Award that was supposed to go to the worst bike choice for the event. Since everyone showed up on nice equipment, we gave that award to Don Maker and his buddy Rebel. They somehow both manged to score zero points despite properly recording their rides. They will split a $50 CycleGear gift card and some cool items from Main Street Moto.

Mike Payne logged 213 miles during the Hoody Hoo Throwdown. Photo: Teri Renda.

The silent auction also went well, with riders as well as Hogs and Heifers’ regular patrons picking up items from Monster Energy, Liberty, Sena Technologies, Veterans Charity Ride, and Kaqun Wellness. The Hoody Hoo Throwdown itself lost a little money on the event and so we were not able to donate any proceeds to Veterans Charity Ride, making auction (with 100% raised going to VCR) the big winner. Thanks so much to those who donated items and those who bid. The money raised will provide a number of programs to wounded and amputee veterans, ranging from the annual ride to Sturgis and Adventure Therapy (through AdventureVet) to holistic healing retreats.

Rebel and Don Maker figured the REVER app out before the Throwdown, but ended up scoring zero points somehow. Photo: Cameron Smith.

One thing the Hoody Hoo Throwdown did manage to do though was raise awareness. Starting from scratch, the Facebook event page had over 1,000 responses, the Eventbrite ticketing page had of 800 clicks, and the the social media accounts gained over 200 new followers. This is great news since we plan to continue the mission, moving next to the San Francisco Bay area for round two. Our top-5 finishers are also eligible to take their points from Las Vegas and apply them to a 2019 championship.The rider with the highest score in all of our 2019 events will be eligible for our championship prize and the right to call themselves Hoody Hoo Head Honcho.

Photo: Teri Renda.

Hoody Hoo Throwdown will also continue our partnership with Hogs and Heifers Saloon, selling our event hats and T-shirts in their store, with a portion of each sale going to the Veterans Charity Ride. So, if you missed our first event, you don’t have to miss a chance to score some memorabilia from what is bound to be an awesome annual event, covering the entire western United States. We highly recommend signing up to our mailing list so you don’t miss information on future dates and locations. We could be coming to your city next, and we also plan to launch some stand alone parties, bigger pre-parties for our Throwdowns, and a number of other events as we continue to build things up from scratch.

Event organizers Jacob Jades and Johnny Killmore look at the REVER leaderboard during the Hoody Hoo Throwdown. Photo: Cameron Smith.

We’re dedicated to raising money and awareness for veterans charities, but we know the way to do that is by providing a good time and a unique experience to anyone who attends our events. So stick with us and get ready for future challenges, dual sport rides, parties, and of course more moto scavenger hunts, all done in Hoody Hoo Throwdown style.

Carlos Gomez used his V-strom 650 to great effect, winning overall. Photo: Cameron Smith.

Brian Davis rode down from Reno on his 1200 Tiger and managed a solid second place finish. Photo: Cameron Smith.

Monster Energy stayed on-site for the event launch, sampling their Monster Java as riders prepared for the Throwdown. Photo: Cameron Smith.