ONE WILD RIDE WHEN HOLLYWOOD CALLED, IT MADE THIS REPORTER'S HEAD SPIN.

Byline: Michael Gougis Staff Writer

My wife, Kim, nervously rides on the back of my Honda CBR600F2, so we stick to the surface streets, through downtown, Echo Park, Silver Lake, Hollywood. As we cruise up Sunset, I point at every billboard we pass for the DreamWorks movie ``Biker Boyz.''

We're heading to the premiere at the world-famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. I'm pointing because my name is on every one of those ads for the movie. The phrase with my name (``based on an article by Michael Gougis'') is on every poster plastered outside the theater.

Kim carries two VIP tickets with ``Talent/Filmmaker'' hand-scrawled on the back. Inside the theater, the scriptwriter walks up and offers congratulations; he's a nervous wreck. Not me. My job is done. I'm just along for the ride. As the Talking Heads' David Byrne said, ``How did I get here?''

As staff writer for the now-defunct New Times Los Angeles, I fancied myself a serious journalist. Hard-core political, environmental, investigative stuff. Give me a stack of court records or an environmental impact report and I'm happy. My editor had other ideas. He told me to find these bike street racers he'd heard about. And he waited for months as I tried first to find them, then get them to talk.

I started hanging out with the Chosen Few at their South-Central clubhouse. I lane-split through grid-locked L.A. freeways on a Friday afternoon at suicidal speeds, following a guy I knew only as Black to Oakland for a barbecue. When I got to the East Bay Dragons clubhouse, two guys were in my face demanding, ``Who are you and who do you know?''

``I'm Michael, I know Bear from the Chosen Few,'' I stammered. I'm scared. But once they realize I've ridden up from Los Angeles, that I know someone on the scene, I'm a guest.

I went to dances in Compton, street races in Fresno, the drag strip near Palmdale. I spent months badgering ``Pokey'' - Manuel Galloway, the Pasadena-based president of the Valiant Riders - for interviews. I got speeding tickets. I saw gunplay. I turned in four drafts that my editor rejected. I just wanted this damned story out of my head so I could get back to real news.

The story ran on a Thursday. I called the office that night to check for messages and four movie producers wanted to option the story. You must understand, this does not happen to us working journalists. I spent years covering planning commission meetings in cities like Paramount and Gardena. I wrote briefs. I did election roundups. I once was assigned to watch President Bush's plane land and take off just in case it crashed.

The writers I know interested in the movie business spend years begging for someone just to look at their stuff. Suddenly, I've got a high-powered agent and I'm meeting with producers. I come home from buying a truck so cheap it doesn't even have carpet and someone has sent an e-mail: ``Congratulations. Check the Hollywood Reporter.'' DreamWorks has picked up ``Biker Boyz''; Laurence Fishburne and Kid Rock are on board.

Unbelievable.

Kim clearly knows more people than me at the premiere. Ian Ziering from ``Beverly Hills, 90210'' asks Kim to pass him a straw and winks at her in the lobby. A Baldwin brother - I don't know which one, they all look alike to me - nearly tramples her as he charges for the free popcorn. The usher keeps shooing away people who try to sit next to us, so I ask who they're saving the seats for, then ask Kim, ``Who's Eriq La Salle?''

``Dr. Benton from 'ER,' '' she sneers, as if speaking to a complete moron. I never get close to Fishburne, but I'm sitting right behind actor Brendan Fehr, right in front of Lisa Bonet and three rows in front of Pam Anderson. She's looking trashy - the good, good kind of trashy.

Unbelievable.

As we leave, the lobby is filled with young, hot, up-and-coming African- American actors. I wish I could say I spent the evening casually exchanging industry chatter with them, but honestly, most of them I wouldn't know if I ran them over with my cheapo truck.

I wish I could say Kim and I partied until dawn at some ``Less Than Zero''-esque bacchanal in a Hollywood Hills mansion, but we just headed home. Guess we weren't on the A-list. But I've gotten e-mails and phone calls from friends and relatives across the country who've seen my name in TV commercials and on posters in their local theaters. They've seen me interviewed on BET. My mom has the movie poster framed and hanging in my dad's home office; dad wanted it in the living room, but common decorating sense prevailed. And I'm trying hard not to think too much about how it happened. I'm thinking about how incredibly lucky I am.

Unbelievable.

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Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Writer Michael Gougis, top right, with Valiant Riders president Manuel Galloway, and the cast of ``Biker Boyz,'' above, including Laurence Fishburne, left, and Kid Rock, right.