On any Sunday
‘On any Sunday’ is a 1971 American documentary film about motorcycling, directed by Bruce Brown. It was nominated for an Academy award in 1972 and still has a cult following. For me, the appearance of actor Steve McQueen, filmed racing in the Mojave Desert, inspired me with an ambition to try desert riding, and like McQueen, I wanted do it on a Rickman Metisse.
Bud Ekins, stuntman in the film industry and desert racer in Southern California, was the motorcycling mentor of McQueen. Ekins owned a Triumph dealership and as well as supplying motorcycles to McQueen, he taught him the skills of off-road riding. McQueen loved nothing more than leaving his Hollywood lifestyle behind and heading out to the desert with a bunch of friends to ride motorcycles. Along with many other brilliant riders, they would take part in various events. The two main events in the desert where the Hare and Hound (a race over two different loops) and the Hare Scramble (multiple laps of the same loop).
The British Rickman Metisse, created by Don and Derek and so successfully ridden in European and British scrambling, had caught the attention of the Americans. Up until the development of the Metisse Mk.III frame, American Triumph enthusiasts raced their standard Triumphs customised to make them lighter for off-road racing. When McQueen got his first Triumph-engined Rickman Metisse, he described it as the best handling
