Passes & Canyons Blog

I mentioned previously that I had been invited to go on a four-day tour through the beauties of California with a group put together by EagleRider. Well, I flew to Los Angeles this morning and we hit the road tomorrow.

Tonight we’re in Venice Beach, at the Erwin Hotel. I don’t know a lot about this hotel but it’s supposed to be a classy joint. What I do know is that we’re on the sixth floor with balconies overlooking the boardwalk and the ocean. Too bad the fog hasn’t burned off today, as everyone was saying it would, because the sunset would probably be pretty spectacular but that doesn’t seem likely under the circumstances.

So anyway, I’ve ended up riding a Harley Heritage Softail, which seems to fit me pretty well. I had fears that the bike I ended up with might not be a good fit because I have short legs. Most of the Harleys I’ve ridden I’ve had an uncomfortable reach to the foot controls, but on this one it’s not a problem. It’s going to be very interesting to finally get some serious seat time on a Harley. I’ve never ridden any of them very much before.

So far I’ve met just a couple of the other writers on this ride, Natasha Dragun from Australia and Frederic Bagur (I think!) from Paris. The only person whose name I recognize is Donya Carlson, who writes for Rider magazine. Haven’t met her yet.

This is going to be an exotic few days, what with all the fancy places we’ll be staying and eating. I’m not normally a fancy-place sort of guy but I’ll do my best to make an exception this time. You can bet I’ll tell you all about it. Heck, maybe I’ll even try selling a story drawn from this trip to a travel magazine for a change, as opposed to a motorcycle magazine. We’ll see.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Setting out on a “Tour of a lifetime”

Biker Quote for Today

Never look where you are going, always look where you want to go.

Some guys have all the luck, and this time around I guess I’m one of them. I’ve been invited by EagleRider to come along on “The Tour of a Lifetime” that they are putting on for moto-journalists and, dirty jobs department, I said yes. Someone had to, you know.

EagleRider, by the way, in case you aren’t aware, is the biggest motorcycle rental outfit around, and they also do tours. You can bet they’re looking for some great publicity to come out of this and I have to tell you, unless they flub it pretty badly, which I don’t expect them to do, they’ll be getting plenty of that from me. I’ll be writing about the ride here, on Examiner.com, and on RumBum.com, so with me they’re getting three birds with one stone.

We’ll be flying into Los Angeles on Oct. 14 to get acquainted and set up, then on Oct. 15 we’ll take off on a four-day ride to San Francisco. Considering that you can do that trip in one day, that’s a pretty good indication that this is going to be a leisurely trip with “touring” being the operative word. We’ll visit the wine country, the Hearst Castle, Yosemite, and more. And yeah, you bet, I’m itching to go.

So this is just a teaser. I’ll have a LOT more to tell you once we get underway. Stay tuned.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Congressmen challenge motorcycle-only checkpoints

Biker Quote for Today

Dance like there’s no one watching, sing like no one is listening, love like you’ll never get hurt, and ride like there’s no tomorrow.