Waterproof First, Then Crash Proof BMW’s new EnduroGuard Suit A motorcyclist’s riding suit has to serve many functions that automobiles do without a thought. Climb inside a car and you’re protected from both the weather and the objects outside the car that you might brush up against, say in the case of an accident. Without […]
Everything I know about South Africa, I can write on the back of a pack of matches. And were it not for Alpinestars, I wouldn’t know there’s a coastal city in eastern South Africa known for hosting the 2010 World Cup and the namesake of their latest and greatest Tech-Touring piece of riding gear, the textile […]
Sleeping under the same patch of Arizona stars as travelers from all over the world, I’m at an annual gathering called the Overland Expo (before there was an east coast edition), getting overloaded with inspiration and information about traveling to any and every part of the world. I’m an addict and willing to admit it. […]
Bucaramanga to Santa Marta | Nov. 28 | 328 miles | Today was our longest day of the tour… and the one with the greatest challenges to both mind and body. Rick had warned me about the weather at the coast. While I sweated through the humidity in Cali, he suggested I get used to […]
Villa De Leyva to Bucaramanga | November 27 | Proving our predictions right, the road out of town was dirty, wet and bumpy…. the roads, not the girls you perv… leading us from the village to Acrobuco where we spotted a roller derby team practice and the main artery road between Tunja and points North […]
Villa De Leyva Rest Day | Monday, November 26 | With no intention by the organizers of this tour, our first rest day (at the perfect time btw) fell on Thanksgiving. And although Cristbol Columbus came to “my” America, he and his cohorts had also traveled south to “this” America… but they don’t celebrate the same […]
Bogotá to Villa De Leyva | Monday, November 25 | First a little motorcycle maintenance and some technology over breakfast, aka learning how to type the correct “a” over Bogotá, hooray… on!
Honda to Bogotá | Monday, November 24 | Today’s ride (Day 3) was an easy one, only 100 miles from Honda to Bogota, but it was one of the most dangerous… aka fun. Juan thought is much like a video game and Lia just opened her head and smiled… calling it a dream and noting how […]
Salento to Honda | Monday, November 23 | Our second day in the saddle began after a little side trip to the farm. Our guide wrangled together one of the local jeeps (regularly on tourist hire) to deliver those of us not recovering from a hard first night to a coffee plantation for a morning […]
Cali to Salento | Monday, November 22 | Day one in Colombia started with a few flipped switches… from languages, to currencies and eventually schedules. After a familiar landscape at the Marriott hotel, we get picked up and delivered to the garage nearby where I find out that there’s no support vehicle on this tour… […]
California to Cali | Monday, November 21 | On the heels of the Long Beach stop of the International Motorcycle Show, a long day steeped in visiting friends, corporate reps and new model releases, I wing off this month towards the equator… to my 19th country and first visit to South America. There I will […]
Barely recovered from my last tour, a circumnavigation of Morocco with Edelweiss Bike Tours, I’m writing one story while preparing for the next one… In just over a week I’ll be flying off to South America and joining Motolombia on their giant loop through Colombia tour, I’m very excited for this one! Don’t screw it up Fonz. Lest you make enemies […]
Ronda Loop to Malaga Finish | October 31 | 163 Miles | Today began with more choices, options to make a loop ride though the country back again to Ronda over famous Andalusian roadways or to stay in town and poke around until the rest of the group returns. It’s only about 90 miles between Ronda and […]
Chefchaouen to Ronda Spain | October 30 | 198 Miles | Thanks for a little dinner conversation, or perhaps NO thanks to it, we realize there will be a time change (somewhere: border or ferry?) to deal with tomorrow, and that we should leave really early in order to make the mid-day ferry. But we already have […]
Meknes to Chefchaouen | October 29 | 110 Miles | With only one more night in Morocco ahead of us, nostalgia is already setting in, thankfully we returned tonight to a familiar place… but in a different riad. This one farther up the hillside from the parking lot and much more modern. The welcome drink, a limocelli […]
Bin El Ouidane to Meknes | October 28 | 202 Miles | Well, it was hard to leave paradise, but we tried to drag it out as long as we could with a poolside ride briefing and some dragging of the feet. The weather wasn’t quite right for a morning dip in the pool but we all […]
Marrakesh to Bin El Ouidane | October 27 | 327 Miles | Today had to be the worse day of them all… I mean, awesome because I’m still on tour in a foreign country and doing just fine, but sometimes when you want something so much, hurdles grow up between you and the goal. And that was […]
Marrakesh Rest Day | October 26 | 0 Miles | Mid-day report… Despite my hatred for the way they prefer to do buiness in Morocco, I’ve managed to spend too much money on things to bring home, ouch! Our tour guides arranged with a local man names Ahmed to give us a walking to this morning, […]
Ait Ben Haddou to Marrakesh | October 25 | 141 Miles | From one UNESCO world heritage site to another (this tour is full of them, visiting 6 of the 9 in the country!) today was a ton of fun.. and history. The day started with a climb out of the saharan desert, pass towns […]
Boumalne Dades to Ait Ben Haddou | October 24 | 141 Miles | With more than 12 hours sleep, I started out feeling pretty good today, happily. Although had I been paying attention to the provided guidebook I would have realized that this morning’s ride was another loop ride, up into another nearby canyon and […]
