I find these 2 sentences from their Force Majeure clause (which go well beyond common definitions of Force Majeure, BTW) in their Terms & Conditions extremely intersting:

"The Organizer cannot be held responsible if it is not possible for it to fulfill any one of its obligations or if a delay occurs in fulfilling its obligations due to any reason or situation beyond its will power and control, including but not limited incidents arising from the operations of law enforcement in any territory, the general instructions of any relevant official institution, provisions of law, regulation and statute, instructions given by authorized officials, extraordinary situations, and other force majeure events. For the avoidance of doubt, if the Organizer, acting reasonably, decides to call off the Event either before the Event or during the Event due to an incident (such as for example, a death or serious injury in connection with the Event, or an event that otherwise naturally detracts from the Event), such event will be considered to be a force majeure event in accordance with this Clause and the Organizer will have no liability, in particular and without limitation, to refund the entry fee or any part of it to any participant."

First sentence - if anyone files a lawsuit, no payout. Gotta keep the payout to pay for the legal fees.

Second sentence - 42 fatalities per 100 million motorcycle miles ridden (2005, latest statistics I could find) X 1,000 riders X 7,000 miles per rider = 3 fatalities and several more serious injuries - no payout. Gotta keep the payout to pay to defend the lawsuit filed by grieving relatives looking for their piece of Alaskan Gold.

Just sayin'.....

 

Good morning,

For background I've ridden three Iron Butt Rallies and I organize a 24hr endurance event in New England.

The Hooka Hey as we've come to know it may or may not happen but what we all agree on is the chances of the prize money being awarded are just about zero.

In every state racing on public streets is illegal. Most states define racing as a timed contest with a prize for the person who arrives first. Texas has also included a provision in the law (thanks Geico) that includes "tests of endurance". This is why a great rally, the Waltz Across Texas, stopped running a few years ago.

Also keep in mind that no matter who insures your motorcycle there is a clause in your policy that basically says that if you are in a race or convicted of racing you have no coverage. Even if you're just doing this for the challenge because you paid to enter a race there is a good chance you do not have coverage. If you have Geico check your policy hard, there are limits to how many hours a day you can operate your vehicle in most policies. It will be far too easy your insurance company to find out you were in the Hookah Challenge, boom no coverage.

At the very least get yourself a medjet policy. While care across the U.S. is excellent without transport coverage you could spend months in a hospital thousands of miles from your family.

So... Let's look at the ways the organizers can not pay any winnings.

1) Race (they call it a race) is stopped in any one of the states where there is a checkpoint, however I'd be willing to wager this wrinkle might be announced in Key West. That would maximize the organizer's take as they could cancel everything in Homer.

2) The secret route includes "backroads and byways" To ride 1000 miles in 24hrs you need to maintain an average speed of 42mph. That's with ZERO time for sleep, food or getting gas. If you are going to allow yourself four hours of rest every day your average speed needs to be 50, but again you'll likely only net 2 to 3 hours of sleep as you'll still need to get gas (lots of it because you can't carry aux fuel). If you really are going to ride the posted speed limit to the letter all the time there is no way you'll be able to get to Alaska in 7 days. The best riders I know can't maintain a 50mph rolling average on "backroads and byways" for 24hrs let alone 7 days.

3) Because the route is super secret you could wind up with a checkpoint in a place like Gerlach, NV and the route could take you on Jungo Road. Jungo road is legendary to Iron Butt Riders, on the map it looks like a great way to Gerlach but the road is so rough that they have had to airlift one guy and many motorcycles have met their end on Jungo, but hey there's no speed limit so have at it. Even if you didn't break you'd loose so much time you would never get it back, even if you were free to ride your own pace.

4) Let's say some intrepid rider actually makes it to Homer in 7 days without getting a ticket or tagged by one of the "ghosts" along the way. The chances of them getting by the polygraph are pretty slim. "Did you violate any motor vehicle laws of any kind/" In this situation all they need to do is keep polygraphing everyone who made it in 7 days (probably be less than a dozen) until the clock expires.

I'd say anyone who entered this race with a thought of winning "$500.000 in Alsaka gold" is a fool who will soon be parted with their money. If you entered for the challenge, the parties and hopefully the ride of a lifetime I wish you the very best. I hope the ride takes place and the parties are as good as they promise.

 

Ritalin boy, how can you do an Iron but in New England, its only 200 miles long and 100 miles wide? Did you go around in circles? Thanks for the legal analysis, just what we all need is more legal advice as to why you cant take a **** without a scum sucking lawyer. Ride safe buddy

 

Although my initial impression was that I wanted to take part in the "Hoka Hey Challenge" after some serious reading and study of the crew putting this on I have come to see this as a scam, even though some above have been very vocal in their support. If you look at some of the so called "photos" on the Hoka Hey web site you can see they are so obvious in being "Photoshopped" it is pitiful. Then their "Force Majeure" clause is just too much of an easy out for them. It will be "Hey we wanted to pay but...." Finally, just what exactly is $500,000.00 in "Alaskan Gold" anyway?
Having said all that negative, for those that do decide to take part I wish you all good luck & I will be watching for you and will help in any way that I can.

 

No, they won't know if it is a scam until after they arrive (& are stuck) in Alaska....

 

This silly crap is nothing but a huge scam. Always was, always will be.

 

Good Luck mb. I hope you have a great ride and the experience of a lifetime.

To all you lawyers: **** off, I haven't read a single post where anybody doing the Hoka Hey is doing it for extra income. It probably is a scam but I would feel like a winner just doing the ride and the experience would be worth the couple grand I had into it.

 

RB, How about a good luck, And SHUT UP.

Mitch

 

The way I see it is that they are selling T-shirts in their on-line store at $25.00 a pop to anyone that wants one. Multiply that by all the wannabes out there as soon as the word gets around and these guys will be laughing all the way to the bank.