Motorcycle Misadventures

Join the live podcast today at 7pm Eastern THE AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE GIRLS

Today at 7pm Easter (that's 4pm for you west-coasters), I'll be joining the motley crew at Sidestand Up Radio. I'll be interviewing longtime motorcycle journalist, author, columnist, and songwriter, Chris Sommer-Simmons. She's collected photos of women riders for more than thirty years and created the new book, "The American Motorcycle Girls:" A Photographic History of Early Women Motorcyclists.

Free PDF download of American Borders: Chapter 1

I'm putting my Motorcycle Misadventure American Borders - the story of my four-month journey around the USA test riding the Russian Ural motorcycle for import to the American market - in eBook format. I thought I'd offer Chapter 1 so you can see what the book is like. You can download it here.

Enjoy!

Zen and Now: On the Trail of Robert Pirsig

Mark Richardson writes about cars and motor­cycles for The Toronto Star. In 2004, feeling cramped by his children’s Hot Wheels and Pokémon cards, he saddled up his trusty 1985 Suzuki DR600, added a GPS device and Butt Buffer gel seat pad, and set out along Pirsig’s route from Minnesota to San Francisco, to arrive on his 42nd birthday. “It’s undeniable,” Richardson writes, “that if his book could open so many ­readers’ eyes to more of life’s qualities, then there’s a good chance his actual journey can open my own eyes wider still.” Read the full New York Times review of Zen & Now. Click the image below to find the Zen & Now website. (By the way, I downloaded the pdf of the first chapter and found it very interesting and well written.)

Catch me on Side Stand Up tonight 6:15 PT (live podcast with chat)

The motorcycle weekly Side Stand Up is on at 8-10 pm EST, 5-7 pm PT tonight. I'll be on at 6:15 PT for my regular monthly talk about motorcycle travel writing. Last week we talked about great motorcycle travel books. This week we'll talk about blogs -- some good motorcycle travel blogs that are going on out there right now (email me if you have recommendations), as well as some how-to for those of you who want to create a realtime blog for your trip. I'll go over choosing a blog tool, writing your intro, setting realistic expectations for yourself and your readers, and storytelling (can you say "narrative arc?"). A blog can be a great start for creating a more polished works -- like articles -- or even a book. Join us on the air and in the chat room!

Meantime - check out the list of motorcycle travel books we talked about last time.

Motorcycle Travel Books: Update

I'll be updating this list of motorcycle travel books as I read them and as people recommend them to me. Here's the latest list and categories:

Really Good Travel Journalism-Writing  that just happens to heavily feature motorcycle/ing as transport or character
The foibles of writers who thought, "Hey, it might be fun to do this trip on a motorcycle:"
Ted Simon: Jupiter's Travels
Christopher Baker: Mi Moto Fidel

Personal Narrative, featuring motorcycles
Journeys gone wrong and journeys to heal the heart
Allen Noren: Storm
Neil Pert: Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road

Hilarious Travel Writing, featuring motorcycles
This British writer is a fun, fast read
Geoff Hill: The Road to Gobblers Knob
Geoff Hill: Way To Go

Special-Crossover Market Interest, featuring motorcycles
Educational, even for the layperson
Jim Rogers: Investment Biker

Philosophical, featuring motorcycles
Fiction, but based on the author's real-life experiences.
Robert Pirsig: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Special Interest: Motorcycling Events
This account of a special event is an obvious audience-grabber.
Ron Ayres: Against the Wind (Iron Butt)

Fast and Furious Motorcycle-centric Writing
The pace of the journey can sometimes carry a story through to success.
Lois Pryce: Lois on the Loose
Glen Heggstad: Two Wheels Through Terror

MOTORCYCLE TRAVEL BOOKS RECOMMENDED TO ME

Robert Fulton: One Man Caravan
Karen Larsen: Breaking the Limit

MOTORCYCLE BOOKS (not about motorcycle travel)

Poetic, featuring motorcycles/ing
Lots of personal experience and intense introspection.
Melissa Holbrook Pierson: The Perfect Vehicle

Full Tilt
Hunter S. Thompson: Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga

Philosophical
Ted Bishop: Riding with Rilke

Want to write about your motorcycle travels?

Last week I was talking with Tom Lowdermilk on the Side Stand Up motorcycle radio show (Episode 69) about motorcycle travel books and how you might manifest your own. Here are some of the books I talked about in the episode, plus resources for writing essays, developing dialogue, even self publishing. I'd love to hear your thoughts on my list, additions, arguments, and favorites, in the COMMENTS section, below. And I'll be on again late this month, so stay tuned!
Carla

MOTORCYCLE TRAVEL WRITING

Really Good Travel Journalism-Writing  that just happens to heavily feature motorcycle/ing as transport or character
The foibles of writers who thought, "Hey, it might be fun to do this trip on a motorcycle:"
Ted Simon: Jupiter's Travels
Christopher Baker: Mi Moto Fidel

Personal Narrative, featuring motorcycles
Journeys gone wrong and journeys to heal the heart
Allen Noren: Storm
Neil Pert: Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road

Hilarious Travel Writing, featuring motorcycles
This British writer is a fun, fast read
Geoff Hill: The Road to Gobblers Knob
Geoff Hill: Way To Go

Special-Crossover Market Interest, featuring motorcycles
Educational, even for the layperson
Jim Rogers: Investment Biker

Poetic, featuring motorcycles/ing
Lots of personal experience and intense introspection
Melissa Holbrook Pierson: The Perfect Vehicle

Philosophical, featuring motorcycles
Fiction, but based on the author's real-life experiences
Robert Pirsig: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Special Interest: Motorcycling Events
This account of a special event is an obvious audience-grabber
Ron Ayres: Against the Wind (Iron Butt)

Fast and Furious Motorcycle-centric Writing
The pace of the journey can sometimes carry a story through to success.
Lois Pryce: Lois on the Loose
Glen Heggstad: Two Wheels Through Terror

MODELS FOR WRITING & STORYTELLING IN GENERAL

Gonzo
Absolutely uninhibited
Hunter S. Thompson: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Travel
More could be added, but here are two greats for a start
William Least Heat Moon: Blue Highways
Robyn Davidson: Tracks

Funny
Funny is a special talent. If you've got it, you've got it. If you don't, well, then don't
Bill Bryson: I'm a Stranger Here Myself

Intensely Personal
How much do you want people to know about your life, love, marriage, divorce, weight-loss program, etc.? Gilbert gets personal and gets away with it in a big way.
Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat Pray Love

Fabulous Dialog
The spare, simple style of this great American writer could be more often emulated
Earnest Hemingway: Short Stories
  (esp short story: Hills Like White Elephants)

Descriptive Dialect
Dialect is difficult but very effective
Mark Twain: The Adventures of Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn

Places to Find Just Plain Good Writing
Many more places could be listed, but here are two of my favorites
Atlantic Monthly
New Yorker

REFERENCE

How to Write an Essay
A staple
Phillip Lopate: The Art of the Personal Essay

Writing Nonfiction
The self-publishing guru explains his formula
Dan Poynter: Writing Nonfiction: Turning Thoughts into Books

How to Self-Publish
All the bits and bytes to getting your book out there
Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual

Style
The editors indispensable guide
Chicago Manual of Style

Description
The importance of being able to describe the place you're in can't be over stated. Here's the ultimate reference, and also a great read in its own right.
Barry Lopez (Editor): Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape

OTHER MOTORCYCLE TRAVEL BOOKS

Karen Larsen: Breaking the Limit

MOTORCYCLE BOOKS (not about motorcycle travel)

Hunter S. Thompson: Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga

Ted Bishop: Riding with Rilke

In a few minutes: Carla talks about great motorcycle travel writing

In just a few minutes the Internet motorcycle radio show Side Stand Up will be live. I'll be joining host Tom Lowdermilk to talk about great motorcycle travel writing . The show runs from 8-10pm EST, 5-7 PT. I'll be on for 1/2 hour starting 5:30 PT. Join us, give us your opinion on great motorcycle travel writing, via the show blog.

At 8:00 Nate Kern 2008 Thunder Bike Champion talks about defending his #1 plate in 09. 8:30 The new monthly segment with Carla King covers all aspects of travel writing and blogging. 9:00 Eric Wallbank relates his South American riding adventures, including the last where he was caught in extreme winds.

Please call in or join the live chat to tell me about your favorite motorcycle travel books and blogs. Here's how:

Host: SideStandUp Radio Show - tom@sidestandup.com
Episode: EPISODE69 - SIDE STAND UP
Here's the link: http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=64458&cmd=tc
Here's the Call ID: 64458

Scheduled Time:
Date: Tue, January 27, 2009
Time: 08:00 PM EST

How to participate:
Call in:
Dial: (724) 444-7444
Enter: 64458 # (Call ID)
Enter: 1 # or your PIN

Join from your computer:
Here's the link to join the call or just listen along:
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=64458&cmd=tc

Legendary Motorcycles

Basem Wasef sent me his book Legendary Motorcycles a few weeks ago and it's sitting on my coffee table already dog-eared from paging through it. I'm usually disappointed by coffee table books - all pretty pictures and no literary substance - but the stories here are stellar, placing the bikes in historical and cultural context with their owners and riders. I got a little thrill when I turned a page to find that Robert Pirsig's Honda CB77 Superhawk is included, the story puts the bike in context with his life and his book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Also included are are snapshots of Pirsig's son Chris and his friends John and Sylvia, all featured as fictional characters in the book. Wasef is a professional writer and motorcycle journalist and his love of motorcycling shows in the stories, from the Easy Rider Harley with the 43-degree fork rake to Burt Munroe's Worlds Fastest Indian. Anyone who is remotely interested in motorcycles will love these 26 stories accompanied by Wasef's beautiful photography and historical candid photos. Buy it here: Legendary Motorcycles: The Stories and Bikes Made Famous by Elvis, Peter Fonda, Kenny Roberts, and Other Motorcycling Greats Also, you can listen to Adrian Blake's interview with Basem Wasef on the Ride! podcast.

Does motorcycling make you feel beautiful?

Ladies, does motorcycling make you feel beautiful? Strangely, it does for me, despite the helmet hair, figure-detracting clothes, heavy boots, and all that. Maybe it's because I'm happy, and a happy woman is a beautiful woman, yes? Related to that, I was looking through one of my favorite books today, On Becoming Fearless.... in Love, Work, and Life by Arianna Huffington, and stumbled upon this passage:

The 2004 Dove Campaign for Real Beauty Report, an extensive survey of women of various ages and nationalities, found that "women feel beautiful when they are fully engaged in meaningful life activities. More than half of women say they feel beautiful when they help others (54%); spend time with their children (53%); achieve success (46%); are physically active (46%); do something artistic (39%); enjoy a hobby (39%); or dance (35%). Surprisingly, activities that are directly related to beauty, such as shopping for beauty care products (21%) and looking at fashion magazines (17%), were less likely to make women feel beautiful.

It's one of my favorite books. I pick it up all the time and always find some great stories and wisdom in it about overcoming fear, managing fear, and using fear constructively. On Becoming Fearless is available in hardcover, paperback, Kindle format, and as an audio book. The holidays are coming up, and I think it would make a great gift for any woman on your list.

Kawi C14 Super Sport Trip Report Part III: Palm Springs

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V
I had expected to park next to the GS Chris rode through Cuba on his Mi Moto Fidel trip when I arrived, but I hadn't knows he sold it. "I really really miss it!" he said, looking longingly at the C14. "Now you've made me want to get a bike, now." His choice is the GS Adventure - 1200cc's with a 35" seat height - a bit out of my comfort zone, I thought, but then, I am feeling pretty comfortable on this 1400cc Concours. It's the seat height that daunts me.