Bigfork biker takes travels statewide

In 2003, to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Harley Davidson, Bigfork resident Ron Brevik bought himself a new bike. Not just any bike, but the anniversary bike. A 2003 FXSTS Springer Softail. With that bike he also made a goal to ride every mile of asphalt in the state of Montana.

Brevik has been riding motorcycles for 51 years, and not just riding them, but riding them “safely,” he says, adding that he’s never laid a bike down.

In his office in Bigfork, he keeps a map of Montana on his wall. Drawn in black lines are the roads he has traveled, and yellow thumb tacks stick out in the towns where he spent a night. The Springer Softail that Brevik purchased in 2003 now has 50,000 miles on it. He estimates that he will complete his goal in the summer of 2018, depending on the weather.

“I’ve probably ridden 92 percent [of the roads],” Brevik said.

In 2012, Whitefish Credit Union asked Brevik to pose for an ad campaign. He put on his Harley Davidson do-rag and his leather gear, and stood next to his bike with the Montana blue skies as his background.

He took that photo as a calling card, and used it to create postcards to give out to people. On the front of the card it says, “Montana’s greatest treasures can be found on the back roads.” And on the back of the card, pre-stamped and addressed to Brevik, is a note, “On this card, please write me something unique about the place you live and drop it in the mail.”

Whenever he travels on his bike now, he hands out postcards to the people he meets.

He takes photos in addition to collecting the postcards — photographing everything from cowboys and ranchers to cafe owners and old playground equipment. He likes to document Montana and its history through his photos and the stories he collects, though he says he “doesn’t do anything with them.”

“They’re just for me,” he said.

Brevik describes himself as a humble and quiet man, sharing his stories doesn’t come naturally to him, but he loves to collect them. Although he doesn’t have a website or public display of any kind, he says he likes to think that someday someone else might do something with it all.

A few years ago, Brevik wrote a letter, not addressed to anyone, but just for himself to put into words why it is he travels the back roads in search of stories.

“Like cowboys of the past and present, we both saddle up with leather and scarf, only difference being my horse is of chrome and steel, a modern day cowboy,” he wrote. “The stories always start with a friendly wave, small cafes, and hot coffee with homemade pie. From the Native American Indians to the saddle makers, the ranchers, farmers, loggers and craftsmen of fine cedar canoes, all a story to be told.”

Brevik recalls one story he discovered in Avon — where he found a man who was a world class sanctioned judge for horseshoeing competitions. He showed Brevik his own personal horseshoe pit inside his shop. He wanted it indoors so that he could play even in the winter, but he had also buried a friend beneath the pit — a longtime horseshoe player whose wish was to have a horseshoe pit as his final resting place.

When he isn’t riding the back roads of Montana, Brevik is the general manager for Greenleaf, operating multiple privately held commercial operations in Bigfork, including Mountain Lake Lodge. He’s been with the company since 2004, and he’s been in Bigfork for 26 years.

He went to the University of Montana, where his passion for art and building led him to become a general building contractor. He traveled throughout the U.S. completing fun, high-end projects, he says, eventually leading him back to Montana.

Brevik is 62 years old and although he plans to retire in four years, he doesn’t have any plans of not working in some capacity. He’s considering going into consulting, so that the wisdom he’s gained can benefit young entrepreneurs.

“The ‘08 collapse made me a better businessman,” he said. “Everyone can become complacent, lackadaisical, it makes you tighten your belt and sharpen your pencil.”

He said as he’s aged with wisdom, he’s gained a large arsenal of solutions and that as a consultant he could guide young entrepreneurs past the hurdles before they even come up.

Brevik went to high school with his wife, Kathy, but he notes that he’s “married not to my high school sweetheart, but my high school classmate.”

He and Kathy never said more than 10 words to each other, despite going to school together and living a couple blocks from each other. It wasn’t until their 30th high school reunion that they met again.

“I was gone after 10 seconds,” he said.

Apart from his wife, Brevik says that driving the back roads of Montana is his number one passion.

“It’s the people you meet, the bonds you make” that make it worth the ride, he said.

He’s committed to his goal, sometimes having to ride the same road more than once to finish it. To drive all of Beartooth Highway, it took him four tries to finally finish — his trip coming to an abrupt end because of snow, fire and visibility issues the three times before. But the fourth time, he says, was worth the wait, and he had nothing but blue skies the whole ride.

“My story is all about riding the back roads of Montana, one mile at a time,” he said.

Reporter Alyssa Gray may be reached at 758-4433 or by email at agray@dailyinterlake.com.