Throughout the 2010 season the Limpnickie Lot has adopted a new practice under the direction of Lisa Ballard called the "Limpnickie Lot Footprint" in order to give something back to each community they visit. These included pizza and skateboarding with Boys and Girls club Kids, food drives for local communities and several other interactions and we are pleased to announce the next step in this action. This year in Sturgis, there will be many footprints left behind from the Limpnickie Lot. Athena" Chickie" Vagabond will be working side by side with three high school bike builders, which happen to be all girls. They competed through assay to win this once in a life time opportunity. The bike will be raffled off at the Broken Spoke Saloon downtown location. Be sure to stop by and support this great cause.
Head on out to the Broken Spoke Campground to meet the Limpnickie Lot builders take a hot lap around the Ol' Fashion Raceway or even give the new "Johnny Chop" Hill Climb a shot. After all of the fun and excitement, come by the Limpnickie Lot trailer. We will have two special bikes on display from our members, Jeremy Johnson of Muttin Cycles and Brian Elliott, of Black Sunshine Customs. Each builder has faced some challenges in their lives but has found a way to move forward..
Jeremy has founded his own organization called Cathy's Help. Cathy Johnson is the inspiration behind his motorcycle and foundation. Cathy is Jeremy Johnson's mother. She lost the fight with breast cancer in 2005. Jeremy has worked hard to find a way to help woman that are fighting breast cancer. Throughout 2010-2011 Jeremy will collect donations for his donation ride to Sturgis 2011. All the donations made to this fund will be given to individual women that are fighting breast cancer. You can see more information at http://muttincycles.blogspot.com.
Brian and Mary Elliott's son, Brodin, was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma in January of 2003. He was just 2 years old at the time. Treatment for childhood brain tumors is extremely invasive and difficult. Brian created Black Sunshine Customs as an escape from the stresses that surrounded the illness his boy was battling. His love of the motorcycles, the metal working, and the creativity involved allowed him to stay balanced and face the daily decisions and pressures. It was the only thing he found to be his "outlet" and "break" from it all. Today, Black Sunshine Customs stands strong and despite everything, nearly 7 years later, Brodin is loving life! The Elliott's have found many ways to "give back" as a result of their experiences and support during this chapter of their lives. Even their 12 year old daughter, Myia, managed to single handedly collect and head up a Christmas toy drive that exceeded $4,000 for the pediatric oncology department of the St. Louis Children's Hospital last year. This year's efforts will be donated to the National Children's Cancer Society. More information regarding NCCS can be found at
www.nationalchildrenscancersociety.com.
We will be accepting donations and the proceeds will be divided and used for both causes. If you or anyone would like to donate and will not be on location for Kathy's Help, please go to
http://muttincycles.blogspot.com.
Rob Keller will be heading up a ride to the Pine Ridge Reservation to raise awareness for the Lakota people there. Each year we ride into Sturgis and pay little attention to the communities around us. The Pine Ridge Reservation is one such community and the people there are in dire straits. They face challenges from being one of the most impoverished areas in the country, water delivery issues from uranium poisoning and unemployment. While the Lot can't fix all of these issues at once, we felt that a good place to start is to introduce our people to their people.
So on August 13th The Limpnickie Lot would like to invite everyone to ride along with them as we take a tour to visit that Oglala Lakota nation at the pine ridge reservation. This 150 mile road trip from the Sturgis County line will take us on a true ride through the history of their people. We will go through Wounded Knee, the Bad Lands and finally end up on Pine Ridge for an afternoon of fun with the Kids from the reservation. There will be a ride in chopper show that will be judged by the natives. While the judging is taking place, The Lot will host a softball with the kids from the Pine Ridge Boys and Girls Club and also enjoy a good old-fashioned cookout.
So come and join us! The ride will leave the Broken Spoke at 10 AM and everyone is welcome spend some time with Generation X as we bring bike week to a small a community that will really appreciate our attention. If you have ever been one of our rides, you already know what to expect. If not, don't miss this opportunity to hang with the crew and see what they do best! That's entertainment.