Random Motorcycle Memories

Above: Out and about on the Duc. 02 March 2023. Snow Canyon State Park, Washington County, UT. On this short, benign solitary ride, I was wont to reflect a bit on my motorcycle riding history.

Circa 2007: Riding a Honda 650 standard, rented from the Hanoi Motorcycle Club, in the "school of fish" rush through the Hanoi intersections. Circa 2007: Involuntarily turning sideways near Quang Ngai, Vietnam at fifty MPH on a rain soaked, oil slicked two-lane highway while riding in the dark. Circa 1999: Riding in the dark at 50 mph near Essaouira, Morocco on a 1990 BMW R100 GS Paris-Dakar, narrowly missing a dog racing across the road. Circa 2006: Ducati ST4s. Palermo, Sicily intersections... brutal. See everyone but look at no one, and go, hell bent for leather, for the nearest open space. Circa 2008: Brahmaputra River Bridge, Guwahati, Assam, India. Cacophony of truck horns, auto rickshaw beeps and donkey bleats while weaving my way, in and out, riding a thumper Royal Enfield through the chaos. Circa 2005: Riding at night, northbound on the E1 Expressway, Tokyo bound, on a Suzuki naked GSX 1300, the freeway devoid of vehicles, in a typhoon. Circa 2004: Riding on Kawasaki KX 450 from Ayacucho to Abancay (Peru) seventy-five kilometers on a dirt construction road at night in the rain, through at least 20 water crossings. Circa 2002: Trying to keep a BMW 650 Funduro upright in the deep sand of Mongolia's Gobi Desert. Circa 2000: Riding with Dr. G, slipping on the gravel and falling while riding my BMW R1100 GS along a narrow mountain goat trail with a 3000 ft vertical drop off while nearing Engineer Pass in the Colorado San Juan range. 2014: Dagestan, Russia. Riding a BMW R1200 GS motorcycle down a rain-soaked mud road at dusk, using my legs and muddy boots as outriggers, in search of an elusive village where our group was to spend the night. Circa 2010: Multiple flat tires while riding a Honda Africa Twin between Gondor and Axum (if you don't know the answer, just Axum) in Ethiopia. Circa 2004: With Burt, riding an aspirated Honda XR650 to the 17K foot level of Chimborazo in Ecuador. 2000: Riding my BMW K1200 RS motorcycle at 120 mph on straight at a track day at Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, CA. 2008: Racing at 60 mph down an alluvial fan dirt track near Primm, NV on my BMW R1100 GS while uber Paris Dakar rider Jimmy Lewis overtakes me on the left doing a wheelie. Circa 2002: Switzerland. Riding my Ducati ST4s up Julier Pass in a late September snowstorm on my way to St. Moritz. I could go on. It's been quite a ride.