ZACHARY PEDERSEN​

I was born in Salt Lake City and moved around a few times from Salt Lake to Northern California, Southern California, to Idaho and now living back in between Utah and California. I joined the military back in High school in 2007 because money was a problem, so the guard helped me get money to pay bills. I went to Ft. Knox for BCT, then to Ft. Sill for field artillery in 2008. Got home and was put on mobilization orders to Afghanistan which then changed to Iraq in 2009. Did a tour to Iraq where I sustained injuries.

Coming home was hard with adjusting back to life like most of us do. Went through hell just to get treatment for visible and invisible wounds. Joined programs to help calm down and has ever since been helping. In 2015 I moved to San Diego, where I was introduced to street bikes and living in California, if you don’t want to be stuck in traffic, it is nice to ride. So, I signed up with San Diego Harley Davidson for a safety course which then got me licensed and on the road, started with a Suzuki Gladius, within a few months got tired of it after 40k miles and got a sport bike “GSXR 750” I had it for a few years and road it to death with long rides to Utah and San Diego. I currently drive a Honda shadow 750 which feels more relaxing and free.

​Riding is my go-to, to get away from the world and just a nice happy place, first time on any bike was 2012 with getting a dirt bike ktm360 which was just a way to push everything aside. Docs told me in 2011 that because of my back and knees that I would not be able to do anything high or moderate impact but they were proven wrong.