Riki Rachtman, former host of MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball and current host of the nationally syndicated radio show Racing Rocks, started today on his third annual running of Riki’s Ride, an epic motorcycle trek that traverses North America.

“I’m going to hook up with friends in Los Angeles,” says Rachtman. “We’re going to ride from Mexico up to Canada– then head towards North Carolina. Which leaves us a lot of America to see in between.”

The reason he’s not sure where he’ll be going is that fans will largely determine the Riki’s Ride route by way of social media. Rachtman and travel campanions Taime Downe, lead singer of sleaze rock band Faster Pussycat, will embark from Los Angeles in June and take their cues of where to go and what to see from participants via Twitter and Instagram. In this way, they hope to discover and experience local arcana in the nooks and crannies of North America, and they will post live route updates and videos of their adventures as they happen.

This year he will raising money for the Chelsea Hutchison Foundation, which provides help and support to individuals with epilepsy.

Previous Riki’s Rides have taken the duo all over the United States and into Canada and Mexico. This year, Rachtman anticipates a 10,000-mile sojourn across North America. He’ll be taking to the road on his 2010 Harley-Davidson Road Glide, and Riki is delighted to have Hot Leathers, Law Tigers, METZELER Tires and Death Wish Coffee Company as sponsors again for #RikisRide16. They will be providing product and support for the duration of the trip.

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