Roundtrip Tour

A collection of 74 posts

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Japan—40 Years Later

In October 1984, I took the Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo to Hiroshima, totally unprepared for what became a three-year adventure of living in Japan. In October 2023, almost 39 years to the day after my first arrival, I got off the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Okayama. This time, I

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A Mindful South American Journey

As motorcycle enthusiasts, we must acknowledge that our passion for nature and adventure has a significant environmental impact. However, selling our bikes isn't the solution. This journey through Chile and Argentina aims to describe both epic adventures and simple acts with the potential to create a positive impact. It's not

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Tuscan Tryst: Exploring Europe with a Zavorrina

Lesa and I have always traveled unconventionally. We began married life with an eight-month backpacking honeymoon adventure that included renting a BMW K 75 in Sydney and heading up into Australia’s Blue Mountains with a tent strapped on the back. We often joke that we’ve been on t

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Baja California—Monkey Business

With the picnic tables dotted among the ponderosa trees of Arizona long gone, we rode onto what looks like a nose-diving dragon—775 miles in body and 200 miles in girth—from Mexicali in the north to Cabo San Lucas in the south. The Baja peninsula, or Baja California, is

Roundtrip Tour

A Year In Review: Top RoadRUNNER Tours of 2023

Stories from the road are what we are known for. We don't just write about places that we think might be interesting to visit, we actually ride there. When you read RoadRUNNER's tour editorial, you know our team of experienced motorcycle travel journalists have put the place through it's paces

Nov/Dec '23

Italy: Apples & Speck

Italy beckons many riders. Although some might be put off by recent reports of punitive noise regulations and reduced speed limits, those restrictions only apply on a few roads in the summer or near urban areas with high air pollution. The Italian Dolomites is still one of the best regions

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Ducati’s Second Annual Giro Alpino

Overlooked by Mount Mansfield, Stowe is a recreation haven in northern Vermont. The town is likely packed with more miles of hiking and skiing trails than it has residents, considering its population of only around 600 people. An enormous fiery-red tractor trailer emblazoned with a huge white Ducati logo pulled

Nov/Dec '23 Premium Content

Arizona: Cowboys, Miners, and the Devil's Highway

The red-sashed cowboy welcomed us to Tombstone, AZ. The outlaw challenged the Earp brothers as the O.K. Corral standoff began. “Wait, there are motorbikes in the street!” Joshua Manning and I were parked at Tombstone’s main street, the first stop of our epic Arizona route. The tour included

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Riding the 2024 Kove Rally 450

A few years ago, I was at a motorcycle trade show in Chongqing, one of the world’s largest cities in the heart of China. It was a chaotic affair, and the noise and strange bikes probably traumatized me a little. The event almost made me lose interest in the

Sep/Oct '23 Premium Content

ZenMoto Part 4: Oregon to California

It takes just one day off the bike for all of my gear to leap out of the bags and be strewn all around the room. It’s been a good day off in Jacksonville, OR, but it’s time to gear up for the final stretch. Ocean It’s

Sep/Oct '23 Premium Content

Along the Waterways of Ohio

As Florian and I saddle up in Zanesville for our Ohio roundtrip, it occurs to me that the Buckeye State often doesn’t get its due. Phrases like, “flyover country,” “your hometown river is flammable,” “mistake on the lake,” and “Hey, at least we’re not Michigan,” don’t exactly

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Ukraine's Heart of Darkness

On a clear summer day, with the sky that deep rich blue they always seem to use on holiday postcards, the pure white clouds fought with the endless miles of brilliant yellow sunflower fields for our attention. Occasionally, the vibrant blanket of color turned to a patchwork quilt of wheat

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California: A Ride Along the Eastern Sierra

Geoff, this is not good. I can’t see anything!” “Can you see the yellow line down the middle of the road?” “Well, yes.” “That’s all you need to see.” That is a short snippet of bike-to-bike communication my wife Liz and I went through while riding Carson Pass

Sep/Oct '23 Premium Content

Peru: Altitude and Adrenaline

I squinted my eyes in disbelief. Clouds had started to gather, crowding the sky like lumbering beasts. On a grinding wheel of terror, a whole city’s worth of boneheadedness came crashing down like a shelf full of shoes, all around my head at once. Initially, Lima’s bustling Miraflores

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Central California: A Study In Contrast

Nature does not always define borders the way humans do. An imaginary line scrawled on some obscure document can define and separate societies, but Earth itself has more dramatic means of doing so. California is a case study in how, just below the surface, the planet resembles a butcher’s

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MotoGP 2023

Way back in 2005, my good friend Andrew Ferguson and I witnessed Nicky Hayden win the MotoGP race at Laguna Seca. What a glorious day it was for both him and Colin Edwards, who placed second ahead of Valentino Rossi. Hayden rode Honda and the Yamaha bikes were colored yellow

Jul/Aug '23 Premium Content

United Kingdom: Welsh and Wonderful

As celebratory meals go, you can’t beat a big blowout at an Indian restaurant. Tonight, we are in the mood to celebrate. We’ve completed nearly 500 of fantastic riding in four days, motoring across some of the most beautiful landscapes in Great Britain. We’ve forded rivers, scrambled

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Moto Guzzi to The Quail

The plan had been on the books for a full year. Ride from Los Angeles to the 13th annual Quail Motorcycle Gathering in Carmel Valley, CA, on Thursday, enjoy the Quail Ride on Friday and the show on Saturday, then ride home Sunday. The plan didn’t include bad weather,

Jul/Aug '23 Premium Content

ZenMoto Part 3: Idaho to Oregon

Motorcycle travel connects you to the land in a unique and singular way. You sense the size of the world as it rolls beneath your wheels. You feel the massive forces shaping the terrain as you traverse it. You acknowledge the footsteps of native tribes and settlers that came before.

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California: Touring the Dunsmuir-Mt. Shasta Time Portal

“When I first caught sight of Mount Shasta over the braided folds of the Sacramento Valley, my blood turned to wine, and I have not been weary since.” —John Muir, 1874 I met this amazing German chap while touring in Kenya. At a stop on the way to Mombasa, we

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Adventures Along the Mid Atlantic BDR

It had been eight months since fellow board member and MABDR architect Kevin Woody and I joined the rest of the BDR team in late summber 2017 for the filming of the expedition documentary.  When the opportunity arose to join four of our generous supporters for another go on this

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3 Days From Denver, CO to Princeton, OR

Late June, Denver, CO. Summers here are always hot and dry, and I can’t wait to get out of the big city. I’ve got the last of my Mosko Moto bags packed. I throw the kickstand up, kick it into first gear, and I’m off. I won’

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Baja California: Life’s a Beach

Baja California is a gentle introduction to the colorful world of Mexico. Crossing at Tijuana with a vehicle is easy. Too easy, in fact—traffic only slows a little for the open barriers, the wait-go signs that immediately turn green, and the yellow topes (infamously high Mexian speed bumps) before

May/Jun '23 Premium Content

Pennsylvania: Dusty Adventure Trails

Three years ago, I crossed Pennsylvania from north to south following the Mid-Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route (MABDR), published in the RoadRUNNER 2020 Special Collector’s Edition. The journey revealed the wild beauty of eastern Pennsylvania and I developed a taste for more of such adventures. After a two-year lockdown, I

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Mexico, Part 2: South-Eastern Mexico

After a long, relaxing stay in Oaxaca, we get itchy feet. Being an architect, Aidan is keen to visit Santuario del Gusano de Seda, an unusual exposed-concrete building housing a silkworm sanctuary in the mountains to the northeast. Since we set off rather late, it becomes a two-day ride and