Industry player – Philth Hodgens - AdventureRiderMagazine

This entry is part 9 of 16 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #19

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Phil Hodgens

The Motorbikin’ DVD series has just hit disc number 20. It seems such a short time ago we plonked down in front of the telly to watch the first instalment. We remember being very excited about that, because we’d known something of Motorbikin’ main man Phil Hodgens for quite some time. On the occasion of his 20th disc we thought it time we learned some more.

Phil Hodgens: dairy farmer, adventure rider and main man at Motorbikin’.

There’s not too many more colourful characters in the adventure-motorcycling world than Phil Hodgens. He’s a dairy farmer, a devoted rider, and the driving force behind the Hard-core Posties movement that’s raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. He’s also a handy rider and a bloke who’s happy to have a laugh at his own expense.

We asked how the primary producer got involved in bikes in the first place.

“I didn’t get my first bike until I was 17,” explained the farmer from Bald Knob in Queensland. “Until then I only rode horses.”

The bike which gave Phil his first two-wheeled taste was a Suzuki DR250, and the love was immediate. “It was so much easier than riding a horse,” he said, sensibly.

A great deal of bush riding followed, as did a move to a Husqvarna, but then came a pivotal moment.

“I saw a SideTrack magazine in a newsagent one day and thought, ‘Shit! I want to do that!’ At the time I was smoking and the missus said if I gave up cigarettes I could do what-ever I wanted with bikes. I gave up the smokes and a couple of months later bought my first DR650 and started doing long-distance riding.

“I haven’t been able to give up riding yet.”

That was about a decade ago, give or take. Phil’s not too fussed on dates.

Motorbikin’

It was the Postie-bike runs that started the Motorbikin’ phenomenon.

“Our second Postie-bike run went from Birdsville to Alice Springs,” remembered Philth. “We had a huge mob and Matt Wordsworth and big Mark Smith – Marky-mark – from the ABC came along for the show Australian Story.

“We hit the Finke track and broke 13 collarbones in about 30 minutes, and we hospitalised both the ABC guys.

When I went in to the hospital to visit everyone, I found Mark under sedation with his arm in a sling and he said, ‘That was awesome. We have to start making some DVDs.’”

That started the ball rolling.

Tough stuff

As time passed people came and went meeting family and work commitments, but Phil’s passion for his DVDs never faded. Mark Smith shot and edited the first disc, and Phil was always shooting footage himself, but over time Phil taught himself to edit, and, as he puts it, ‘went solo’.

That Postie trip was in 2007. Nearly 10 years later we’ve had some first-hand experience of the Hodgens’ sense of humour and photojournalistic talent. Both are considerable, and are possibly a little overshadowed by his success with the Motorbikin’ series.

After all those wild adventures in Australia and overseas, and all the amazing people, what sticks in Phil’s mind as a highlight?

“We love doing stuff people haven’t done before,” he said with surprising sincerity. “That’s what we get a big kick out of.

Stuff like the Madigan Line, which hadn’t been done before, and rides like the Coast To Coast and Geocentre runs.They’ve been done, but it’s a big thrill when you’ve got no definite outcome or information on what the tracks are going to be like. You’re pioneering. We get a huge buzz out of that.

The Carson River Track from Motorbikin’ 20.

Plenty more to come

What about any low points? Motorbikin’ often presents some wild, off-centre concepts. Is there anything Phil thinks of as a low point or disappointment?“I guess every time I kill a camera is a low point,” he grinned.

“I was looking through the cupboard the other day and we’ve killed about $20,000 worth of cameras in the last decade or so. It’s part of it I guess, but every time it happens it’s a low point.”What’s the future hold for Motorbikin’?

“As long as it’s fun we’ll keep doin’ it,” said Hodgens with a straight face. “We’re obviously not doin’ it for the money.”

For Motorbikin’ 19 the team rode from Queensland to Adelaide to race the South Australia 24 hour Enduro, then rode home again.

Grab a copy

The Motorbikin’ discs –including the latest, Motorbikin’ 20: The Kimberley – are available from the Adventure Rider Magazine e-store.

Log on and stock up on some Aussie classics.

Phil and Tugboat Bill had some awesome times filming in the early days before Bill was tragically lost to depression.

Win a copy of Motorbikin’ 20: The Kimberley

Phil says Motorbikin’s done about all there is to do in Australia, and a fair chunk of overseas adventuring as well. To get some new ideas flowing, Phil’s offering a free copy of Motorbikin’ 20: The Kimberley to stoke the adventuring pot. All you have to do is e-mail your idea for a great Motorbikin’ theme or idea to motorbikin@westnet.com.au. Phil will sift through the concepts, and each of the three he likes most will score a free copy of the new disc.

That’s all there is to it.G’warn! Get sending!