Barricades Introduction
By: Barricade Rides
Tags: Harley Davidson, Motorcycle, Military, Mental Health, Motorcycle Club

Welcome to my world. I imagine you may wonder why I go by the name Barricade. Well, I was in a Motorcycle Club and during the Prospecting portion of earning my full membership (full Patch) the members came up with a road name for me. Due to my size (6’3” / 250 lbs.) and my toughness they came up with the name Barricade.

I will begin with my love for two wheels. In my childhood I was obsessed with BMX (Bicycle Motocross) and trained and worked very hard to become a Professional Freestyle BMXer. Not going to lie I was pretty good. I rode with some of the best in the world. Four days after my 19 birthday I left for Navy Basic Training in Great Lakes, Illinois. I left a very innocent and naive individual. Upon graduation I received my orders to San Diego, California. I was assigned to the USS Ogden (LPD-5) an amphibious transport dock.

Upon arriving to San Diego, my first task was to buy a new bicycle. I rode as much as the navy would allow. Met lots of great riders and made tons of friends. Long story short, I got married and had two kids. Fast forward 8 years and riding my BMX less and less, I finally graduated to a motorcycle.

My first motorcycle was a brand new 2012 Kawasaki Ninja 250. I know some of you may be shaking your head. I took several riding courses through the navy and got confident. Over the next few years, I owned several sport bikes.

Around 2014, after completing the longest deployment a destroyer completed since World War II. My marriage was deteriorating, and my mental health was in the same form. I ended up going through a divorce and was put on limited duty to recover while on active duty. The navy ended up medically retiring me and the VA gave me a disability rating of 100%.

Now I found myself with out a job and to learn how to be a civilian. I tried different school, jobs, and hobbies. I would bury myself into work or a hobby to avoid thinking about the pain I was in. Eventually I found Mechatronics and Robotics and did well with that. I found a new love, new career, and my love for motorcycles.

My new love did not like that I relied on her for company. So, she pushed me to make friends, since all my friends were spread out all over the world. I agreed with her assessment, and I look to make new friends locally. As an adult and dealing with my mental health issues, it was very challenging.

I do better making friends with a common interest. I love motorcycle so I googled ways to make friends around the love of motorcycles. I concluded that a Motorcycle club was my best bet. I found a great one, that was likeminded with myself. Through the motorcycle club I made so many friend and people I consider to be my brother.

I finished school and became a robotics technician building underwater robots for militaries. This was my dream job… So, I thought. Honestly, I was not very good and when Covid-19 hit I was the easiest to let go. When I was let go… Ill tell you I left with the upmost class. During this time, I was working hard on my social media and learning how to start a YouTube channel. When I was let go, I felt ashamed and like a failure. I let my lady know I was let go and she was very supportive. She told me it was a blessing, and I could follow my real dream as a content creator.

Here I am following my passion as a content creator. I started my YouTube channel, Instagram, fakebook and several others. On medium I plan to write about my mental health, navy stories, bike culture and some honest and embarrassing stories about myself. My goal is to entertain, educate, and make a living from what I love to do most; create content and ride my Harley Davidson motorcycle.