INDIAN BIKER LADY: RICK HART'S "SIN CITY RETRIBUTION

"SIN CITY RETRIBUTION - STOLEN STEEL" BY RICK HART

01.2021

My review of the first book by Rick Hart is based on the conversation I entertained with the author along my reading.

So, it' s a spontaneous testimonial in the form of a comment to each chapter - 12 chapters in 10 days.

Exchanging messages with the writer inspired me to share some of my own personal stories with him too.

RICK HART AND ME CHATTED THROUGH MESSENGER WHILE I WAS READING HIS BOOK

DAY 0

ME:

Dearest Rick Hart, greetings from Italy! I am very grateful for your friendship, I’m deeply honored to ‘meet’ you in this way, and I’m beyond words excited because I’m just starting to read your book! 😎🏍✌🏽❤️

RICK:

It means so much to me to hear and meet people who have enjoyed my books. Please keep in touch and let me know what you feel while reading my story.

I’ll surely do it, with immense pleasure!

🤗🏍🏁🔥🔥🔥

It's so refreshing to find beautiful people in the world that are kind and caring. Thank you.

______

DAY 1

Hi Rick! (or maybe I call you Turk?) 😍

Only wanting to tell you that I just finished reading chapter 1 and …WOW! SIMPLY: W O W !!!

Your narrative is very exciting and it’s completely capturing me! Your story is sooooooo cool! It entails everything I’ve always dreamt of: that spirit, that way of life, that freedom…

Consider that I was born in Italy in 1975 and yet at my core it’s like I belong to your generation somehow as if I could have spent my youth in the Seventies in the South West of United States... sounds weird, uh?

You must know that, being mostly a solitary biker, I had collected some challenging experiences and adventures with my Indian in the last years, and lived some situations where I had to display a certain dose of boldness and courage (well, I’m definitely a beginner compared to you)!

Now, your book is inspiring me to enhance my audacity even more and to dedicate the rest of my life to motorcycling!

I owe you my most sincere congratulations for how your book is written: from the very first sentence I’ve found myself immersed in that landscape, in the Valley of Fire, in that era and in your frame of mind even!

As I kept on reading, it was as if I was physically there, side by side by you and your brothers and your bikes, and I could feel the sounds, the sensations, the thoughts even!

I was smiling, I was shivering I was holding my breath!

I mean, I’d better slow down my reading, in order to make it last longer!

I thank you greatly for the emotions you are gifting me!!!

❤️😍🏍✌🏽🤩

I've had many people tell me they enjoyed my books, loved my books and liked my books... but you have captured my writer's heart. To have my book touch you in such a way you have said... it warms my soul to be able to touch another soul through my words and story. Thank you for the kind words and I wait patiently for your future comments as you ride with me through the chapters. 😎❤️

RICK HART BOUGHT HIS 1968 HARLEY FLH IN 1975

_______

DAY 2

Hi Rick! 🤗

Chapter two has been very moving to me.

What hits me is the brilliant way you’ve found a soothing balance in the midst of such a movement of oscillating energies, as the scene goes from the roughness of the fight and conflict with one of your brothers, all the way to the extreme opposite: the delicacy of the tender relationship with the girl who asked you to choose between her and your bike.

I’ve drunk in the pages in a rush of thirsty urgency compelling me to know ‘how the story went’ but at the same time I was focusing on every single word, because the description of the characters and the dynamics among them is so beautifully depicted!

🤩

Some sentences deserved reading them twice. I paused here and there and savoured the whole atmosphere of that night at the Backstreet Tavern and your flashback memories about Tami.

And how you have reported the accident at Mountain Springs Bar is so meaningful to me!

You know, I too had a bad fall with my first bike (a Honda Shadow). It happened for distraction and tiredness, while I was coming back after a long ride and already feeling safe and only 10 miles away from home. I was crossing a main road, having just passed a green light in a traffic jam: out of the blue I instinctively used my whole brake system to the fullest, in order to avoid crashing towards a car whose driver all of a sudden had decided to stop harshly in front of me, so the bike twisted, turned and dropped and… in a fraction of a second I was tasting the asphalt.

It was all so unexpected! And yet in a matter of instants I was standing up again, called out for somebody who was casually walking by, just to help me pick up my bike, then restarted her straight away, and rode ‘till home, as if nothing had happened, even if I had my left knee broken and bleeding, and the gear shifter of the bike was not responding properly. I was wearing no protections at that time, except for my helmet, and, for the way I came out of the situation, I immediately labeled it as outrageous and ultimately as positive: all in all I considered myself lucky.

I needed three weeks to heal physically (my bones recovered without needing a plastering, just rest, self-massage and specific exercises). But it took three months for me to overcome the fear of being on two wheels by my own again. Then finally one day I hopped on my bike with the shy intention of try it on, maybe just riding around the block and …I found myself 80 miles away from my starting point, without even knowing how I got there, and with tears of joy running through my cheeks for my regained freedom, fully enjoying the speed and the wind even more than before.

From that point on, I knew I wanting to get serious about motorcycling and proudly promised myself that my next bike would be an Indian. So the entire episode of my accident has a sweet/bitter flavour whenever I recall it.

The bottom of line is I was alone in that accident of mine, and I hadn’t hurt anybody else, so I only had to reestablish my self confidence, at my own pace. But I can imagine how different can be when you feel responsible for another human being, involved together with you in a life changing event, especially if they experienced it in totally another way than you did.

You described the nuances of your inner state so effectively!

Thanks again for the intense emotions the sharing of your story allows me to feel!!! 😍🏍❤️💪🏽🔥🔥

THIS IS ME THE FIRST DAY I DARED TO RIDE AGAIN AFTER MY ACCIDENT

WOW... Yes, my first accident on my Harley left me second guessing everything as I rode for the first few months later. It does leave a temporary scar mentally in your soul after an injury from a motorcycle accident. But eventually, we move on, and ride, still knowing the risks we take everyday. It's in our blood, riding moves our soul and freedom fills our lungs with the wind in our face. Every day you ride, you are writing your story, making history so to speak. Sin City Retribution series is my story of the 70's, and 45 years later, I'm still riding and making history. I look back at my time with the club and didn't realize I was creating my book. It was life and good or bad, I have absolutely no regrets. I love your words. I enjoy reading your comments as much as you enjoy reading my book. ❤

_______

DAY 3

Hi Rick! 🤩

“Truck stop” has been quite a roller coaster of a chapter, leading me through several states of being, from amused to anxious, from tense to exhilarated!

It reminded me of how much can occur at a gas station while tanking, and how many unforeseeable variables are there, condensed in a relatively short frame of time, in a tiny single point in space. Moreover, the structure of a biker’s reality itself is such that one little change in the unfolding of things can result in a very surprising outcome. Plus, when you find yourself in front of many possibilities, just depending on the option you choose -and often that choice of yours must be made very fast-, the entire day can go then in a total different direction compared to how it was planned beforehand.

I too have a few interesting personal stories related to encounters and experiences made in a gas station (and maybe one day I’ll write my own book to recollect them! 😜) ...so I felt pretty involved in this episode of your book.

What intrigued me in your narrative is the calm and coolness your character displays in the most triggering circumstances: when provoked and put under pressure, Turk’s reaction is so clever and clear, that it flips the whole situation upside down! I find it absolutely RAD!

😎🏍🤟🏽🔥🔥

Once again: thank you for being who you are!!!

❤️🎯

Some friends of mine who read my book and enjoyed Chapter 3 as you did. They celebrated with twinkies...

LOL! THIS IS SO FUNNY! AND... YUMMY!!! A MEMORY FROM MY CHILDHOOD
GRANTS ME THAT WE HAD AN IMITATION OF THIS SNACK HERE IN ITALY
BUT FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME: I CANNOT REMEMBER THE BRAND
AND YET I CAN RECALL PERFECTLY HOW IT TASTED!

_____

DAY 4

Hi Rick! I’ve read chapter 4 and adored it! I have been feeling thrilled and suspended “all night long” for the entire duration of the club members’ meeting I mean, and I must say: the scene caught me so much because it has the right perfect rhythm and it flows very beautifully among the dialogues and the gestures, the details and the kickers! Absolutely brilliant.

I’m looking forward to keep on going and find out what’s next!!!

Thanks for everything.

😎🏍👍🏽

I'm so happy you are not only enjoying my story, but your being emotionally involved with my life. That means more to me than any review. Thanks for such detailed feedback. 😎😊

_____

DAY 5

Dear Rick, chapter 5 blew me away! 🤩

Since the beginning I immersed myself in that precise morning of your life, as if I was the one experiencing it in first person, opening up your garage door and so on…! Well, I loved to partake of your preparation for that desired weekend and I found it genial that you shared there the memory of that previous ride of yours, when you had the instinct of throwing the balls bearing behind you, in order to save yourself from that threatenig car driver (wtf)!!! 😵

Then the ride to Ash Springs with the other 19 bikers, so masterfully put down to the paper, got me very excited, to the point that I opened up some maps of the Unites States that I have here, to have an idea about the routes and the distances you were covering, in that fascinating desert that you are painting so vividly with your words.

😃

I appreciated your shortly distancing from the others and relaxing in a daydreaming while looking at the sky: you let the reader know how it was that you entered the Air Force and eventually relocated in Nevada, and that’s enlightening!

And, guess what? After having watched a scene from “Easy Rider” with my nephew yesterday evening, today I was coincidentally playing repeatedly in my mind the famous song by Steppenwolf and, as you can imagine, I felt like in a sort of enchantment when I discovered that at page 74 you chose exactly that tune from the juke-box in the bar!

😎🏍👍🏽

I enjoyed that you shared so intense moments of fun and freedom with the guys in the camping at the hot springs, and seeing the pictures of all the bikes parked there is contributing to making that weekend of yours an epic memory.

Everything then becomes full of poetry and magic: your nighty ride under a Full Moon is a sublime moment of spirituality and the fact that you lived that adventure completely alone it’s a unique jewel!

I mean, you felt compelled to go pursuing your own search for freedom and you were gifted with those precious experiences of connection with Nature and with the entire Universe… in a sort of self-initiation and in such a holy communion with your bike!

😍

I could recognise in your emotions my own emotions (Another song came to my mind, the one starting with “on a dark desert Highway / cool wind in my hair…” you know... I do not need to quote the title).

I sensed a visceral feeling of closeness to you, I ended the chapter accompaning you back to your garage again, with a knot on my throat and a deep sense of gratitude toward you.

You are giving me hours and hours of great joy!!!

The night ride from Ash Springs was a ride I will never forget or most likely never experience again. My connection with the Universe and my Zen was a moment lost in time and could never be duplicated again. I could only hope to put into words the energy I felt on that hill top. I am grateful that someone like you could let your thoughts be sublimed by my writing. Thank you for seeing into my mind through my words.

____________

DAY 6

Hi Rick!

😃

”Guardian Angels” is a very nice chapter! Once again, I can personally relate with your story. After my Dad’s passing, I was told by several people I had a male figure walking behind me, and it even appeared in two of my self portraying photos, as a form of sphere of light. By the description of the ones who could see him as a presence by my side, and by my own perception of that warm, familiar and benevolent energy, I knew it was him.

Now, I am aware I have been protected and guided since then, especially when I innerly called for help, and that happened a couple of times in some specific challenging moments along the road, when I was founding myself in a potentially risky situations, and needed some extra boost of strength, well…I clearly got “signs” that confirmed to me once and for all that I definitely am not alone, that I am home anywhere I go, and that there’s nothing to fear ‘out there’.

I liked the way you describe your ride to the grocery store despite the debilitating fever, and the fighting scene where the cans in your pockets became your defence weapons against the guy with the baseball bat! It shows that even in your everyday life your bike offers you never-ending opportunities for adventures just around the corner and allows you to experience yourself fully and authentically. That bad encounter developed so significantly! And I supported you 100% in the playing out of your revenge for you had all the right and reason to send a clear message of response to that individual.

All right, now I am half way in my reading: I keep on keeping on, with a sigh of relief, since I’ve spotted the TO BE CONTINUED phrase at the end of the book, so that I already know that, when I’ll arrive to the end, it will not be the end! And that’s so refreshing!

😅🙏🏽⭐️💫

Well, now that you have brought it up... "Sin City Retribution - Stolen Steel" is followed by "Sin City Retribution - A Game Called Revenge". My Publishing Company thought my story was too long for one book. Each book stands alone in content, but believe me, you will hunger for "A Game Called Revenge" after reading "Stolen Steel". Anyway I'll leave that decision up to you. Just please don't let that "To be continued" scare you. It ends well but I'm hoping you will continue your journey with me.

...YOU BET!

___________

DAY 7

Hi Rick! Chapter 7 is indeed FABULOUS!

The 14 years old you buying his first bike out of a lawnmower and a bicycle in just one week is an amazing story! And it personally touches me deeply, since it reminds me of my 10 years old nephew dreaming of a child sized chopper last August and getting in a very short time his first moped, that is a bike for children built by a craftsman out of a brush cutter!

This story is very worth mentioning! One evening I was showing to my nephew Samuele pictures of Betsy Huelskamp, the iconic American motorcyclist and journalist that I admire more than anyone else. Somebody had posted on her FB profile just for fun the following picture:

THE PICTURE WE "CASUALLY" FOUND ON FB

That was the first time Samuele saw a children sized chopper.

He was amazed and didn’t know such thing could exist! And, due to my optimistic nature, when he exclaimed "I WANT ONE OF THOSE TOO!" I immediately answered “Okay, tonight while you’re falling asleep, imagine that it’s already in your garage!”

Well, ten days later... he got it!!! And from the most unexpected source: his mother, who is not at all interested in motorcycles and never was, rubbed off by his enthusiasm, felt compelled to search for such a thing or something similar in a site of local advertising, to first of all see if it could possibly exist and ...she found one unique prototype exactly here in our area and decided to buy it right away!!!

You must know I’m a believer of manifesting your heart’s truest desires through your intention and the energy of love, plus I had taught some shamanic tricks to my beloved brother’s son. I had talked to him about how to get in touch to one’s more pure self, how to use one’s personal power, how to trust in magic and miracles… but I swear you: he surprised me beyond my own imagination when he reported to me that the chopper had materialised and it was parked in his garage.

🤩🙏🏽🦅

MY 10 YEARS OLD NEPHEW SAMUELE THE DAY HE BACAME A RIDER

I’m very very proud of him. You know, this thing has pulled out from him his hidden rage for the first time and it was something he needed. Being a child of separated parents since he was 4, he has been a very sensitive child and many times his inner sadness and insecurity had put him in trouble during his growth. Now he has a self confidence and inner force he used not to have.

MY NEPHEW IN ACTION LAST SEPTEMBER

WOW!! That's so cool. A new generation of biker in the making. Kids these days are so involved with technology in the form of cell phones and computer games that they loose sight of reality and social interaction. I have gone and seen places, met people and experienced life on a motorcycle I would have never done in a car. This young man here has found his calling and his ride will offer the therapy of life, a fire for his soul and a reason to achieve the strength to conquer anything and everything.

_____

DAY 8

Dearest Rick, I have felt deeply moved by Chapter 8 and the way you describe that long night of yours is a masterpiece.

Those have been very intense pages, and very well structured: from the start, when the clouds are approaching, while you, Baron and Huey are about to ride out of town, to the moment when the rain actually begin to fall in dramatically perfect timing, till the end, when you’re finally coming back to Vegas on the wet asphalt, while the storm had faded away.

The melancholic song you chose from the jukebox in the Red Rock Saloon where the three of you were drinking for the last time together -without knowing it- is so emblematic, so romantic. And the fact that nobody else was there that evening, except the new bartender, underlines the theme of loneliness gently, but definitely…

There’s such a tenderness disguised as reproach in the warning you directed towards Baron’s imprudent attitude… And you expressed both desperation and determination through the angry gesture of throwing away his bottle of Vodka out in the dark, when you discovered that your former apprehension was justified…

I think this chapter condenses in the most authentic manner possible the mix of intertwined emotions that genuine brotherhood among bikers can generate, especially when called to face how cruel reality can become, and consequently to react and move on and overcome the tragedy.

🙏🏽🏍⚡️❤️

Your book is shaking me at many levels!

I have talked to many of my family, friends and other readers of my books who have enjoyed my stories and loved my books; but you have an emotional attachment with me as we ride together through each chapter, hand in hand so to speak, feeling what I felt, reacting to what I did and seeing through my words what I saw. My book is a living document to which you have the same emotional attachment, as I did when I put my heart and soul into my words. Thanks for being able to connect with me like no other reader has.

______

DAY 9

Hi Rick! Although I had promised myself to go slowly through the reading, your contents are so exciting that today I’ve read two chapters in a row, with no interruption!

😍

Chapter 9 is so full of adrenaline, with the clamorous news about the imminent shooting of Clint Eastwood’s movie you were invited to be part of, which made of you and your brothers bikers living legends! And very remarkably this going to the next level happened to coincide with Huey’s decision of receding from being the prez: a truly historical moment for your club, for the inevitable change that whatever passage automatically implies.

I find very honourable and wise the way you mentioned Huey’s (and your own, in the previous chapter) participation to the Vietnam war: you treat it as if it was a natural event in life, while anybody who stops and ponders it, and have a closer look at it, can see that being there must have required immeasurable courage and sense of service. Plus, that was the cause of important consequences in both your existences (In Huey's case for the health issues, in yours, for forced breaking of your marriage).

🙏🏽

Anyway, the cherry on top is… the scene of you riding your Harley into the bar, revving the motor and then ordering your Jack and Coke as usual! That’s mythical!

😎🏍💪🏽

ANOTHER SHOT OF RICK HART WITH HIS BELOVED 1968 HARLEY FLH

and... Chapter 10 is the essence of PASSION itself! 🤩🏍👍🏽❤️

In it, you’ve translated into language the highest frequencies from the range of the different tones of the emotion called excitement. I admire Clint Eastwood since I was a child, mostly for his role as the main character in the Italian Spaghetti Westerns, where he was directed by Sergio Leone in his colossal films with the unrivalled soundtracks composed by Ennio Morricone. I adore him both as actor and director, and consider him one of the best personalities of our times.

 I had watched the Gauntlet entirely not long ago and today I rewatched “your” scene several times…and every time my hurt was bumping and my skin vibrating in chills for the enthusiasm you have been able to transmit. Somehow I could feel as if I was almost present among you in that day where the show took place! It has been a blast finding out through your description how the shooting was made and how the thing went on behind the camera.

BTW I find that’s a very successful scene, for the 30 bikers themselves all together, with their beautiful bikes reunited in that evocative landscape, made it already spectacular! And you having the chance to have direct interfacing with Clint! WOW! I believe you and your bike deserved such a special treatment, because you surely stood out for some reason in his eyes.

 So, you ended that memorable day by slipping off your boots and lying onto your bed but the sensation of the adrenaline running through your body like a discharge of powerful energy kept you awaken for awhile in spite of the tiredness: that’s unparalleled!!!

 And the final page of this chapter is the icing in the cake, for how it develops when the next day you’re in Las Vegas and have the chance to exchange greetings with mr. Eastwood once again, under the curious looks of the crowd and the nasty cop. I love how eventually you ride away in such a scenographic coolness, and how you make your exit, for which the epic sentence “After all I was a movie star now!” Is a perfect match!

😃🎬🔥🔥

THE FAMOUS SCENE FROM THE MOVIE "THE GAUNTLET" BY CLINT EASTWOOD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWhI-c5xRfY

You bring my book back to life for me through your very words. I wrote these books about my adventures with the club and, to me, it was just how I lived it. But reading how my life brings out your emotions about my stories is uplifting to say the least. Thank you for allowing me to look at my stories in a different light. What I considered the norm, you find an emotional attachment to. You have awoken a sense of pride in my writing I never had before. You, Anita, are amazing!! ❤😎

____________

DAY 10

Here I am Rick!

I’ve just closed your book, after having completed the reading of the twelfth and last chapter! Yes, because today I couldn’t resist and just had to keep on going, and I went on and on, till I arrived to the end!

First of all: how ingenious that the last 2 Chapters go backwards in time!

That’s amazing because the impact one initially has of Rick is that he seems to have belonged to the bikers’ club since always, due to the fact that the story begins as taking place in 1975, when Turk, his patched vest and his 1968 FLH are one single thing, just an inseparable concept.

And yet Chapter 11 brings the reader back to 1971, to a younger RIck, purchasing his first Harley, the brand new ’71 XLCH Sportster 900cc, kick start, blue. The dream of a ‘innocent’ Virginia mountain boy came true in a couple of hours in that Las Vegas dealership and the sentence “I felt like I had passed the rites to manhood” says it all. From that point on, many aspects of you that are precious to know NOW start to be revealed and put the whole dynamic of facts under a deeper perspective.

Foremost I loved your style of dealing with the shop’s owner! It’s so direct, honest and humble.

Then, “Jackie’s ride” leads to a charming and intriguing one night passionate love story, playing out so beautifully and unexpectedly, and revolving entirely around your Harley and the choreographic kiss at the red light! I personally classify this scene at the top amongst the unforgettable ones of your book, for the spontaneity between you and the girl in that summer evening of 1971 is a high expression of the sense of freedom riding a motorcycle is linked with.

The wind in your hair, the celebration mood you were in, the fun of moving through the traffic of the Strip…! Simply gorgeous!!!

Chapter 12 “Stolen Steel” is the key to the entire book as it uncovers the reason for the title, as well as how you met Hiney, how you were given your nickname and how you were introduced to the club.

Reading the part where you finds out that someone stole your Harley had me anxious and holding my breath! Then, your determination to go investigate and get to the bottom builds up momentum tremendously, while the urge of a revenge becomes pervasive and rubs off on the reader!

Eventually, you purchasing your next Harley, the ’72 Sportster XLH 1000cc, electric start, blue as your first one, gives a sigh of relief in the middle of a dominant pain!!!

Nevertheless, at the same time, is fully comprehensible that even the newest Harley cannot placate your rage for the lost one and your willingness to pursue the truth and do justice!

And it cannot placate the reader’s anger either, since the sense of unfinished business remains blatant.

Here’s where the instant transformation of the character from the ‘good guy’ Rick to the fighting Turk becomes complete and understandable.

For the reader, the hope that the criminal will not stay unpunished becomes almost certainty when reminded that the title of the next book your series is titled “A game called Revenge”!!!

Needless to say that I’ve just check out if it was available and already ordered my copy!

So I’m looking forward to receive it asap and keep on riding with you along the awesome adventure of “Sin City Retribution”!

😎🏍✌🏽

Anita, you were capable of bringing alive my words and i could only dream that someone could feel what I felt during that time in my life. 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, were able to see into my heart and soul and felt what I felt. You are going to love my next book "A Game Called Revenge". 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 I needed that challenge 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!!

Anxiously waiting to hear that you have received "A Game Called Revenge"!!