Our History...
2003 … The First Ride
After haven ridden nearly a 1000 miles "straight through" to Florida in the fall of 2002, Robert "Hoagy" Carmichael, a long-time cyclist from Moundsville, West Virginia, decided to organize a group of friends to complete an Iron Butt Association (IBA) ride just for "fun". Hoagy's first IBA ride started in the early morning hours of Saturday, July 19th, 2003 when seventeen motorcycles carrying twenty-one adventurous people set out from St. Clairsville, Ohio to complete an IBA Saddle Sore ride. Although not everyone in the group knew each other prior to the ride, they were all inspired by Hoagy to attempt the 1000 plus-mile ride in less than 24 hours.
The 2003 ride started in St. Clairsville, Ohio and covered interstate highways through Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland before ending at the Black Bear Tavern in Deep Creek, Maryland. Despite some mechanical problems with a couple of the motorcycles, some bad timing following a truck hauling some pigs, and some minor traffic backups, all but one of the seventeen bikes that left that morning successfully completed their first IBA ride within the designated time.
On the night of July 19th, while celebrating the achievement of riding nearly 1100 miles, a road-weary Hoagy quickly vowed to never attempt to organize another long-distance ride. Fortunately for hundreds of motorcyclists and many seriously ill children, Hoagy's "never" didn't last for very long. By the following day, the "wheels" in Hoagy's head were already turning as he started to plan a ride for the following summer.
Although completing any Iron Butt ride is quite a feat in its own right, Hoagy set his sights on much higher goals for the first official Hoagy's Heroes long-distance charity ride. Not only did he organize the June 2004 ride to raise funds for A Special Wish Foundation, he also set out to establish a new world record for the most bikes to complete an Iron Butt "Bun Burner" (1500 miles in less than 36 hours) event.
Hoagy's passions for riding and helping seriously ill children energized him and a handful of friends to advertise the 2004 event through flyers, phone calls, emails, the IBA website, newspaper articles, presentations at biker's meetings and events, and any other means that they could get the word out to the long distance rider community.
Hoagy's Heroes 2004 Ride
June 17-18 2004. The "Hoagy's 1500 Mile Special Wish Run" started between 3:00 and 5:00 AM in Saint Clairsville, Ohio and finished less than 36 hours later near the American Motorcyclist Association Headquarters and Museum in Columbus, Ohio. The 2004 ride was completed by over sixty bikes and nearly seventy riders and passengers.
Upon completion of the ride, nearly sixty of those riders completed the necessary Iron Butt Association (IBA) paperwork and received Bun Burner certification. That group of riders established a new world record for the most bikes to complete a single IBA Bun Burner ride, which consists of 1500 miles in less than 36 hours.
This ride was especially challenging, not only due to the distance covered, but also because of the ever-changing elements throughout the ride. Some riders claimed to have been in and out of their rain gear nearly a dozen times on the first day of the ride. Despite the off and on rain showers (including some hard "downpours") and a major traffic backup due to some road construction, riders thoroughly enjoyed the scenic interstate highways in Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.
Although this was the first ride for charity, it resulted in $31,000 in sponsors' pledges to A Special Wish Foundation. The organizers of the rider were very pleased with being able to accomplish both of the goals that they set out to achieve -- setting a new IBA world record and raising thousands of dollars for seriously ill children.
Hoagy's Heroes 2005 Ride
Riders Pledged $36K For "A Special Wish"
June 24, 2005. A group of nearly 120 motorcycles departed from Uniontown, Pennsylvania between 1:30 and 3:30 AM and completed a 1000-mile route in less than 24 hours.
This second annual fundraiser, which was founded by Robert "Hoagy" Carmichael of Moundsville, West Virginia, resulted in sponsors' pledges of over $36,000 for charitable organizations. Riders from eight different states, including one that rode his motorcycle from Texas to join the ride, converged on the Holiday Inn in Uniontown to participate in this scenic ride through six different states. After a full day of riding through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland, the group completed the ride at National Road Harley-Davidson in Uniontown.
If completing an Iron Butt ride in itself isn't enough, one rider completed it shortly after completing a eight weeks of chemotherapy treatment while two other riders rode on what most would consider to be less-than-desirable types of motorcycles for such a long ride - one on a 250cc Honda Rebel and the other on a 1980 Harley-Davidson Low Rider.
Read more about this ride on the A Special Wish Foundation's website at Bikers ride 1000 miles to raise money for Kids.
Hoagy's Heroes 2006 Ride
Riders Pledged $28K For "A Special Wish Foundation, Inc"
June 23-24, 2006. Despite thunderstorms, high winds, and flash flooding effecting most of the State of Ohio in the late afternoon and evening of June 22nd, 55 resilient "heroes" arrived to participate in the 2006 Hoagy's Heroes long distance charity ride and in the process raised over $28,000 for A Special Wish Foundation. The 2006 ride was actually two different rides - a 2,000-mile Iron Butt Association ("IBA") "Back-to-Back Saddle Sore" ride and a 1,000-mile IBA "Saddle Sore" ride - that both started and ended at the Hampton Inn in New Philadelphia, Ohio. 
The 18 riders and 3 passengers that participated in the "Back-to-Back Saddle Sore" ride departed from New Philadelphia between 12:30 and 2:00 AM on Friday, June 23rd and rode 1,045 miles in five different states (Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and West Virginia) during the first leg of the scenic route. The second leg of the "Back-to-Back Saddle Sore" route was also the route that was used by the 30 riders and 4 passengers that participated in the "Saddle Sore" ride which departed from New Philadelphia between 12:30 and 2:00 AM on Saturday, June 24th. The Saturday route covered 1,016 miles in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.
At the end of the ride, many of the road-weary "heroes" gathered at Hog Heaven Open Pit BBQ Restaurant to eat, celebrate their accomplishment, listen to a local band, and to exchange road stories before turning in for some much deserved sleep.
On Sunday morning, riders, passengers, volunteers, family, and friends gathered for pictures and the distribution of awards before heading home. The following individuals and groups received 2006 Hoagy's Heroes Long Distance Charity Riders awards: Doug Crossett of Katonay, NY.-Traveled the Furthest to participate; Gary Smith of McMurray, PA.-Individual with Most Donations; Y-City HOG Chapter of Zanesville, OH.-Largest Group to participate; Upper Ohio Valley HOG Chapter of Wheeling, WV.-Group with Most Donations; and Renee Bonwell, Cheswick, PA., was recognized as the first ever recipient of the "Rebel Bill" Bonwell Memorial Award.
See a special thank you to our 2006 riders from "A Special Wish Foundation, Inc." at 3rd Annual "Iron Butt" Ride for the benefit of A Special Wish Foundation.
Hoagy's Heroes 2007 Ride
Riders Pledged $31K For "A Special Wish Foundation, Inc"
Ride information will be provided shortly.
