A life spent on a motorcycle provides plenty of time to think. That’s the case for Wolf Creek author Ralph “Teach” Elrod. After three or four false starts, Elrod finally sat down last March and started writing down all the things he’d thought about during the his time on the road. Most of those thoughts were of his early days as a member of the Barons Motorcycle Club — an outlaw motorcycle club that started in Salt Lake City in 1966. Those thoughts eventually turned into a nearly 300-page memoir, called “Kick Start: Memories of an Outlaw Biker,” which Elrod recently published through Friesen Press.
“There were so many interesting stories, so many interesting characters, I had to sit down and write about it,” Elrod said.
Elrod, who is 70 years old, became a member of the Barons MC in 1969, shortly after leaving a career as an elementary school teacher. The career was short-lived — only five years — but it earned him the lifelong nickname of “Teach.” By the early ’70s, Elrod was president of the Barons, a title he held for most of that decade.
There are some rough scenes and rough language in “Kick Start,” but it reads as though Elrod is sitting next to you telling you his stories, which he recalls in quite vivid detail.
“I wrote about the good times and bad times,” Elrod said. “I tried not to coat it. It’s as truthful and straightforward as I can make it. Some of it brought tears to my eyes — it was hard to think about how tough it was on my family. There’s a good side and bad side to everything. Sometimes there was collateral damage to the people who hung out with us. It’s not all fun and roses.”
The book includes chapters of crimes that Elrod was falsely accused and later cleared of. He also writes candidly about his daughters — one of whom was raped and another who was almost the victim of a serial killer.
In a chapter called “Hundreds of Bearded, Bedraggled, Beer-Swigging Motorcyclists from Around the Nation Circled the White House and U.S. Capitol Yesterday,” which is named after the lead paragraph in a 1975 Washington Post article, Elrod writes about a demonstration he and his fellow club members participated in to protest the helmet law. At the time, the national Department of Transportation was considering cutting millions of dollars of federal funding to states that had not passed helmet laws. Elrod is quoted in the article: “Traffic regulations are state laws and this is a blackmail by the federal government.”
Elrod lives in a house he built on 40 acres near Wolf Creek. He still wears the colors and patches of the Barons MC. He rides Harley Davidson — a shiny red special model only sold to former firefighters. Elrod served with the Wolf Creek volunteer fire department for 24 years and was the fire chief for six of those years.
Elrod said he has few regrets about his life as an “outlaw biker.”
“Everyone has that rebellious spark inside,” he said. “We’re just the ones who let it go.”
At his 50th high school reunion in Boise, Idaho, Elrod said he was approached by a classmate who said: “Oh, you’re the one who dropped out.” Elrod responded: “I didn’t drop out. I wanted life to be an adventure.”
Elrod will be signing books at the Montana Book and Toy Company on July 13 from 1 to 3 p.m.
His book can be ordered from friesenpress.com or from amazon.com.
[Submitted by DOUBLEDUCE]
“There were so many interesting stories, so many interesting characters, I had to sit down and write about it,” Elrod said.
Elrod, who is 70 years old, became a member of the Barons MC in 1969, shortly after leaving a career as an elementary school teacher. The career was short-lived — only five years — but it earned him the lifelong nickname of “Teach.” By the early ’70s, Elrod was president of the Barons, a title he held for most of that decade.
There are some rough scenes and rough language in “Kick Start,” but it reads as though Elrod is sitting next to you telling you his stories, which he recalls in quite vivid detail.
“I wrote about the good times and bad times,” Elrod said. “I tried not to coat it. It’s as truthful and straightforward as I can make it. Some of it brought tears to my eyes — it was hard to think about how tough it was on my family. There’s a good side and bad side to everything. Sometimes there was collateral damage to the people who hung out with us. It’s not all fun and roses.”
The book includes chapters of crimes that Elrod was falsely accused and later cleared of. He also writes candidly about his daughters — one of whom was raped and another who was almost the victim of a serial killer.
In a chapter called “Hundreds of Bearded, Bedraggled, Beer-Swigging Motorcyclists from Around the Nation Circled the White House and U.S. Capitol Yesterday,” which is named after the lead paragraph in a 1975 Washington Post article, Elrod writes about a demonstration he and his fellow club members participated in to protest the helmet law. At the time, the national Department of Transportation was considering cutting millions of dollars of federal funding to states that had not passed helmet laws. Elrod is quoted in the article: “Traffic regulations are state laws and this is a blackmail by the federal government.”
Elrod lives in a house he built on 40 acres near Wolf Creek. He still wears the colors and patches of the Barons MC. He rides Harley Davidson — a shiny red special model only sold to former firefighters. Elrod served with the Wolf Creek volunteer fire department for 24 years and was the fire chief for six of those years.
Elrod said he has few regrets about his life as an “outlaw biker.”
“Everyone has that rebellious spark inside,” he said. “We’re just the ones who let it go.”
At his 50th high school reunion in Boise, Idaho, Elrod said he was approached by a classmate who said: “Oh, you’re the one who dropped out.” Elrod responded: “I didn’t drop out. I wanted life to be an adventure.”
Elrod will be signing books at the Montana Book and Toy Company on July 13 from 1 to 3 p.m.
His book can be ordered from friesenpress.com or from amazon.com.
[Submitted by DOUBLEDUCE]