Motorcycle Misadventures

Boost Your Creativity: Go to the Back Country

I was so happy when daylight savings time kicked in yesterday but it's a cloudy, rainy week in the San Francisco Bay Area so I'm having a little trouble kicking the winter blues. Yes I do know that people do ride, hike, and camp out in the rain -- my friends and family in the Pacific Northwest, in Canada are giggling now because they don't let it stop them -- otherwise they'd never get outside.

And I also know that a backcountry experience will help boost my mood and my creativity. I just spotted this article in Backpacker Magazine that may spur me on: Top 3 Literary Hikes: Thoreau, Hemingway, and Kerouac all went into the backcountry to find the right words. Here are the three tours:

Fox River, MI 
From Hemingway's "The Big Two-Hearted River" 
In this Hemingway standout, a war-weary young soldier named Nick Adams spends three days hiking and fishing in a remote area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. 

Matterhorn PK, CA
From Kerouac's The Dharma Bums 
Seeking enlightenment, Jack Kerouac attempted an ascent of Yosemite's 12,279-foot Matterhorn Peak with poet Gary Snyder and friend John Montgomery in 1955. 

Mount Greylock,MA 
From Thoreau's A Week on the Merrimack and Concord Rivers 
Not long before heading to Walden Pond to build a cabin, Thoreau climbed this whale-shaped hump of a mountain in the 10,000-acre Mount Greylock State Reservation.

Read more about these Top 3 Literary Hikes.

I'm heading up to the Sierras this weekend to help celebrate my friend Carol Levow's new book Dare to Paint. If it's not really storming I'll ride the Guzzi up there a day early, find a place by the river, pitch my tent, cook a meal, sleep with the sound of the water and the night to clear my mind.

Catch my story in ADVMoto / Dual Sport News

Catch my story about Frank the Chinese mechanic and being stuck on the Yellow River in China, in the March / April 2012 issue of ADVMoto/Dual-Sport News, sold in print and online.

 

 

 

Another iPhone App - for Trails

National Geographic released their trail map app today, which makes me happy because I love hiking and sometimes I like to explore and I often get a little lost. Mt. Tam is familiar but the trails are twisty and it's easy to get turned around. Is that Alpine Lake or Bon Tempe? Uh oh... does this trail lead back to Lake Phoenix where I left my bicycle or am I headed to Fairfax? I am hoping this app will get me out of these predicaments.

Hikers, mountain bikers, dirt and dual sport motorcycle riders, and 4x4 drivers should also appreciate this app. Despite my love of technology, I have not been an early adopter of GPS units, preferring my instincts and a paper map when motorcycling here and abroad. But the iPhone is so handy and, after all, I can tweet from it, too.

Teresa, Diny, and Me Lost in China on our Motorcycles

This is a funny audio file that I found. It was made accidentally, must have been turned on in my pocket (which means it is also not of the best quality). I edited out the over-an-hour-long engine noise, and began at tire screeching and near accident. Then discussion about being lost, and interactions with a local farmer, another car following us -- they're just not used to seeing foreigners so go out of their way to view the exotic alien beings up close! And then discussion about the cave-houses, and we take off again even though Diny's plugs are misfiring, we figure we have only about 20 km to go to the next town, and we need food and tuneups. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It says a lot about traveling independently in China. Find some preview stories about this trip at http://scribd.com/carlaking  Click below to hear the audio, or right-click to download it. It may take a while to load, it's about 8 minutes long.

LostInChina

 

Talking with Stefy Bau Moto-Supercross Champ, MX School Owner Tues 3/22

Please join me for a conversation with Stefy Bau about empowering women in action sports, motocross, travel, women in motorcycling, athleticism, and who knows what!

This two-time motocross world and US champion, speaker, member of the International Federation of Motorcycling, traveler, owner and instructor at 211 MX school for women by women, and PlayStation video game star, is based in Tallahassee, Florida and Milan, Italy.

Check out this video of her on RacerXOnline, and follow her on Twitter @stefybau.

Please join me online or by phone to listen to SidestandUp motorcycle radio - I'll be on for 1/2 hour sometime during the show between 7:00 and 9pm ET on Tuesday, March 22. Log-in to the live chat room which I monitor to pass your questions on to Stefy.

A Conversation with Stefy Bau
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
For 1/2 hr between 7:00 - 9:00 ET
SidestandUp Motorcycle Radio

 

 

Tonight 4:30pm PT: an interview with the Overland Expo director Rosann Hanson

Tonight on SideStandUp radio I interview Roseann Hanson, Director/Founder of Overland Expo April 1-3 2011

We'll talk about the expo which is held each April in the hamlet of Amado in southern Arizona, just a few miles from the Mexico border. This international event educates and inspires people to get out and explore the world by vehicle or motorcycle, bicycle or on foot, whether 100 miles from home or 10,000 miles. The expo promotes global exploration and conservation of natural resources and culture offering educational and inspirational opportunities for adventure travelers. Over 3000 do-it-yourself adventurers enjoy 70 different classes, workshops, and roundtable programs, or visit 100+ exhibitors who offer four-wheel-drive and adventure motorcycles, accessories, camping gear, and adventure travel services. (And Carla will be presenting on China and on self-publishing at the Expo!)

Rosann, along with Jonathan Hanson, her husband of 25 years, has authored over a dozen natural history and outdoor books. Rosann is also a lapidary and metalsmith, creating one-of-a-kind gemstone and precious metal jewelry. They live in a remote, off-the-grid property 35 miles southwest of Tucson. Early on in her career in conservation, Roseann realized that the most effective strategies for success was with grassroots projects, for which funds were raised $5 to $50 at a time, rather than the big million-dollar projects, which got mired in bureaucracy and greed. The Overland Expo is a fundraiser for ConserVentures, which conducts conservation expeditions throughout the world (you can participate!), either assessing potential project areas or working with existing but under-funded wildlife, landscape, and cultural conservation projects.

Join me live for the conversation on SideStand Up motorcycle radio tonight at 4:30 pm PT, 7:30 pm ET, and participate via the chat room.

Motorcycle Adventure Travel Lineup Tonight on SideStand Up Radio 4-6pm PT

Tonight's lineup of motorcycle adventure travelers include Carla King, Christopher Baker,  Grant Johnson, and Glen Heggstad. Don't miss it on sidestandup.com 4-6pm PT. Log-in early to join the lively chat room!

Miss Adventuring Carla King is back this week with author of Mi Moto Fidel Christopher Baker. Picking up an assignment to write a travel guide in Cuba Christopher decided to kill to two birds with one pen. Mi Moto Fidel is an absolutely incredible insight into an island and culture that has been shrouded for the last 50+ years. If you like a little sizzle with your moto read you won't want to miss Mi Moto Fidel!

World Moto Adventurer and Founder of Horizons Unlimited Grant Johnson will be sharing with our listeners things you need to know or at least think about while planning a moto adventure through out the world.

Glen "The Striking Viking" Heggstad is back. Glen's newest book is One More Day Everywhere: Crossing 50 Borders on the Road to Global Understanding. Constantly reeling from the harrowing experience in Columbia Glen needed to find out what was really out in the world so he could prove to himself the world wasn't inherently evil. 

Talk with travel writer Christopher Baker, Cuba expert and motorcyclist

  Tomorrow I'm interviewing travel writer Christopher Baker, Cuba expert, motorcyclist, about his travels in Cuba and his book Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Castro's Cuba. (It won travel book of the year!) Hey, you may be able to motorcycle Cuba yourself soon. Find out how. Listen to SideStand Up tomorrow, Tuesday April 26th 4-6 pm PT. We'll be on from about 4:25 for 1/2 hour. Listen online, log on early, and join the lively chat session.

SideStandUp.com

Tuesday, April 26, 4:00-6:00 PT

Packing for a motorcycle trip or anywhere, think "flashbacking"

This cute couple has shared 10 excellent tips on packing light and the philosophy behind it. I just had to share. May your saddlebags not sag...

What's the best way to pack for a year on the road? Okay, so it's a trick question. Unless you're off to tag penguins at a base in Antarctica, there's simply no need or even a good reason to pack for a year. Eight months ago, my wife Lindsie and I pooled our savings, quit our jobs, rented out our condo, and set off to spend a year traveling the world. But a year's worth of gear would be impossibly heavy; a year isn't a vacation, it's an expedition. So rather than plan (and pack) for all contingencies, we're flashpacking. Read all about it...

More on sidecars in China

Awesome. In the second part of the show about Riding in China Jim and Bill talk about my 1998 trip in China, and the second trip last year with Teresa and Diny - 1st 5 minutes.