A way out East there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Josh.  At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. 

This YouTuber, he called himself Shadetree Surgeon.  Sometimes there's a man who, well, he's the man for his time'n place, he fits right in there--and that's the Shadetree Surgeon, in Tampa, Florida and on the webernets.

I stumbled upon Josh’s YouTube channel in early 2020 or what we all would now likely call The Before Times. He had been creating and uploading content for a very long time and his current channel’s oldest video was uploaded in 2013. The most popular video has nearly 9 million views and is of a 6-year-old leading a group of bikers on a cruise with his minibike. His channel isn’t breaking any records, though. According to SocialBlade, he is ranked 1751st in the USA and 752nd for “auto” content. Most of his 700 videos have less than 100k views. But this isn’t about video performance. Josh should have more than 233k subscribers.

Good ol’ Shadetree is a special kind of Florida Swamp Wizard. He has several motorcycles including GL1200 and GL1500 Goldwings, GL500 Silverwing, Multistrada (overdue for desmo service), Rocket3, offroad-modded 883 Sportster and others. Lots of people have interesting bikes, though. What makes him special?

Content on the Shadetree Surgeon channel these days consists of a guy who mostly motovlogs along with silly sarcasm-driven videos. He does the things that we all think about or wish we were doing but don’t get off the couch to do it, though. Most of his test ride videos include the quote “I like bike.” Josh does his own wrenching (except for that Ducati stuff) and doesn’t edit out his mistakes or blunders. He has driven thousands of miles from his home base in the Tampa area. He has also developed a bad habit of buying old, sketchy bikes on the West Coast and driving them back. Numerous unofficial SaddleSore 1000s have been completed but the Swamp Wizard hasn’t submitted to the IBA. He doesn’t care for such trivial things like official ‘rules’ and ‘order’ and ‘validation.’

He recently rode a ‘79 shovelhead from Oregon back to Florida. Josh should be the star of the next “Long Way” venture. Ewan and Charley would never attempt something like that. How many of us would?

This guy has no corporate sponsors, uses ancient GoPro cameras and does little planning. He has a day (night) job running The Dirty Shame Pub in Ybor City. Still, with little more than Monster Energy, gas station pickles and spite for those imaginary people who theoretically said he couldn’t do it for fuel, he makes it happen. His content isn’t polished but it is engaging. He’s a real guy who is doing real things and recording it for our entertainment. More importantly, he enjoys doing it and it shows in the end product.

His only real support is his niece, and business partner, Chey. She has her own growing YouTube channel under the name Cheyleesi. They also run Brap Star together, a merch store now but maybe someday much more.

Shadetree Surgeon has been integral part of fundraising efforts to support Forgotten Angels in Florida while juggling riding, wrenching and ‘Tubing. Forgotten Angles is a non-profit 501(c)(3) whose mission is to help young adults who have aged out of foster care, formerly incarcerated and at-risk youth. They provide support, life skills and housing at their acreage in Valrico. It is unfortunate that an organization like this is necessary but it is good that Forgotten Angels is there to help. Through the Shadetree Surgeon channel and coordinating raffles, Josh has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There is a raffle going on at the time of this writing to win a HUMVEE. I entered. If I win, I’ll have to find a place to park it. The raffle expires 9pm Eastern time on 10/29/22.

SPIRIT ANIMAL

Can a person on YouTube be your spirit animal? Well, this is my website so I make the rules and I say its ok. Unlike many motorcycle vloggers, Josh has a job. He still manages to publish two videos per week because he likes doing it. Josh is the guy who shows us all that we can jump on whatever bike we happen to have after work and take off for an adventure on a whim. If you don’t have a bike, you can find one cheap somewhere if you look hard enough. There’s nothing stopping us but ourselves.

The Shadetree Surgeon channel is one of the primary motivations for buying my Goldwing. He defies stereotypes and breaks down barriers us motorcyclists erect between ‘us’ and ‘them.’ Josh inspired me to go on my 1200-mile road trip with Mrs. Bald Rider earlier this year. All of my bikes have at least one Brap Star sticker affixed somewhere. That might not mean much in the grand scheme of things but it shows solidarity with others in the Shadetree Army.

One of these days, I’m going to hop on a bike and ride the 5000-mile roundtrip to The Dirty Shame in the off chance that Josh is working when I show up. It might be easier to treat him to 6 or 36 business beers the next time he wants to ride the Rim of the World Highway.

When thinking about an introduction to this entry, I couldn’t think of a better way to do it than to borrow the introduction of The Dude from the Coen Bros’ The Big Lebowski. I should know. I am ordained in the Church of the Latter-Day Dude.

As the Swamp Wizard would say

Until next time, keep it weird…

If you are curious and would like to know more about Josh, Chey or Forgotten Angels, you can follow these links:

Shadetree Surgeon: YouTube Instagram

Cheyleesi: YouTube Instagram

Forgotten Angels Florida