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Ice Racing On The Great Lakes At The Mama Tried Motorcycle Show In Wisconsin [PHOTOS]
- Rebecca West , Design & Trend
- Feb, 27, 2015, 07:50 PM
The Mama Tried motorcycle show went off in Milwaukee last weekend, and by all accounts it was a great success. The show itself is only in its second year, and the gathering has already seen a significant increase in the number of spectators compared to last year.
While the indoor bike show and the builders on hand were the main focus for lots of folks at Mama Tried, it's the ice-racing event that captured the hearts of true hardcore fans. There was a sizable turnout at McKinley Marina on Lake Michigan this year, even though it was a chilly 13 degrees out on the ice at start time.
Motorcyclists ice racing at the 2015 Mama Tried Show in Milwaukee, Wis.
Racing motorcycles on any surface can be tricky at times, but motorcycle racing on ice is truly for the heartiest of competitors. Not only can it be especially treacherous, but it is mind-numbingly cold when one is blasting along at roughly 60 mph. That's how fast some of these guys were going on the straightaways.
An old Shovelhead on the ice at the 2015 Mama Tried Show in Milwaukee, Wis.
Many of the motorcycles that were out there tearing it up were later model motocross-style bikes. There were actually a couple of old bikes hitting the ice like a shovelhead and even a 1916 J model HD owned by Matt Walksler. A lot of people know Walksler from the Wheels Through Time museum in Maggie Valley, N.C.
1916 J model HD owned by Matt Walksler at the 2015 Mama Tried ice racing event on Lake Michigan.
Although there were a fair number of spills out on the ice, everybody got up and walked it off — or rode it off, so to speak, with nary a scratch on the body or the bike. The response to the Mama Tried ice-racing event was extremely positive, with most respondents saying they couldn't wait for next year's event.
Ice racing at the 2015 Mama Tried Show in Milwaukee, Wis.
Leave it to motorcyclists to enjoy extreme sporting conditions and actually look forward to doing it again. Not surprisingly, next year's Mama Tried show is expected to draw even larger crowds.
