In honor of so-called "Bicycle Day" I typed up a short report of a recent tryp and an area of research interest this has opened up

(to malign the innocent, and perturb the beneficent, parts of this story have been deranged, and multiple stories have been splended together)

SO...I recently partook of a small oral (approximately 15 mg) tryptamine/psilocin-ish essence. Over the past year I have thankfully been kept very busy with fulfilling planetside activities, and have had few opportunities or desires to partake of the plants. On this occasion I had a free night, and spontaneously felt the "call" to lightly partake. To be honest I had consumed several tasty beers and was lightly buzzed - and usually this is the state I am in when I decide to tryptamize - I have the FEAR and find my body shakes on packing a DMT pipe even for other people; a small amount of beer sometimes removes this inhibition. I don't have much of an outward ritual surrounding these materials, besides cleaning house and maintaining proper body alignment; apart from this, I just try to keep up my usual modus operandi through the thick and thin of life, which is to remain aware and monitor my breathing.

The tryp itself was not noteworthy. I had the intention of having a light dose to help "tap in" to myself and my surroundings, which is what I try to do on a day-to-day basis. The "energy" or distinct buzz of the vicinity (an exotic place) became very apparent, but I stayed in my house, laid down and meditated for the bulk of the tryp. As it came to a close, though, I felt full of energy and decided to head out for an evening ride on the motorcycle. I called my trusty assistant to do the driving.

We cranked up my bike and headed into town. The time was 11:30 PM, when most of the populace is safely in the home, behind locked doors. I noticed immediately as we headed into town that a huge proportion of people on the road were driving fancy (Harley Davidson or similar) motorcycles, and were clad in the leather jackets and vests that suggested these were not the local "Bikers for Jesus" types. We headed to the gas station, and the density of bikers increased. Hundreds of bikers had swarmed into my city. This was very strange - I have been out at this time on many nights, and have never seen anyone lke this. The one time I am on my bike (passenger) and still having a mild tryp, feeling the "energy" and noticing definite visual enhancement of surroundings, but of course with no "hallucinations", there are hundreds of these leather-suited bikers! Very strange.

We pulled into the gas station, and found about 50 bikers swarming the parking lot. A few of them were "burning rubber" or doing the false starts and peeling out, but they seemed to be street-smart and sufficiently well-behaved so as not to attract police attention. A couple were pulling in and out of the gas pump areas, flirting with the attendants, but nothing too troublesome. Long story short, after filling up, they rolled out en masse, prowling into the streets of the night, and we rode right into the midst of this pack of roaming beasts on their jacked up cycles. Headed to where?

I find myself quite susceptible to other people's states of mind. When in the midst of these bikers, a strong and distinct "buzz" became felt, as if this pack behavior was satisfying primal, ancient instincts coded into each cell. I understand why they ride together as a pack - they get both the external power resulting from being in a group, and the internal rush from the pack behavior.

So, sooner rather than later, we pulled away from the pack, being eagles, not herd creatures.

So I've been looking via google into the nature of what Media has termed "Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs" or "1%ers". I thought they were a long-lost part of 1960's and 1970's counterculture, such as documented in Hunter Thompson's "Hell's Angel's". After further research, it appears that there are four major OMGs in the US, anyways, the Hell's Angels, the Mongols, the Outlaws, and the Pagans. It seems many people regard or glorify them as a sort of modern day cowboy, while others, such as Thompson and many LE agents, consider them brutal thugs/gangsters. It seems they play significant roles in the international drug trades, both "soft" and "hard", and are involved in other types of organized crime, such as human smuggling and stolen goods distribution, according to Media and LE websites.

Now, most interestingly, it is easy to find cases of large-scale federal prosecutions under RICO (US criminal conspiracy legislation, which basically f-s you if you were involved in any way, knowingly or unknowingly, in the commission of a given crime) of various "Pagans", "Outlaws", and "Mongols" members. There are no (or perhaps very few) similar prosecutions of the Hells Angels gang. A google search reveals numerous cases of gigantic seizures of "hard drugs" with Hells Angels ties to it (for example, Vancouver Hells Angels), and the evidence is inevitably suppressed; those involved are quickly released. I don't mean to suggest a paranoid conspiracy, but it's clear that these people are very well organized, with corrupt lawyers and other individuals on both side of the law.

I wanted to bring this up since this was an unusually "high energy" encounter, and brought up a particularly fruitful area of inquiry. I don't associate or otherwise have anything to do with Hells Angel's or other OMG's indicated in this report. Cheers.

I have encountered some hells angels in my life..never having any directly negative experiences with them myself though.

My uncle was a hells angel, or at least a closly assoicated with them..He died when I was a kid but he was a super nice guy and used to bring me toys when I was young..hells angles even apparently paid for his funeral..He married my mothers sister and died just before my cousin was born..wish he could have known him cus he was a good man from what I remember.

I worked for a guy who was a hells angel as well doing construction. It was obvious that his construction work was a just as a front sort of to make it look like he was making "legit" money..but it was obvious he had alot of money comming form somewhere else. He was nice to me and everything, smoked joints with us after work and would just hand out cash to anyone who needed an advance on their paycheck..

Anyway, turns out he was a debt collector, if you know what I mean..collecting debts that people did not owe. I dont even want to know how many people the guy killed, but I guess he started to give the hells angels a bad name and one morning he was gunned down in his driveway while getting on his bike to go to work..In the paper police said he had been one of the most violent people they encountered.

Interesting report!

I remember you mentioning this before. Also from my reading it's clear they're very active in Canada, particularly BC, Ontario, and Quebec. One article (somewhere connected with this site http://www.gangstersout.com/haog.htm) mentioned a gigantic multi-ton seizure of cocaine off the coast of Vancouver, online to have all evidence suppressed, with no apparent explanation. Most of the cases I've been there have similar outcomes. Large amounts of evidence resulting in no charges. I suspect they have a very well worked out system with corrupt defense attorneys and hitmen working for them, to keep their businesses going.

BTW I have nothing to do with any of this, it's a research interest, resulting from a very interesting motorcycle ride one night. Also, in the meantime, I visited a North American city that's dominated by the Hells Angels, according to numerous news reports and what locals told me. I drove down a road on a busy Saturday night, and to my left, all the alleys and side streets and parks seemed distinctly "unsafe", just a general intuition "do not go there". To the right of the road, the city parks and side streets weren't any better lit, and were full of suspicious looking street people, working ladies, and "gangster" looking people just standing there. Despite all this it seemed like a safe place to be, I felt completely safe. I parked my car, and got a beer to drink in the park. Despite the obvious criminal activity going on, I felt perfectly safe, and mentioned this to some of the street people sitting around. They confirmed my impression, saying that the street I was driving down was a border of territory, to the right the territory being of the Hells Angels, and to the left someone else (I didn't ask who). It makes sense, they would want their territory to be safe and business-friendly, and definitely have the capability to enforce this, as you mentioned, jamie.

Anyways, anyone who is fascinated by black market economics, human/group psychology, modern day organized crime, etc, would probably find the topic of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs a fruitful area of research and reading. Some people are fine with life in the daylight, where the sun shines down, the bees pollinate the flowers, the children go to school and parents go to work, and nobody poops, day after day. Then there are those who have discovered a different world, the world of the night, a world of bars and bad-boys and gutters. where "spirits" lurk, and which obedient citizens wouldn't associate with, and find it easier to pretend it doesn't exist. I'm trying to figure out how the two mingle and inter-connect.

Cool post! its nice you understand and respect there culture. I myself am very interested in outlaw MCs. Im 18 now but in a few years considering on prospecting. I guess the lifestlye of doing what you want when you want, with your brothers at your side really hooks me. Some other clubs are The Warlocks, Sons of silence and the Bandidos. Im not sure if I will ever get into this lifestyle but I sure as hell respect it.

Meh, I don't know that I respect it. I simply find it interesting. I'd like to imagine myself as very independent and don't see the need to "gang up" together with other people for whatever reason. Hope I didn't encourage others to think this way because of this post; it's simply an interesting cultural phenomenon. Gangsters are gangsters are gangsters.

Sources of income: armstrade, people trafficking, forcing women into prostitution and offering 'protection' to small businesses, AKA extortion.

The ability to use violence is the cork on wich their empire floats.

Not cool at all.

Well said polytrip,

I don't see anything to respect here at all.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

Thank you - find this interesting but didn't intend to glorify it in any way. Organized crime means just that.

I admit to skipping over this thread many times because of the title.
I'm just not into motorcycles, or anything motorcycle related ( other than SOA, good show )
Anyways, what a fascinating read!
Great perspective!!
It does seem primal in nature, the pack mentality.
Respect can be a tricky word. Im not sure where I stand on that, but I'll say this:
The list of known crimes that the gangs participate in, while bad, is no worse than what we allow corporations AND the government to get away with on a daily basis.
Thats not to say that 2 bads make a good, usually thats not the case.
It is interesting though that the one that is more open about what they are and do, are seriously condemned and looked down upon, yet the government does things far worse and hides it all in the guise of law and order. And they are praised and thought of as societies moral hand.
Oh yeah, I live in America.
just my thoughts, not trying to get anyone going, I just find it all very interesting.
Thanks for the post!

Sorry was in a rush when I innitially read the thread. Yall got a right to your own opinion, but due realize your comments are from what the media has portrayed them. Unless you really hung around its hard to just spit on it and kick it aside.

Traveler- Not many people see anything to respect in the drug culture or whatver you refer to as the psychedelic community. To say you just dont respect anything about someones way of life that is outside the law... is quite ironic.

Both bikers and us psychonauts both feel that what we are doing is right.

I was thinking the same thing. In light of the hundreds of thousands of civilians killed as "collateral damage" by US and associated governments, and their sponsorship of regimes which do human trafficking, sex crimes, narcotics trafficking, etc., on a grand scale, the federal (US) investigations of OMG's is seen to be ironic and hypocritical. Moondance - no disrespect intended, but I don't see anything to respect about the gang mentality; it strikes me as very territorial and mammalistic. Reading some of the posts online about these types makes them seem like 8-year-olds. Still, for someone who enjoys high-energy events such as music festivals or colourful rock concerts or religious pilgrimages (such as the Hajj), a gathering of these sorts can provide memorable people-watching indeed.

I do not think that. Or are you saying that forcing a woman to prostitution is same crime as us smoking spice ? How can you put these two "crimes" into the same bag ?

Those bikers don't deserve any respect in my opinion. Well they do not have mine that is for sure.

I have worked for a bandidos dude a few times, construction as well.

What i can say about him and his friends is that media does not even tell half of wth they are up to, smuggling meth, heroin and generally being as big of assholes they can to anyone who ain´t their friends is a big part of their culture.

Most of these people are so fucked up it makes me scared, like random acts of violence just to keep up this image of being alpha dogs in the pack kind of things.

Seriously moondance, if you really are thinking about joining these clowns you really need to think about where your life is headed.