Motorcycle Misadventures

Travelogue: Riding the world's highest road

Ride Now is a beautiful and sophisticated Flash-based interactive record of a journey in North India on a Royal Enfield Bullet. The site is long on tech bells and whistles, which means you should have a high-speed connection to view it without too much frustration, and a bit short on story, but nonetheless gives you an idea of what it's like to ride in this cold, rocky, and generally inhospitable region. There are lots of photos of loaded-down motorcycles parked on rock roads, rubble and desolation in the background. Why go there? For the thrill of riding the Khardung La, the highest road in the world.

Books: Motorcycle Camping Made Easy

I love motorcycling and I love camping, but a lot of people are intimidated by motorcycle camping. Here's a book that might get you going. Motorcycle Camping Made Easy: a new book to let you go farther on your travel budget was written by Bob Woofter, a life-long camper who began camping by motorcycle just a few years ago. "When he tried to apply what he already knew to motorcycling, he discovered that he had to look at things from a completely new perspective," says a review in Biketrade. "He has distilled his experiences, as well as those of many other seasoned motorcycle campers, to help newcomers make the transition smoothly and painlessly. If motorcycling is all about the freedom of the open road, it's easy to see why so many savvy travelers include camping as part of their road trips." Read the entire review in Biketrade.

How we live: the intentional community as a travel destination

As I've traveled the world on my motorcycle misadventures I've had the opportunity to drop in on some interesting "intentional" communities, that is, communities based on some unifying philosophy: Arcosanti in Arizona, Auroville in India, and Damanhur in Italy. These places are great travel destinations, cultures within themselves, really, and they often provide simple, low-cost accommodations and tours of the community and to nearby attractions. (Damanhur, for example, has a day long tour of "Magical Turin" that includes the Egyptian museum and the place where the Cafe Mocha was born.)

Travel: Motorcycling in France

Here's a little info for those of you planning a European jaunt. Beware the speed limit in France. Two strikes and you're out! Mike Werner reports in Bikes in the Fast Lane on the new rules for riding motorcycles in France. He should know, because he lives there. So pay attention folks, there's a new sheriff in town.

There's a new sheriff in town, and his name is Nicholas Sarkozy, the Minister of Interior and Security.

Motorcycle Couture: What if I could afford it?

Mike Werner has pointed out yet another item of haute couture for motorcyclists, a pair of Chanel Motorcycle Boots for (gulp) $600 Euros (744 USD to the rest of us, if the exchange rate holds). Just the perfect accessory to one of Mr. Chester's haute couture motorcycles, a New York times story I wrote about earlier this month.

Maybe it's because I started riding when I was 14 years old that I have never felt the urge to dress up on a motorcycle. Jeans, a good jacket and gloves and, most of all, a good pair of boots with traction and steel toes, have been enough for me all these years. But would I, if I could?

The Fear Factor: Ted Simon decides to ride into Columbia

Ted Simon took a round-the-world motorcycle trip in 1973. Twenty seven years later, at 69 years of age, he began his second round-the-world motorcycle trip, documented on his website The Return of Jupiter's Travels. The author of two classic travel books Jupiter's Travels and Riding High, Simon finds himself constantly facing his fears, and he writes about it with honesty, humor, and self-compassion. This dispatch about Columbia is a moment that most travelers on a round-the-world trip can relate to. Here's his story.

The Fear Factor

When people hear about my trips the #1 most frequent question is, "Aren't you scared?"

"Well...yeah," I reply. "But it's the kind of fear that you get when you go away to college, or get married...or divorced, or interview for a new job. You know you have to do it, want to do it, and will be better for it."

The Fear Factor will be a discussion and a collection of stories of travelers who overcame their fear, whether it was a fear of going on the trip in the first place, or a fear of passing through a certain country, or a fear of getting back on a bike after a crash.

If you have a story that relates to travel and fear, share it in the Comments section below, or send me an email. I look forward to hearing about your experiences!

Rides: See the "real" America on an off-road dual-sport cross-country ride

Over the years you get to know certain people in the motorcycle world and though I've never met him in person I've become quite fond of San Correro. For years, Sam has passionately pursued his goal of charting a coast-to-coast, off-pavement motorcycle adventure. He has studied reams of maps and personally surveyed thousands of miles. Over time, he began to realize that a lot of people shared his interests, and so he began to share his labor and knowledge, creating trails where there were none before, negotiating with land owners to allow passage through their properties, publishing reports on his website, and even leading people many lucky people on rides...hopefully, one day, me, if I can get up the nerve to trail ride again -- something I used to love doing when I had the flexible bones of a teenager.

In a Grass Hut Overlooking the Caribbean: A Yucatan Dream

Last spring I spent a week in the Yucatan. Just flew there and pretty much stayed put in a grass hut on a cliff-top overlooking the Caribbean Sea. I hear there's a ferry between Florida and Cancun popular with motorcycle travelers who want to ride in southern Mexico but who don't want to travel the overland route from the Western USA. If anyone knows about this please contact me because I'd love to return on a bike to explore the Ruta Maya in a leisurely fashion - the only way to do it, I think. It's wonderfully hot and humid, there. Here's a bit more on the area, whether you're just looking for a week or two in a tropical place, or you're researching an overland tour to the Yucatan, Belize, and beyond.

Autumn Memories of an Italian Afternoon

The following story is excerpted from my Italian Lessons dispatches, and published (in Italian) in the Moto Guzzi Mandello newsletter where I have a section called Carla King's Corner. Here it is in English:

Marcello Moltini raced ahead of me on his Guzzi Centauro but I rode slowly to enjoy the sunlight bouncing between the blue water of Lake Como and the rocky mountains. Our destination was the lakefront road and a lakeside restaurant. Though were dining on fresh fish and pasta on an idyllic terrace overlooking the water, I was trying not be sad because this was my last day in Italy.