Vintage Motorcycle Field Games

Field games have been around for hundreds of years, probably dating back to the domestication of the horse. Just like riders of today, ancient equestrians competed to see who was the most skillful among them. This tradition continued with the invention of the motorcycle, but with a few twists, owning to that special creativity that is only found among bikers. Many of those early field games are still played today and I personally have participated in a number of the ones pictured below.

To start with, we have a number of motorcycles lined up at one end of a field. This could be just about anything, but we'll pretend that they are getting ready for a slow race. The rules are simple, last one to cross the finish line without touching his feet to the ground wins.

For this game, all the participants remove their boots and place them in a pile behind their motorcycles. Participants wait next to their motorcycles for the starting gun and then run to the pile to find and put on their boots. Next they run back to their motorcycles, start them and race for the finish line. First one across wins.

Here's that egg in the spoon race that you probably did as a kid. Just a little bit harder. Rules are still the same, make it across the finish line without dropping your egg.

The weenie bite requires a rider and a passenger. At the start of the competition, hot dogs are hung from a string about six feet off the ground. Each team rides under a hot dog and the passenger stands up and takes a bite. Whichever passenger takes the biggest bite without the rider touching the ground wins.

This race is a lot more difficult that it appears. Boards are lined up end to end and each participant must ride down the boards keeping both tires on the boards at all time. The boards often get narrower in width the farther down the course you go. More boards can be added if multiple riders complete the first run successfully.

I've never witnessed this race, but it looks pretty self explanatory. The motorcycles are first lined up at one end of the field and then the riders line up at the other end. Bags are placed on the riders heads and at the signal they run to their motorcycles and ride them back to the starting line. Best not to play this game if you have an expensive paint job and lots of chrome.

This appears to be chugging contest followed by a short race. Probably gets more difficult after a few rounds...

A different take on the traditional barrel race. In this competition, riders must push the barrel to the end of the course and across the finish line.