Reader Ride

A collection of 38 posts

Reader Ride Premium Content

Capacity’s Fearless Adventure: A Coast-to-Coast Adventure

I always wanted to do a cross-country solo ride, but I had no idea how to break it to my business partner. This past summer, he entered my office and announced, “I’m going to Europe for a month.”  “Enjoy!” I said. “I’ll hold down the fort—but when

Reader Ride Premium Content

Three Texans, Four Strokes, Five States

I’ve really gone and done it this time. Idaho is not an easy feat to pull off from Central Texas. I had mulled over various scenarios—shipping, flying, staging, renting, begging, borrowing. I even tried to talk myself out of it and pick a different trip that was easier

Roundtrip Tour Premium Content

The Rejuvenating Coast

For me, the ride is restoration—a way to refresh the soul. I take a few solo trips each year just to recharge and it was about time. My destination was somewhere sunny, windy, and warm—Pensacola, FL. I slipped out of bed, trying my best to match the quiet

Reader Ride Premium Content

Crossing the Precipice on a Super Duke GT

Traveling New Roads Someone I trust advised me to start this story with a bang. My bang was the sound of the Achilles tendon on the dominant right side of my body rupturing on a basketball court at Disney World. My magic encounter with the land of Mickey Mouse landed

Reader Ride Premium Content

To Honor A Friend

Several years back, a friend moved from California to Colorado, where he promptly bought a motorcycle. “Dude!” he wrote, not abandoning his California roots entirely.  “Come ride with me.  The roads here’ll blow your mind!” “Someday,” I told him. It was the last conversation we ever had. When he

Jul/Aug '16 Premium Content

Reader Ride: California–The Road to Mono Lake

When exploring a new road, there is no good time to lose the light. We’re riding west through northern California toward Yosemite National Park, and highway has given way to a sidewinder, cliffside stretch of Route 120. As we negotiate the twisted ascent, each new turn is a mystery,

Nov/Dec '15 Premium Content

Reader Ride–Southern California: Scootouring

Scootouring (v.) the act of traveling long distances on a scooter. Sometimes the right word just doesn’t exist. Such is the case with touring on a scooter. With the advent of maxi-scooters (scooters with motorcycle displacement engines and similar performance), major manufacturers have embraced this growing market segment. But

Sep/Oct '15 Premium Content

Reader Ride: Kaslo, British Columbia “Lookout” for Your Friends

Our 2010 KTM 990 Adventure easily rolls along the smooth forest service road adjacent to the Columbia Wetlands, the largest of their kind anywhere in the province of British Columbia. This portion of our tour was unplanned, but we did take the advice of our innkeeper the night before to

Jul/Aug '15 Premium Content

Reader Ride–Utah Highway 12: It's the Journey and the Destination

In my impetuous youth, I felt the kickstand was my sworn enemy. I was one of those guys who wore continuous hours of saddle time as a badge of honor and total miles for the day like the crown jewel on my riding tiara. In my more mature years, I

May/Jun '15 Premium Content

Riding Baja, Mexico

The year was 1972 … the last time my old man sat on a vinyl seat, pulled on a helmet, and rode off into the sunset. So, when I approached him about riding bikes in Baja for a month long journey down Mexico’s infamous peninsula, I was surprised he agreed

Jan/Feb '15 Premium Content

Reader Ride – Cape Breton, Nova Scotia: Island Hopping

Sometimes you have an idea you know isn’t smart, but you go ahead regardless. Sometimes it turns out you were worried about nothing. Sometimes it turns out you were dead right, but things work out anyway. That’s what happened when I went off-roading in the Cape Breton Highlands—

Nov/Dec '14 Premium Content

Reader Ride: Scotland – Single Malt Moto Tour

It’s a balmy August morning, and I am crammed into a train car with hundreds of gray-suited commuters. Destination: London. I feel smug pleasure knowing that I am about to embark on an adventure, while they are headed to another day of office drudgery. And what an adventure! My

Sep/Oct '14 Premium Content

Reader Ride–Colorado High Country: Back to My Childhood Home

Our 2012 Honda Gold Wing purrs as we head south on U.S. 6 through the beautiful Spanish Fork region. It’s Day 2 of our seven-day journey from Eagle, ID, to Golden, CO, where I grew up. I look forward to sharing my home turf with Howard, my intrepid

Jul/Aug '14 Premium Content

Reader Ride-North Carolina and Tennessee: Riding the Dragon’s Tail

May/Jun '14 Premium Content

Reader Ride-Nordkapp, Norway: An Irishman at the Top of Europe

Nordkapp (North Cape) has been a mystical place for me since I was a boy. I remember 
reading a book about a car journey from North Cape to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. It was probably written in the early ‘50s. I never dreamed then that I

Mar/Apr '14 Premium Content

Reader Ride: San Pedro, California-The Long Way Home

San Pedro enjoys a mild year-round Mediterranean climate with cool ocean breezes and usual temps around 72 degrees. In addition to easy access to kayaking, skin diving, mountain biking, hiking, surfing, and sailing, it also happens to be a great place for motorcycling. I ride my 2003 Triumph Bonneville America

Jan/Feb '14 Premium Content

Reader Ride: Nova Scotia, Canada - The Cabot Trail

The shrill announcement is loud and awakes us from a sound, gently rocking sleep to proclaim we are one hour away from docking at North Sydney, Nova Scotia. Four of us, on adventure motorcycles, are traveling on the North Sydney-Port Aux Basques ferry from Newfoundland to the northeast coast of

Jan/Feb '13 Premium Content

Reader Ride-Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri: The Great River Road Run

Midway between my home near Lexington, KY, and Lake Itasca, MN, I begin to question the wisdom of making this trip in April. Although I rationalize that things will warm up and dry out, I travel 1,000 miles of chilly temperatures and driving rain before the real journey even

Nov/Dec '12 Premium Content

Reader Ride – Texas: Palo Duro Loop, The “Other” Grand Canyon

You can ride the rim of the Grand Canyon, but you can’t take your motorcycle down to the bottom. Want to get the “feel” of a canyon without taking a donkey ride? Visit Palo Duro Canyon in Texas, America’s “other” Grand Canyon! At 120 miles long, 600 to

Sep/Oct '12 Premium Content

Reader Ride - Oklahoma: Ghost Hollow Road

Steam rises from the blacktop like smoke signals as we approach the bridge girders over Skeleton Creek. I slow the big BMW R 1200 GS and keep Susan’s bright yellow F 650 in my mirrors as we duck under a canopy of trees. Our early morning ride brings us

Jul/Aug '12 Premium Content

Reader Ride: Turkey Antalya to the Aegean

If you were to ask me to pinpoint when it all started, I would have to think back to one night a few years ago. I was flipping through channels looking for something to watch and that’s when I saw them, those two British actors riding their R 1200

May/Jun '12 Premium Content

Reader Ride - Tennessee: Dual Sport Waltz

Mar/Apr '12 Premium Content

Reader Ride: Northern Vietnam

My husband, Josh, and I decided before starting a family that we really needed a BIG bike vacation. We wanted culture shock. Yet without a lot of money to spend and no previous adventure travel experience, we found it. Toronto to New York, west to Seoul, then arriving in Hanoi

Jan/Feb '12 Premium Content

Reader Ride: Wyoming

The Big Horn Mountains in northern Wyoming include 200 miles of the most picturesque pavement in the Cowboy State. Situated midway between the Black Hills of South Dakota and Yellowstone National Park, the Big Horns are home to towering peaks, rocky canyons, and fast-flowing mountain streams. Every bend in the

Sep/Oct '11 Premium Content

Reader Ride: Death Valley, California