The Evan Tanner Tribute Ride

Yesterday afternoon I decided to quit working a little early and take what will be one of the last nice motorcycle rides of the summer and head down to Bettendorf, IA. What's in Bettendorf you might be wondering?? The Miletich Training Center, home of one of the best MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) schools in the country. As many of you know, I've taken the opportunity to visit other elite schools in the past year including Extreme Couture in Las Vegas, Huntington Beach Ultimate Training in Huntington Beach, and Team Quest in Murrieta, CA.

My Stratoliner after the pre-ride cleaning.

175 Miles Later

Former UFC Lightweight Champion Pat "The Croatian Sensation" Miletich

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia

Former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens "Lil Evil" Pulver

Before I left for the ride, I started to think a bit about Evan Tanner. For those of you who don't know, Evan Tanner was a former UFC champion who recently died in the California desert due to heat exhaustion. Evan loved the outdoors and riding motorcycles. He was a minimalist, never having interest in material goods and instead was on a constant voyage to find something more important in life. His constant searching and thirst for adventure is what led him to his death. His body was found a couple miles from his campsite and motorcycle.

Evan kept his blog up-to-date (his last post was the night before he departed for what was supposed to be 3 weeks of solitude in the California desert) and was recently in Milwaukee for the 105th Anniversity of Harley Davidson.