This book is for anyone who has ever ridden a motorcycle or wanted to. I want to share what it was like to be raised on two wheels during the 60’s and 70’s. How it helped shape my personality, motivated me, served as an outlet for pent-up anger during those awkward teen years and gave me a competitive advantage in business.

This story really starts with my parents, Donald and Marilyn Chesney, who allowed me to have a motorcycle at a very young age. My father was a very motivated young entrepreneur who owned and operated his own Standard (now Amoco) gas station. It was  there that my father started his second business, selling snowmobiles, minibikes and go-carts.

I am one of three kids, my sister Dawn and brother Don Jr also rode. The early years were spent making grooves in the grass around the house during the week and riding on the weekend at the camp in Northern Michigan. It was the most fun you could possibly have as a kid and when we weren’t riding we were thinking about it 24/7.

We were your typical middle class family and it seemed like everyone had a snowmobile or motorcycle in the barn. It was part of the midwest culture, motorcycles were fairly inexpensive, fun transportation. People would use them on the farm, getting to their favorite hunting spot and visiting neighbors. Me, I used it to satisfy my need for speed!

Some of the characters in this book may remind you of someone you grew up with, real people with real stories that get better each time they’re told but all are born from truth. It’s all about friends, dreaming, boundaries, fear, exhilaration, decision, hesitation, pain, love, heartache, repercussion, right, wrong and the one thing that kept it all going the right direction…motorcycles.

I had no idea what a wild ride I was in for over the next 40 years and I’m not talking about “riding”. I’m referring to 16 challenging years working in the family business, a failed marriage and an eye-opening, and a roller coaster ride as Sales Manager of a start-up motorcycle brand, Victory Motorcycles. I wouldn’t change a thing!

Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride….”Life Is An Adventure, Ride-It-Out”

Motorbike Mike