I wrote a guest post for Pillioness.com on some rules for riding with passengers.
Check it out to see if you are following some of the more common sense ideas. There might be some things in the article you might not have thought about.
Now you can! Ducati is going across the US and Canada to offer test rides on this cool new motorcycle. This is the bike that was voted the “Best-looking bike” at the 2015 EICMA show in Italy.
Baltimore is the closest stop on their test ride tour to me, so I plan on making a trip to Charm City and try out one of these babies! Click here to read more about the 2016 Ducati Xperience Tour and see if there is a stop near you.
The South Island of New Zealand is like Middle Earth for motorcycling. It’s green, it’s lush, and you wouldn’t be surprised to see a hobbit or two on your travels.
Motorcycle touring here is a little different from what you may be used to.
New Zealand is about the same size as California, and you’re never more than 170 km from the sea. But it still surprises me that what looks like a fast, easy ride will actually take at least twice as long as you expect. And there are 4 very good reasons for that.
Riding in New Zealand involves everything from smooth three-lane city highways, to quiet country lanes, and rough gravel tracks.
But it’s not the road surfaces that you’ll notice. It’s the lack of straight lines. The twisties are everywhere you look.
There are roads that wind alongside deep blue rivers, lazy wide corners through chocolate-brown farmland, and hairpin bends cut right into mountains. Sometimes you meet a corner so long that time seems to stop: it’s just you and your purring machine leaning into an endless sunny curve.
And you might not see a car for 20 minutes at a time.
Riding in New Zealand will leave you at a loss for words. It is so beautiful that it makes you feel stupid. You’ll pull over, take off your helmet and stand there, gaping at snow-capped mountains, fields of purple lavender, mini-waterfalls tumbling down cliff faces, and more shades of green than you’ve ever seen in your life.
The big challenge is to keep your eyes on the road instead of the scenery.
It’s near impossible to plan a riding itinerary here, because of the weather.
The sky can change colour in a matter of minutes.
Temperatures can suddenly soar or drop, as blazing sunshine quickly becomes a thunderous downpour. You’re riding through hot, dry fruit country and just as you’re thinking of pulling over to unzip your jacket lining, the sky opens up and threatens to drown you.
It helps if you carry wet weather gear, and be prepared to change your plans. If you’re suddenly soaked to the skin, find a motel and start again tomorrow.
In the South Island of New Zealand, bikers are not seen as axe murderers in training. Motorcycles are not a source of suspicion here. In fact, they’re the perfect ice-breaker.
When you’re out on the road, prepare to be bailed up by chatty strangers who want to talk about bikes.
Every time you stop for lunch or a coffee, add an extra half hour to your travelling time. At least. Because, look out: the locals have spotted you’re on a motorcycle.
P.S. Liz Hardy is the editor and proprietor of the PILLIONESS website. Her site is geared to “Helping Women Love Motorcycling!”
A few weeks ago we had 36+ inches of snow, mostly gone now. Next week they are calling for a couple of inches more. So what better time to post winter motorcycling pictures!!
Not sure who to credit, but a cool pic.
Unfortunately winter is here in North America, which means I have put one of the motorcycles to bed for the season. This week our local weathermen are speaking of horrible weather coming this weekend. Anything from 3 inches to over 30 inches of snow is in the forecast….so who knows!
I put the Army Bike under the cover last weekend after following my “9 Tips” to preparing the motorcycle for winter storage. The blue bike is still “unprepared” for winter but I have hopes for some “warmish” winter days. Never know when we might be able to sneak in a quickie.
Well the blue bike is not completely unprepared, the tank is full and I put some stabilizer in it to help with condensation/water. The battery is on a tender and I checked the anit-freeze. So it went through an abbreviated preparation process.
I really do need to look somewhere a little further south…I am ok with 3 seasons of weather…as long as one of the three is not winter. 🙂
Down for the winter!
On New Year’s Day we participated in the Frosty Balls motorcycle ride. The ride is hosted by the HOG Chapter 1813 out of Frederick, MD every New Years day.
Debbie and I bundled up as much as possible while still being able to mount the bike (although I would have loved to have a video of Debbie trying to get on the bike…it took 3 tries LOL) and pulled out of the driveway at 930 AM. With the temperature at 38F, the ride to the dealership parking lot start point was brisk to say the least. By the way…we don’t have heated gear.
When we arrived I was quite surprised to see that there were over 40 bikes ready to take on the cool morning. After signing in we mingled a bit with the other members of the HOG wishing each other a Happy New Year and catching up on what happened over the holidays. Soon enough it was time to go kickstands up.
Fifty miles of Maryland and Virginia back roads we ended up at the Virginia Kitchen restaurant in Herndon VA. A nice lunch, a warm room and great comradery help raise our internal temperature … until we had to go out and ride home. At this point Debbie and I decided to drop from the group and go back to the house to take care of post-holiday activities.
The round trip was over 80 miles and the temperature had reached a balmy 48F as we pulled back into our driveway. It was a good ride and a good way to start the new year!
Of course a picture of my bike would be in the top 9!
If you follow me on Twitter (@IJUSTWANT2RIDE) or Facebook you know I post and retweet a lot of cool motorcycle pics. At least what I think are cool pictures.
I went through those and picked out the 20 that I liked the best then sliced those down to my favorite nine. Why 9??… because everyone does 10 and 11 is too many!
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 