RICK HART'S "SIN CITY RETRIBUTION - A GAME CALLED REVENGE"

"SIN CITY RETRIBUTION -  A GAME CALLED REVENGE" BY RICK HART

My personal review of "Sin City Retribution - A Game Called Revenge", the long-awaited continuation of Rick Hart's first book "Sin City Retribution - Stolen Steel" !!! 

If you haven't already, please read my review of that book also. And above all, read both books by Rick Hart: they're explosive!!!

RICK HART AND ME CHATTED THROUGH MESSENGER (AGAIN!), WHILE I WAS READING HIS 2nd BOOK, TO EXCHANGE IMPRESSIONS AND CURIOSITIES.

HERE'S OUR CONVERSATION, AS IT WENT ON, DAY BY DAY AND CHAPTER BY CHAPTER (15 CHAPTERS IN 15 DAYS): 

DAY 0

RICK:

Anita, you are going to love "A Game Called Revenge". As I wrote "Stolen Steel", I tried to convey the anger I felt for the loss of my bike while riding with the club. My short temper was the result of the pain in my gut every time I got on to my new bike. The electric start of the new bike reminded me the kick start was gone. You, unlike many readers, was able to see into my heart and soul and felt what I felt. [...] It was a kind of release for me to finally get to the heart of my story. The 'Prospect' period required to become a patch holder was brutal, and tested my sanity. But at the same time, the club was filling an empty spot in my heart and the challenge I needed to subdue my anger and pull my focus in another direction. Better wear a seatbelt for your next adventure with me cause it's going to be a ride of your life. A satisfying journey to Retribution!! 

DAY 1

ME:

Dearest Rick, I have been overwhelmed by emotions while reading “The Journey Begins” and I am somehow still processing them! You were right! I had to fasten my seatbelt... and, if only I had one, I would fasten my black belt too!🥋🎯💪🏽😍🤗🧨💥🔥🔥🔥

And, I’m seriously concerned: I’ve become addicted to your stories! 😵😜😊😎🏍💪🏽❤️🎯

As a female solitary rider, I have never been familiar with clubs of bikers, patch holders or  MCs in general, only heard a lot about them and sort of feared them, as something unknown and surrounded by a halo of mystery.

I also tried to investigate their secret “underground” dimension as a guest and journalist, by taking part to public parties/events a couple of times, in Italy with the Crazy Wheels and in Austria with the Red Dogs… But my investigations led me only to more questions and the mystery became even more mysterious! 

To be honest, I considered the clubs of bikers like something ‘forbidden’ or  potentially dangerous or... too enigmatic for me.

So, I developed a fascination for them, but pushed them aside and resolved that, if it was meant to be, some day I would discover more, get the key… and crack the code! 

Well, now, through your “revelations”, you has offered me a chance to enter that uncharted territory! 

Being ‘introduced’ by you to the exclusive world of the Noblemen of Nevada, for me it has been a sort of safe-long-distance-simulation-of-initiation! 

Here’s why: I was able to identify in your story and empathize with you to such a degree that I have thought: ok, if I can overcome the tension of this pages, while Rick is being tested so hardly, I am doing my part as a reader and fan, in supporting my hero while he struggles to overcome the whole challenge and  pressure!!! 😃 

In other words: the same way you got hooked to the Noblemen, I got hooked to Turk the prospect! 

What can I say?

Thanks again for your wondrous writings and your legendary life! 🤗🙏🏽❤️🏍🔥🔥

I'm so excited you are taking me on this trip with you. I needed this to boost my faith in my writings and my books. 😎❤🏍🥋👍

DAY 2

Hi Rick! 😎🏍✌🏽 

“The Backstreet Tavern” is such an enthralling chapter! 

I felt as if I was there with you guys that Friday night, while everything seemed so quiet at first, except that as a Prospect you had to stop drinking your beer in order to keep on displaying your endurance in front of the requests of the Noblemen, by humble obeying their commands. 

I admire the persistence you had in that phase, when you just wanted to do the correct thing, with the aim of getting the place you desired and deserved inside the club. It seemed a long way to go, though. So, I just started to relax while you were getting prepared to clean up Hiney’s and Baron’s bikes... 

Then the entire situation unexpectedly accelerated towards a new thrilling direction, and so quickly that I suddenly realised that you were already on your bike, ready to go, and even without your helmet! I had to sit up straight and, from that point forward, all went on fast and furious! 

😍🧨💥👍🏽

The whole scene at the bar is a masterpiece, for how it develops and how it is described… the strategy you invented to counter attack the Mad Dogs and snare them in their own trap was so cool and clever and it worked out perfectly! it is a crescendo of thrilling engaging moments, till the end, when you finally could drink your Jack and Coke with a sigh of relief! 

🤩🥃👍🏽

Man, I would like to time travel and to be there to drink together with you that night, maybe to arrive at the Tavern on time to see you standing behind the bar, and owning the entire situation, then toast at your success and support your pride! 

🤗💪🏽🔥🔥

And yes, you had all the right and reason to feel proud in front of the Noblemen, who finally showed their appreciation towards you, because, in no uncertain terms, you had the chance to prove to yourself and to them that you were worthy of their vest! 

❤️🎯👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

Yes, a truly tense moment for me to bullshit the Mad Dogs into believing I worked there and waiting for the club to show. It could have gone bad but some how, I survived it. Prospecting was a daily test for me and I had to constantly prove how much I wanted to join and also prove I was Noblemen material. Thanks for the kind words. It would have been amazing to have had you there with me.

DAY 3

Hi Rick! “Baron’s Punch” hurt me like I was the one who received that fist from behind in that cold winter night outside the clubhouse! I must say that the entire chapter has been very hard for me to go through, in terms of accepting that rawness and harshness. While reading about that episode, I was thinking all the time how difficult it must have been both physically and emotionally to be exposed to so many continuous challenges, and yet to maintain a composure such you did. And you did it in order to save your position, as well as the positions of the other prospects, because you were the only one to keep your clear determination to accomplish it all and at the same time you kept yourself calm and lucid all the time, so, thanks to your intervention in stopping Dude from his reactions, you avoided great trouble to him that night.

I have some question at this point: does the Backstreet Tavern still exist?

And the other bars you mention in the books (the Red Rock Saloon, Ernie’s place…) are those still open? Or maybe have they changed their names? 

The fact is that I love to immerse myself in the scenario of your stories and I am recollecting as much elements I can to have the most complete image possible on my mind of the places where the actions occurred! My curiosity urged me to explore Las Vegas on the GPS maps of Google Earth but at this point I’d like to find out where the headquarters of the Noblemen were situated and where the other main locations of your bikers club can be find.

I’ve already searched for Nellis AFB and for the Mint Hotel, two important spots for the young Turk in Las Vegas, and I want to put together more pieces of the puzzle.

I honestly changed the names of the bars to protect myself from copyright and registered name laws.

Ernies Place is now called "The Fire Fox Casino" and has been completely remodeled. Red Rock Saloon and the whole town of Sloan has been bulldozed over and a Race Track seats there now. The Back Street Bar is now a strip club called Sapphire Strip Club. LOL.

HERE'S A PICTURE OF LAS VEGAS: TOP 1972 / BOTTOM 2019.

WHEN I WAS IN THE CLUB ONLY 175,000 PEOPLE LIVED IN THE VALLEY. 

NOW, ALMOST 3 MILLION.

HERE'S A PICTURE OF DOWNTOWN Las Vegas AND THE MINT, WHERE I WORKED FROM 1971 TO 1988. THEN THE HORSESHOE BOUGHT IT AND I STILL WORKED THERE TILL 1990. I WAS A VALET PARKING MANAGER FROM 1971 TO 1979. THEN I BECAME A BELLMAN FROM 1979 TO 1990.

Las Vegas expansion is amazing! 🤩 Thank you for that: I had no idea! 

For the names you changed: understood 👍🏽 That’s right! and ...WOW!!! Thanks for all the clues about the new names of nowadays! I love to know all these relevant details about the history of the places that were meaningful to you. I’m fascinated!!!

And thank you for the old pic of the Mint Hotel. It’s like entering one step further into your biography! But I don’t want to invade your space, so I’m tiptoeing and trying to hold my curiosity...at least for now! 😜

Now, this is curious!!! "The Mint was made famous (or infamous) as the first night's stay in Hunter S. Thompson and Oscar Acosta's legendary 1971 weekend trip to Las Vegas, immortalized in Thompson's novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas! Did maybe Turk have the chance to meet -or perhaps cross his path accidentally- the American author? Thompson was the founder of the gonzo journalism movement and first rose to prominence with the publication of Hell's Angels (1967), a book for which he spent a year living and riding with the Hells Angels motorcycle club to write a first-hand account of the lives and experiences of its members". [Source: Wikipedia]

One more couple of questions, Rick: as a prospect, what name were you allowed to have on your vest? And finally: what about the vest that appears in that picture of you aboard of the Ford truck?

Thank you so much for the interest in the details of my story. You make me feel proud of a time in my life most others would just shake their heads. Most ask if you got a new bike out of the deal, why be so revengeful? I took it as a personal attack on me. A slap in my face, so to say. I wanted my bike back and I was hell bent on finding it.

I was back in Virginia at that time and I had friends in the club: "Satan's Slaves”

DAY 4

Hi Rick! “The Blue Nova” is a chapter I enjoyed greatly! First of all, I absolutely like how you were able to fully appreciate each and every moment you had in your time with your bike and the Noblemen, and to derive poetry from any circumstance you were given, even when you had to spend entire nights by standing in a parking lot, in solitude, in the cold winter, while were supposed to wait and guard your brothers’ bikes. 

🤩💪🏽⭐️💫

I absolutely loved the way you approached the ladies arriving on their Chevy Nova and how you protected them from the other prospects’ scaring manners. Your integrity implied you going into trouble with Dude, who demonstrated an unfair treatment to you, as if he was complete oblivious of the favour you rendered to him in the previous chapter! And that’s paradoxical because your behaviour was always impeccable, coherent and honest, making you already a NOBLEMAN in the literal sense of the word: YOU were a true noble man and an absolute gentleman.

😎🏍👍🏽❤️

Following my enthusiasm for your story, today I let free reins to my curiosity once again and went on riding into the unexplored lands of nostalgia. 

I was looking at the pictures you sent me of your brothers…

I have been hesitant to ask you this question, but it’s imperative now: are you still in touch with the other members of the club? The ones who are still alive, I mean. Are you still riding with them?

I understand that the Noblemen MC is no longer active as a club, and in making a research I found out that it is considered almost a legendary gang, like it belongs to a distant past which is over. There are even items of the Noblemen that are sold on the internet as vintage, like this Brass Belt Buckle.

A NOBLEMEN BRASS BELT BUCKLE: NOWADAYS A RARE VINTAGE OBJECT

But are you guys still gathering from time to time in the name of the old times?

On my research I also found out a picture of Baron’s grave, I reminded the sad episode “A Long Night” in your first book, but I felt relieved when in looking more closely I saw that on his tombstone he is remembered first of all as Nobleman and that the inscription contains his nickname and the drawing of a motorcycle engine! I find that this is a great tribute you, his brothers, paid to him as a rider and as a human being.

🥺🏍🙏🏽

BARON'S GRAVE

Let’s say: your story is full of hidden precious treasures, filled with both touching and turbulent moments! Thanks for everything!!!

😍🏍💪🏽❤️🔥🔥

No, I have lost touch with all of them. The last member I ran into was back in 2000 when I was prospecting for the Hells Angels,  I ran into Bear. I was at that time the Sgt at Arms for the Red Devils,  a farm club of the Hells Angels. At that time, there was no Hells Angels chapter in Vegas...Reno was the only Nevada chapter. So they formed the Red Devils in Vegas until they formed the chapter here. In 2002, we had the shoot out in Laughlin River Run with the Mongols and I decided I was too old for this shit. I told my Hells Angels Sponsor I was done and he told me the door would always be open for me. Since then I've been a lone wolf and I love it.

Thanks for commenting on Barons tombstone. I have the newspaper clipping of the funeral.  It made the paper with all the bike clubs showing their respect and joining us on the ride through town to the burial sight.

As I wrote Sin City Rider...the prequel to Sin City Retribution...I tried my best to remember all that happened but of course other moments have come to me since the printing. But I'm very happy how it came out.

DAY 5

Hi Rick! “Damned Dam” is maybe the chapter of your books that allowed me to feel identified with Turk the most, at least so far!

And the reason why is how you went through that challenge with your persistence and your faith. 

That Sunday morning you already knew that you were about to be requested something by your sponsor Hiney as a confirmation of your capacity to be count on, and as a demonstration of your loyalty to the club. 

And this state of mind of yours permeates the pages and reaches a peak when you call Hiney and his voice sounds loud through the phone. It kind of puts the reader on the starting line with you and ready to go! 

“I wanted to make full patch so bad I could taste it”. This phrase full of passion reminded me of one of the last sentences of ”Stolen Steel”, that is just after you met Hiney, when you followed him for the first time with your Harley: “My adrenaline was pumping like mad. I still couldn’t keep my eyes off Hiney’s patch as we raced through the Vegas valley to the east side of the town. I wondered what it would be like to be a patch holder and figured I was on my way to find out”.

WOW!

Well, after Hiney assigns you the instructions of how to fulfil your task, in seeing your moves and your choices from that point on, I knew that I would have totally acted like you did. If there was a test that I too would have easily passed, this is it! 

(Fighting is not for me, so …for that aspect I personally would have been rejected immediately as a prospect!!!)

But seriously, what you accomplished was not small thing.

The impotent scenario of the Hoover dam, the panoramic road with the symbolic passage across the borderline between Nevada and Arizona, the long interminable waiting you had to sustain, without knowing what was going on, the loneliness and the placating of the doubts that could arise …! This collection of elements generate a contest that seems surreal, in which you had to muster all your inner strength in order to stay focused on your primary decision: obey the order you received. 

The final scene with the unveiling of the truth of what all that challenge was about is magnificent: Hiney’s coming, while you were still wondering what was happening, and finally he opening his arms and hugging and complimenting you! That’s an explosion of relief and satisfaction and the sentence “The ride home was freezing, but my heart was warm” tells it so beautifully!

Thanks again for your riding & your writing!

I felt telling the "Damned Dam" story was important in conveying the sense of loyalty. commitment and determination required to become a patch holder. It wasn't at all about fighting, even through with a bunch of crazy ( yet fun-loving ) guys who hated to be told what to do except by someone they respected. MLLH & R means MUCH LOVE LOYALTY HONOR & RESPECT. It's the code between members. 😎❤ 🏍

If we were left alone, we didn't cause trouble. But because we stood for freedom and wore a patch, we were called biker trash and challenged constantly. We accepted all challenges full force and if it ended in fighting for our right to be somewhere or do something or even the right to wear our patch...you damn right we would fight for that right.

I always said I was a lover not a fighter; but I took karate because I knew there was an element of people out there that liked to bully, trash anything that didn't fit there lifestyle and basically be an asshole. I disliked those people and was always ready to make it clear that me or my loved ones would fall victim to their insanity.

Glad you are enjoying each chapter and believe me when I tell you I look forward to your interpretation of each story. 😎❤🏍

 

WINTER 2021: MY PREFERRED DAILY RITUAL

You know, I’m enjoying reading your stories so much!!! 😍 Your books are like a drug for me at this point and sending you my feedback is the top priority and the number one ritual I have in my daily life.

It warms my heart that my books, (my story, my life), has touched your emotions.  Just hearing your perspective of each chapter makes all the years of writing and editing worth while.  It's almost as if I wrote these books for you😎🏍❤️

DAY 6 

Hi Rick!

😎🏍✌🏽

 “Dude’s Deal” is a chapter I’ve found very …let’s say… relaxing! Yes, because, you see, from the beginning I intuitively knew that you guys were not going to fight that Wednesday, at the end!!! 😍

I admit: I felt a little anxious while waiting “with” you for the unfolding of the situation, but I fully trusted that the encounter would bring a pacific solution! I understand that you were ready to fight, while your anger was growing, as you were rightly resentful for being treated like you didn’t belong there, but when Hiney called you and told you the relieving news…I smiled widely. 😃

Your previous accomplishments and demonstrations of loyalty had paid off!!! I personally see the fact that between Dude and you there was a win-win final result that night, as the best possible outcome, since you were going to be both members of the same club in the future and the wisest thing to do was to strengthen your alliance instead of keep on the state of conflict of being one against the other. 

🤩👍🏽⭐️💫

An idea occurred to me today and I want to explain it to you: 

wouldn’t it be great to launch a biker road trip for tourist bikers who would like to dive into the atmosphere of the vintage Las Vegas biker clubs and become Sin City riders for a weekend or so?! 

The biker tour should include some of the places that are the scenario of your stories, like Ash Springs, the Red Rock Canyon, the Hoover Dam, The Valley of Fire…with stops and breaks at some of the bars you mention in the books, and it would be linked to the promotion of your books and maybe named something like “Sin City Retribution Biker Tour”! 

I bet this proposal could appeal many bikers from USA and from abroad, like me, who would love to dive into such a cool experience which is both reminiscent of the legendary past and involving every participant in action and, a complete full holiday adventure  when the bikers would meet YOU as the hero of the stories and bikermate, ready to re-live some of them today! 

What do you think? I know there are tour operators here in Europe who organise exclusively motorcycle travels to America and Canada, for European bikers who want to visit North America on two wheels and live the ride of their dreams there. 

Let me know if it’s a crazy idea or perhaps something doable in the times to come when the pandemic will be over and we all will be able to travel again with no limitations.

🌎🇺🇸🏁🏍🤩✌🏽

When the pandemic is over and enough books are sold throughout Europe to riders who would enjoy to relive the roads I took back in the 70's ( If they are still there ), then I would definitely consider a Sin City Retribution Biker Run. Everyone would be considered an honorary member of the Noblemen M/C with t-shirts to match.  We have plenty of time to toss this around as the pandemic isn't going away anytime soon. 😕

I’m glad you like this project! It would be great!!! 😍 No problem for the waiting: if it’s meant to be, it will take place in its perfect timing, when the planets align or... who knows? ...anyway, it will be good to think about it in the meantime 🪐😊⭐️💫🤩💪🏽🇺🇸🏍🏍🏍😎👍🏽

I like the way you think.❤️🏍️😎👌

DAY 7

Hi Rick!  😃 “Day Off" is an interesting chapter, where you exemplify how a biker feels when he finds himself in a “no-biker situation” and discovers that he is practically unable to enjoy fully himself without his motorcycle or without the possibility to express himself as the rider he is. 

I experienced that sensation myself several times. When I’m in a new context where nobody knows me, but I’m there with my car instead of my bike, I regularly end up regretting not showing my true/full identity and at the end it’s like something is missing and the result is incomplete. 

😵❗️

So, even if we want to keep on meeting new people / making friends or in general having fun, when we’re in some different framework out there and not as riders, it’s as if we’re experiencing only half of who we truly are. 

I very much liked the unfolding of your evening at the Hob Nob but what I adored was the final part and that last sentences: “It was just before midnight when I pulled up in front of my house. I pulled the garage door open and stared at my Harley. The night was still young and a ride sounded good. I started my bike and relaxed behind the handlebars, thinking that I should have just done this in the first place.” Simply superb! 

🤩🏍👍🏽❤️

I love how you see through my words and realize the real underlying purpose of the story.  Feeling out of place in the first place made it hard for me to relax,  but I was thinking it would slowly get better once I made friends with the girls. But as you know, my attitude,  strange surroundings and this one dude trying desperately to intimidate me ended that night. Being disrespected outside the club patches caused me to release pent up frustrations on this guy. Thanks for seeing more into my stories that the words hide unless you are able to emotionally be there with me.

DAY 8

Hi Rick! 🤩 ”Baron’s wisdom” is a very fascinating chapter! Your devotion to the club during nine months of prospecting had been consistent, but not knowing how long the waiting was going to last, started to weight on your shoulders and in these few pages you masterfully depict the sensation of that heaviness. 

The unexpected phone call you received that Sunday by the sweet Jackie could have tempted you to go in the opposite direction, but your strong commitment to get your desired patch prevailed over the longing to re-meet that girl, so you decided to rode once again to the club house. 

What happened in there was transformative! I’m impressed by this episode so powerfully described through the contrast between the sunny and open environment outdoors and the dark and oppressive ambience indoors. 

The face to face with Baron and the words exchanged with him were decisive! They made you understand how close you finally were to reach the top and how you already were loved and supported. I dig the final sentence: “These guys are already my brothers, I thought. I’m just still the little brother for now.” 😎💪🏽🏍🔥🔥

When you are under constant stress and pressure for that long, there will come a point in time you want to quit. To come and go as you please , to date and party always enters your mind. T quit was not in my nature. Baron, of all people, was able to make it clear that he accepted me in his own way. The words coming from Baron had more weight in them than if they were spoken by another member. I had to look beyond where I was at and see what I wanted to achieve. Baron gave me a new reason to focus on where I wanted to be. I sometimes wonder if I managed to put in words what actually was going on; but you have made it clear that my words have emotions. Thank you for reading my thoughts and feeling my inner being. 😎🏍❤

DAY 9

Hi Rick! 🤩💪🏽🎯🏍

Finally!!! “Patched”!!! This is the king chapter! Man, you did it!!! I must say: reading about your success put me in a high celebration mood and made me cry out of joy!!! 

You describe your expertise in the martial arts as a sort of secret identity of yours, parallel to your being a biker and you define the place of your training as a hidden temple whose location no one of the club members knew. That’s so cool! It shows you were truly a unique resource for the club, as you could fight with skills that no others had and without weapons, and that you were ready to do it at all times when needed. 

The way Huey communicated the announcement to you and how the delivery of your patches was ritualised is something that will stay with me as the most memorable moment of your story so far. 

Your joy filled my heart with as much joy as you felt and I want to congratulate with you for your success, even with a delay of 47 years, but I believe that the emotion is palpable for anyone who reads your book and its energy somehow still resonates as if it were happening today. 🤗💘🔥🔥🏍⭐️💫💥

The martial arts will always be a part of my life and I still work out today with my karate, kung fu and boxing techniques. I'm a 4th Degree Black Belt in Okinawa Kobayashi Shorin Ryu, a !st Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, a Green Belt in Jujitsu and trained in boxing with Pat Beary to sharpen my skills. I don't talk much about my skills, only to casually mention it to help readers realize I wasn't just a street fighter. I had serious skills I worked hard for. The Martial Arts has also brought me peace of mind through it's Zen Philosophy.

My Martial Arts training, when I was younger, was for competing in tournaments, fighting others of my skill to strengthen my mind and body. It allowed me to walk among outlaw bikers with virtually no fear, an attitude reserved for the young and foolish. lol.

The ride down the river to be "Patched" was a long and rough ride but we are headed for the rapids now. Here's were I feel A Game Called Revenge gets started. Enjoy!!

😎🏍❤

DAY 10

Hi Rick! 🤩🏍✌🏽⚡️ 

In Chapter 10 the celebration continues and that’s great! In the previous chapter you had written “How could it get any better?” and in fact at that point you had plenty of reasons to consider yourself completely successful and fully satisfied.

[Btw I forgot to mention that I had adored the sentence “…I rode a Harley, and I was finally a member of one of the strongest clubs in Las Vegas. We did whatever we wanted, and there was nothing to stop us. What could be better? I felt sorry for the citizens who spent each day hating their jobs, their lives, and who they were. But it was the same people who would criticize us and put us down because we were different. We were different because we were free - free to live our lives however we wanted. They hated us because we were what freedom was all about, and they weren’t strong enough to claim their share of the good life. In my eyes, they were weak and the pawns of society”. 

A very emblematic description of the state of mind of the 24 years old Turk, since it condenses the fundamental philosophy of an authentic biker’s and the core choice of his/her lifestyle]

😍🏍❤️

So in chapter 9 the readers had already watched you reaching your goal and yet now in “Jen’s info” we are given more surprises: first of all, you receive in a very short time one more chance to party hard, when you are offered a prestigious role inside the club and you become the new Sergeant at Arms in substitution of Stroke! Well, congratulations for that!!!

😎🏍💪🏽

Plus, the true initial motivation behind your original desire to join the club comes back out of the blue, but blatantly, and more solid than ever, exactly now that you have asset your respected position among the Noblesmen: your search for your “Stolen Steel” is again the primary purpose of your passionate journey, your personal mission, your quest for justice! Perfect timing!!!

That fatal evening in that bar is like you had a date with destiny! You accidentally met Jen and casually found out she used to be the girlfriend of the guy who stole your 1971 Harley two years before. And she was there not alone, but with both the two accomplices of the thief, who were trying now to sell stolen motorcycle parts to your bros! 

So finally the thief had a name (Norman) and an address (Sunrise Cedars Bar)!!! 

Like the pieces of a puzzle start to form the final picture, Turk had been collecting all the clues necessary for putting together his revenge! How exciting!!! I would have jumped to the next chapter, but I’ve decided to take my time to savour this moment, exactly like Turk did, by inviting Jen to spend the evening together!

😜❤️🔥🔥

Looking forward for tomorrow’s ride, anyway!!!

😎🏍👍🏽🎯

I'll remember that night when the fate of my 71 Sportster was revealed to me through a casual conversation with Jen. My blood pressure must have shot through the roof. I didn't know if I was happy, excited or mad. Can you be all 3 at the same time? My mission was renewed and my search for Norman began and I was bringing hell with me. Let's go find Norman, Anita. We need to do this together.😎🏍

DAY 11

HI RICK! 🤩 Here I am! “Autorama” has been an amusing chapter with …a show within the show!

😃👍🏽🎯

I enjoyed finding out more details about your 1968 Harley and discovering that you were a pioneer in the art of customizing. Plus, you and your bros were among the first ones to take part to the Las Vegas Autorama Show with your motorcycles, since in those years such event was mostly  dedicated to cars and trucks only: this means that you truly made history!!! 

So glad that the book includes a picture of your bikes at the exhibition, it gives the reader a tangible souvenir of the glamorous event you were called to be part of! 

Btw: it was such a creative idea to use a red carpet for the installation and to paint your club patch on the concrete floor!

And your bike even received the second prize! 

😍🏆🥈

I think that your bike where a masterpiece and the coolest thing is that she was your every day bike at the point that you had ridden her just immediately before the show or better said you rode her directly from the road to the exhibition hall! More precisely, you rode her inside the Convention Center straight after coming from a fighting in an old bar! That’s so rad!!!

🤩🏍💪🏽

The scene where you alone knock out those three guys at the Aces High Pub is epic! What’s stunning to me is that you were there in a totally relaxed, nonchalant attitude and not at all searching for fight but, in the exact moment someone dared to insult the club’s colours, you by force changed and reacted immediately: they deserved an adequate lesson.

💣🤬💪🏽

Having to respond to an unexpected threat in defence of the club’s name happens again at the end of the chapter at the closing of the 3 days show: this time you’re with your brothers and the fight against the Mad Dogs just in front of your motorcycles parked at the exhibition is absolutely inevitable, due to the unfair attack by your enemies! So we have a show within the show here, with even the intervention of the cops and the spectators running in panic… What a spectacular ending for that weekend! 

😍🏍❤️🎪👍🏽

I love that you Noblemen sealed that unforgettable Sunday evening by riding all together through Las Vegas escorted by the other members, and that then reunited at the clubhouse to plan a counterattack, and that above all your were then laughing and partying, in spite of the wounds and hits you had received! 

Astonishing!

😎🏍🏍🏍💪🏽🧨💥🔥🔥🔥

The Noblemen was full of good people, Brothers to each other; (That's why we were picked to be in the Clint Eastwood movie- The Gauntlet...) Prospecting made you strong and to get to wear the patch, you were made fearless. We partied hard, fought hard and rode hard. It was our way of life and we loved it. You are going to be hit in a fight and cut in a knife fight. If you expect that, then you've won half the battle. I'm going to toughen up you yet!! lol 😎🥋🏍❤

I must warn you. Chapter 12 is graphic: A excerpt from an OnLineBookClub.org book review- "The book's only downside would be the gory scenes of fighting and using different weapons to hurt people. People who would be offended by these violent scenes could take a pass on this book." I made this chapter intense because I felt the reader as been built up to this point to get more that "I beat him up and I felt better." I'm all ears...how do you rate Chapter 12- Finding Norman.

DAY 12

Hi Rick! 🤩 yes, “Finding Norman” is explicitly brutal, but I expected exact that and no less than that from you!!! 

😎🏍👍🏽🔥🔥

Believe me: I’m expressing myself without judgment at all, because I’m beyond any kind of attitude where one would be pointing their finger toward another individual. 

You know, my spirituality (that I have been cultivating since many years) brings me to accept humanity exactly as it is, because I’ve been training myself in that direction perhaps as much as you have trained yourself in the martial arts. And I consider both directions equally valid. It’s just a matter of embracing one or another in order to deal with life. 

(And this does not mean that I have my head on the clouds, because I’m a grounded person as well, but I view things from a very high perspective and this allows me to enjoy everything around me while standing constantly firm in my personal position of peace and power. But that’s another story).

In practical terms: even if I’m not embodying in this lifetime of mine an approach of conflict, I’m absolutely aware that we exist in a reality made of extremes polarities: negative and positive. 

And that’s a given. It’s who we are as humanity.

So, I do not agree with the review you’ve quoted by OnLineBookClub.org, which is too simplistic. In my eyes, your book is an authentic report of how your young self reacted eagerly and spontaneously with justified rage and disdain to something very painful to stand, with the aggravation that that something was done to you by a phantom and elusive nobody with no face. So you had no other option than dragging around that pain for a long time until you could unmask and face that hidden shadow that was following you for so long! In the meantime, your pain and rage had naturally transformed in increasing and uncontainable wrath, until that energy finally had the opportunity to blow off through an action of concrete vengeance.

When Turk eventually is in front of the thief in flesh and blood, this one remarkably appears almost like a character of a monster movie! The truth is revealed and it shows that a confrontation of two opposites was going on since your bike was stolen: the productive and enthusiastic Rick, proud of his first Harley and so full of hopes for the future, suddenly deprived of his pride and enthusiasm by a sort of ghost who at the end manifests himself as a frustrated and destructive loser. 

Facing Norman must have been surreal, that fight is like a sort of nightmare scene, and whoever is willing to imagine walking in your moccasins, can honestly find comprehensible that you found relief in taking that action and even the score. 

😎🎯💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽🧨💥

Just getting home from the military, buying my first Harley made me feel human again. Norman took that from me and melting into the sub-culture of outlaw bikers made me again, no stranger to violence. Like I had said in the book earlier, the club had me doing things at that time "Out of character" for me; but it eventually became the norm, expected attitude. Seeing Norman for the first time; high on heroin, smart-ass attitude, calling me a punk kid who didn't deserve a Harley, and saying I was a dead man if I touched him, sent me overboard. I could never take a life, but he was only one of two people in my life I even considered hurting that bad. The only other person was a guy named Archie who I put in the hospital for preying on my daughter while she was baby sitting for a friend. Thank God my daughter was able to get a hold of me before he could break into the house. (Another story). Please don't loose faith in Turk yet. Reasons become more clear later in the book. 😎🏍❤🥋

I DID SMILE A LOT LOL

PS Never ever intended to seem disappointed or something like that with my previous comment! On the contrary!!! I love Turk exactly as he is! And even if I haven’t experienced on my skin nothing similar to what you went through, in reading your story I could open myself up to a complete comprehension of your own way. And that’s because you, in writing it, had opened yourself up first, which is rare, because it takes boldness to be truly unapologetically oneself.

DAY 13

Hi Rick! 🤩 I had a blast with Chapter 13!!! 😃The entire episode of Lance reporting his attempt to deliver the prize to the winner of the raffle is so hilarious!!! 🤣 LOL 😂 

But, beginning from the start, I appreciated very much that you Noblemen gave Lance a second chance to prospect and enter the club. Both these themes (Lance’s return and your idea to set up a Raffle) had remained pending from the first chapters of book Number One “Stolen Steel” and surely the waiting had created suspence and curiosity in me! 

So, finally the answers to my wondering have come, and it’s rewarding to know that everything went out so nice!!! I liked the atmosphere of brotherhood that permeates the scene in Lathrop Wells and the joyful and funny mood among you: an energy  so high that you even arrived to the point of not being interested to the truckers present there and, instead of trying to pick a fight with them, you suggested them an agreement to “share the road”! That’s great!!!

But above all I love the description of that ride of 80 miles outside of Clark County. 

“My bike sounded good and the road was just a blur under my feet as I cut through the cold desert air… I checked my mirrors regularly to make sure the pack was not leaving anyone behind. I watched as the guys behind me weaved in and out of their lanes to break the monotony of the steady speed. The rumbling sound of the v-twin engines around us vibrated through the air for miles. Being out in the middle of nowhere allowed you to be yourself. There were no rules or restrictions to slow you down. This was the real sense of freedom. We were the only people for miles around, so we were free from all the eyes of judgment.  

It was easy to get lost in time after a while. It’s like being put into a trance from the sound of all the motors resonating together. All our Harleys melted together as one machine, carrying us down the highway on a wave of sound.”

WOW!!! That’s mighty! 

😎🏍🏍🏍💪🏽🎯❤️🔥🔥🔥🎼🎵🎶👍🏽

Hi Anita; Once again, your mind has carried you inside of the soul of Turk to fully understand his emotions relating to how his Harley carried him to another level of mental energy. That's why Norman had to pay such a large price for disrupting that energy flow. I still to this day feel the energy from my Harley,  probably why I ride alone a lot these days. No distractions from my Zen of riding. I believe you know exactly what I'm talking about. 😎🏍️❤️

DAY 14

Hi Rick! 🤩 I think that by reading “The Set-Up” one arrives at a sudden mystical insight: everything was connected, from the very beginning, and you couldn’t help but finding yourself at the center of an explosive triangle: your number 1 enemy (that is Norman) + the Noblemen + the enemies of the Noblemen (=the Mad Dogs). 

I mean, Turk is finally called to face all at once the interwoven elements of his fate and, in addition, while riding such an unusual bike now (your three wheeler ’51 Harley Panhead… WOW, man! …that’s gorgeous! 

So, here’s how I see it: your willingness to enter the club was originated in the first place by your natural necessity to find Norman, the thief who stole your beloved first Harley. 

Then your revenge -even if the club asked you to keep it for yourself and not to involve the Noblemen-, by force had its own development and it ended up to reveal how things were too intertwined to maintain them separated. 

And that’s how the situations inevitable turned to be so mixed up! It’s very symbolic that somehow the  bad action performed against you by Norman (stealing your Harley) brought you to get interested in entering a biker club and then to you meeting Hiney and becoming a Nobleman. 

Now, it’s tragic that the same individual who originally triggered your need of vengeance put then in danger your solid position in the club! 

But Turk is Turk, and the risk of being voted out was only momentary since your brothers loved you for who you are and they decided you to stay!

I’m so happy for that. You deserved the best treatment. 

😎🏍💪🏽🔥🔥❤️🎯

"The Set-up" was the result of my retribution. Yes, excellent observation on your part of the triangle of parties involved. After Hiney was recognized as a Nobleman by the Mad Dog's put the two clubs at each others throats and Jen setting me up at the bar was Norman's retribution. The problem was Norman hired the Mad Dogs to enact his revenge. "The Set-up" tries to bring this spinning triangle of retribution to some sort of stabilization. With the two clubs wise to my game of revenge, it had run full circle and was over. Turk had found his retribution and therefore, his search for peace begins. 😎🏍❤ 😎

That '51 Panhead Trike was a love/hate relationship. It was a show stopper in public and it was fun to ride alone to get the amazed eyes of the public. It was no fun riding with the club. It became a pain in my ass. lol. 🏍😎❤    

DAY 15

Hi Rick! As you noticed, I tried to put the brakes to my reading because I didn’t want to come to the end of the ride! But this day has come...

OMG!!! “Leaving” evokes so many emotions! First of all, I’m glad that you easily traded the Trike for another 1968 Harley FLH, exactly as you desired, with a fast and fair deal!
I love the section where you describe your friendship and brotherhood with Hiney: he had been very special for you, since the beginning, and you reinforced that bond in many ways. It’s particularly meaningful that you totally supported his decision to move to Florida in order to stay by his son, even if that would involve no longer have him close.
😥
The ride to Lake Mead and that short sojourn there, which enlightened you is astonishing! You entering the waters of the lake and out of the blue having that powerful revelation about missing your daughter …That was a moment of pure illumination! Turk suddenly realizes that something new was coming in his life… WOW! The whole scene is very very inspiring, and you one can recognise that kind of rare points in life, where one is standing in front of a vast horizon and knowing it’s time to explore that vastness that was there awaiting for you all along!
🤩
This chapter is a rollercoaster of states of being so beautifully combined! 

The sad news of Hiney’s death is terrible. Another brother lost his life on the road.
But Hiney as we said was very special to you.
🥺🖤🙏🏽 


And eventually … you leaving the club! 
OMG!!!

I didn’t expect you to leave, the scene of you putting out your vest was shocking! But you were the first in being surprised and the others could not accept you going away forever, so Baby Huey gave up the action of cutting off your patch and Doc said you would be forever welcome if you ever wanted to come back!

You know, in my mind you belonged to the club for the rest of your life, or at least for the entire duration of the history of the club! Only when I arrived to the end of the book I understood that the club had been just a brief a parenthesis of your rich and variegate life, a very intense parenthesis, no doubt! 


So, I didn’t expect it, it was like a thunder in the middle of a clear sky!
 …and yet at the same time I got used to the idea very quickly! I mean, it was like hearing a voice in my head that sounded like “YEAH, right!!! that’s the appropriate thing to do now!”
And I felt so happy for you answering the call of the family and home, and going back to Virginia. 
💪🏽❤️🌈

I very appreciate you telling about your next projects and passions in the Epilogue! Congratulations for the evolutions you experienced in your life, for your career and for the enhancement of your family! And congratulations again for putting all together in these precious books of yours! 

😎🏍👍🏽🔥🔥🔥🎯

RICK WITH HER DAUGHTER WENDY

Look at this coincidence: Virginia is the first of the 50 States I had a plate from!

😍
It belonged to a dear person to me, Zani from Los Angeles: I had met her in Spain, she had just moved from USA to Europe and she had travelled by ship through the Ocean bringing along with her her red Jeep Cherokee. She wanted to change her life but wanted to keep driving her American car! Well, she had to change the license plate when she re-matriculate her car according to the Spanish vehicle registration authorities. We became friends while we were both living in the same city, but when we had to part, she gifted me the original plate as a souvenir.

🤗🇺🇸❤️🤍💙

ME, HAPPY, WITH MY FIRST USA ORIGINAL LICENSE PLATE

So... somehow Virginia is in my destiny too! 🤩⭐️💫🇺🇸❤️

Thank you for having me enjoy your ride with the Noblemen M/C as much as you did. You are a true "Spirit Lady." You felt my words and showed me a different way to look at why I did what I did and it was truly enlightening. My two moments of zen, once on the ride back from Ash Springs on the crest of that hill in the middle of the desert; and again at Lake Mead while standing knee deep in the cool waters of the lake, were both turning points in my life. It's amazing you recognized that and I am deeply moved you felt my inner emotions through my words. I feel we are now and forever connected in a way that you can feel my emotions and the spirit I carry with me when I ride. Thank you for bringing Turk alive once again through your very words while reading about his life with the Noblemen M/C. The club maybe gone but Turk is alive and well. 😎🏍❤✍️🥋🎬🌅

                                     

RICK HART showing a painting of himself and his dog Boo.

Artwork by Mark Niven.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND PURCHASE HIS BOOKS, VISIT:

RICK HART'S WEBSITE

http://www.sin-city-retribution.com/

😎🏍💪🏽🧨💥🔥🔥🔥