In 1984 I got on a motorcycle for the first time. The result of that first attempt was like an episode of Fail Army. My friend let me ride his 80cc dirt bike. I made it about 20 yards, found myself going too fast and grabbed the front brake lever. The front wheel locked and the bike dropped out from under my body, which was trying to continue in the direction of travel. I believe the technical term for what happened next is called ‘Face Plant’. It was not an auspicious beginning to what would become a lifelong journey of riding.

Getting on and Getting Off

Fast forward a year and my mother (formerly a helicopter mom, long before the term was popularized) bought me my first motorcycle. She was scared to death but didn’t want a bored teenager on her hands. That bike was a blue, 1971 Honda SL-175. Two cylinders, four-cycle engine. It was probably one of the best beginners bikes possible. I absolutely learned to ride on it and I’m fairly certain it only took a few weeks of riding before I was hooked – for life. I had friends that rode and I realized I found my tribe.

I rode for about three months all over rural roads and trails before I entered a gravel corner far too fast, had a spectacular low-side and the bike slide into a tree. It was partially mangled. Bent front forks, bent frame and handlebars. My body slid into a very large bush. I got up, (mostly) unhurt, and pushed my destroyed motorcycle the two miles back home. I took it into the garage and disassembled it. It was the age before the Internet, but coincidentally I knew a guy who had a nearly identical Honda SL-175 with a failed engine. My engine was fine. I talked my parents into buying it for a few bucks and I swapped my engine into it. In a few months I was back riding. My SL-175 was now red!

My friends and I forged strong bonds and had many adventures over the next two years. We may have spent almost as much time wrenching on one bike or the other, but we also spent many days simply exploring abandoned railroad beds, dirt roads and gravel pits. My parents got my younger brother a motorcycle and his friends were added to the tribe.

Fast forward two years and I enlisted in the Air Force and was massively in love with a young woman who would become my first wife. I left my motorcycle in Michigan while the military took me all around the country. My parents sold the motorcycle while I was away and I guess the part of me that craved adventure was sated by the rest of my life and military career. Before I took my leave of the USAF my wife and I were blessed with my oldest daughter. Starting a civilian career and raising a family took over and I didn’t ride for many years. But it was still in my blood.

Not my Honda SL175, but one very much like it.

Returning to the Ride

In 2001 I ran into a guy at a park while I was attending a hobby event. He was riding a Suzuki DR350. We talked, he told me about his riding adventures. I was transported back to my teen years and the great friends I knew and the adventures we had. He was upgrading to a newer machine. We negotiated a price for me to acquire the DR350. In a few weeks, I was back in the saddle. I rode that bike for a few years, both on and off road. There were some amazing rides, with really good friends. I had a few spills though and a couple of them left me very sore. Once again my work, family and a renewed affection for ATVs took over my time and I sold the DR350 to someone who saw it parked in the car port at the apartments we were living at. He left a note on the seat while I was at work. It was not to be last motorcycle though.

Another Season

Fast forward to 2007 and I purchased a nearly new Suzuki DR650 and began riding country roads around our new house in rural Michigan. I was enchanted. Winding gravel back roads reminded me of my earliest days on a motorcycle and even more exciting – the winding paved roads were irresistible. I rode the bike to the grocery store. I rode it to church. I rode it at lunch time, when I had a break from calls in my home office. It was the most amazing time yet. I would ride all over, nearly always on country or rural roads. When my son turned 16 he got his drivers license and finally decided he wanted to learn to ride. I bought him a Suzuki DR200 and he learned to ride it in very short order (broke his collarbone in one spill on his learning journey). It turns out he would go on to be a rider, and he rides to this day.

My Adventure on the Adventure

I owned the DR650 until 2016. I had been pining after a BMW R1150 GS, but it had long been out of the financial reach of a father of three, even if purchased used. My children had grown and all found their way elsewhere in life. I was learning to fly, following a life-long dream of being a pilot. But my health was suffering from a lifetime of neglect. I was very overweight. I had just renewed my FAA medical three months before and was ready to resume training after a two-year hiatus from the cockpit when I found out I had a rather advanced case of persistent Atrial Fibrillation.

I entered the hospital and after a week I was sent home with medication to help correct the condition. It turns out I was to react badly to the medication and collapsed the day after returning home. My heart stopped (technically Ventricular Fibrillation). Miraculously I survived and eventually recovered fully. My cardiologist managed to get my heart working as expected. I recovered fully, shed 30 pounds of accumulated water weight. But my flying days were done.

So I took the money I was saving to buy into a flying club and walked into the BMW dealer. They had a matte red BMW R1200 GS Adventure that spoke to me the moment I saw it. I’ve been on it ever since. I’ve been on some amazing journeys. I still have the bike even though my wife divorced me in 2023. I still ride and the people I ride with are some of my best friends. My two closest riding buddies were there for me when I married again. No, the bike wasn’t part of the ceremony, but it is still very much a part of my life. I look forward to every ride, and the adventures I find myself on. And even when I’m not on it, the part of me that loves it, colors the rest of my life

Some of my adventures are documented here on my site and in a few YouTube videos.