Hells Angel Sonny Barger's guide to motorcycling
Sonny Barger is not a religious man. But riding motorcycles is "as good a religion as any and probably better than most," says the Hells Angels icon. Meditative and transcendent, motorcycling focuses the mind, he says, and requires devotion.
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Source: Hells Angel Sonny Barger's guide to motorcycling
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Having logged more than a million miles and suffered only one serious accident, Barger is the rare rider who could write such a book with authority. In fact, "Let's Ride" is just the latest example of how he has used a marginalized form of transportation to elevate himself from troublemaker to an author who has sold hundreds of thousands of books worldwide. Leading a controversial life in his youth is clearly paying off in old age. "I'm making a better living today than I ever have," says Barger, who was running a motorcycle shop when, a decade ago, he decided to trade on his checkered past in the bestselling memoir "Hell's Angel." In the years since, he says, he's paid half a million dollars in taxes "all off of books." He complains that "the government will take my money, but I can't vote or own a gun" because he was a felon. While it may seem ironic for an ex-con to brag about paying The Man, it's just the latest in a long list of dichotomies for Barger, who helped form the Oakland chapter of the Hells Angels in 1957 and is one of the club's two eldest members. Barger's heavily tattooed body is a testament to his storied life. There's a dagger on his chest, a cross on his arm, a "death head" skull on his back and a right-shoulder inscription that reads "Hell's Angels Oakland." While the tats have faded, the body is still fit, the result of three-hour daily workouts and protein shakes that give him strength to keep doing what he likes to do best: ride. Say what you will about the Angels, but one thing is not in dispute: their skill and devotion to motorcycling. That was clear on the recent Sunday morning I spent in a six-pack of bikers who met at the acre-plus ranch on the outskirts of this city where Barger lives with his 51-year-old fourth wife, Zorana — whom he married five years ago after her parole for a conspiracy conviction ended — and their three horses. |
Source: Hells Angel Sonny Barger's guide to motorcycling
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