Mid-Life Rider

“Watching you ride is like watching water fall.”
As a technique freak, it might be the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me.
I’ll have to ask my shrink why, but forever I’ve been interested in technique, probably past the point of rationality. Perhaps it’s due to being a first born or some genetic trait inherited [...]

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Jupiters Travels
Ted Simon. Jupitalia Productions 2005, Paperback, 456 pages, $15.15

Ted Simon sits comfortably at the table reserved for motorcycle Gods, “long distance division.” I say “comfortably” in reference to his unassailable adventure credentials and iconic book Jupiter’s Travels. By every account I’ve read he’s actually a bit embarrassed by all the accolades. 78,000 miles over four years through [...]

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I seem to be on an equipment review roll. If you’ve found this via a search, the context for that remark is that I’ve just recently gotten back from a big ride and have filled pages in the blogosphere with my ramblings and musings about life on the road. I also took some new gear [...]

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I’ve been wearing cycleport gear for two years now. I bought my first jacket and pants after a low speed get-off wore holes in a fancy set of Dainese textile gear. Maybe I had the concept wrong, but I was expecting more abrasion resistance than I got. Which led me to cycleport.
After wearing all-black for [...]

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Here’s the lead on a great read in the Manchester Guardian . . .

Long way down … Mike Carter takes in the spectacular views of the Valley of the Moon in Chile from a precarious vantage point. Photograph: Julia Sanders

I watched them ride along the corniche, headlights blazing through the swirling dust and the [...]

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I started wearing Furygan leathers last year. I bought them for several reasons.
* A friend was wearing them and I thought they looked good.
* They fit my shape and build well.
* I had read about them in a British motorcycle magazine.
Later I discovered that the importer, a man named Keith Ellis, lived about three miles [...]

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I’m a fan of Suomy helmets. I like how they fit. I like how they’re made. I like it that they’re kinder to your head in a get off than anything carrying a current Snell rating (for more on this, see my essay on helmets).
For the past year or so I’ve been wearing the very [...]

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Home, 288.8 miles
I opened my eyes at 5:45 this morning in a Holiday Inn Express, not feeling any smarter but happy to be on the last stretch to home. I pulled on my long underwear, loaded up, and left. Within a few miles I was off to the side of the road adding my electric [...]

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Eugene, OR 781 Miles
For the past three hours, riding the FJR had been a test of my endurance. I mounted up at 7:00 this morning in Bishop, CA. Twelve hours later, the only good thing I could think about my aching knees is that it made me not think as much about my aching back. [...]

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Bishop, CA 300 miles
“Why do people live here?”
I find myself asking that question often on this trip. In Ely, it felt like a legitimate question in the sense that I was really curious. It’s a cute town in a rugged but beautiful corner of the American West. I really wanted to know.
Pounding up Hwy 15 [...]

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