Iron & Resin Hooligan Hoedown (Photo: Nathaniel Chaney) “Millennials are killing” insert anything that is showing signs of declining sales in the last couple of years. If all of these headlines are true then motorcycles, according to CNBC, are next on the list of doomed industries. Apparently the hundreds of riders who attended this years Iron & Resin Hooligan Hoedown didn’t get the message.
Read MoreHoliday Escape Pt. II: The family you make on the road
Pulling up to a winnebago precariously situated on a desolate clearing in the desert tundra of the California/Nevada border a middle-aged woman saunters down the steps shielding her eyes from the setting sun. A fellow nomad, I put on a big smile to great my road family. “Who is it?” she asks. “Just a stranger on the road” I reply. Pulling the KLR up and switching off the engine. She comes down to the bike as a man appears at the door in a sunhat. “Hello there.”
Read MoreHoliday escape or turning two days into four
The Escape Sitting at my desk staring at the calendar a week before Fourth of July brought a sudden amazing realization. You could take Monday off and turn a non-holiday weekend into a full on four day escape. Any long weekend gets my mind instantly racing towards motorcycle road trip. That thought is inevitably followed by: where should I go? Utah? Oregon? Maybe somewhere closer. All I knew was that I wanted to avoid the holiday crowds and explore sites for rouge camping.
Read MoreWhat’s the size of your adventure?
Out in the wilds of California (Photo by Nathaniel Chaney) Ever since we found we could strap an engine to a bicycle and ride long distances the question has been: where can you go? It didn’t take long for Carl Clancy to show the answer was anywhere by circumnavigating the globe by motorcycle in 1912. The benchmark for adventure had been set for all future generations of motorcyclists.
Read MoreHow tacos inspired a 1,500 mile ride
First off let me say that my fiancée is crazy. Two things on that, first I hate the word fiancée because it makes any sentence sound douchey. Second, she is that great kind of crazy that on long days can wear me down, but most of the time inspires me to live life more fully. Case and point, last year she decided that she was going to ride to Ensenada during a three-day weekend to get fish tacos.
Read MoreFour tips for improving your motorcycle photography
“Other people look at pictures of rustic bridges or mountainous or landscapes and admire the beauty and serenity of the scene—I’m just thinking how I can get a motorcycle into that shot.” I said this the other day to my partner and she just rolled her eyes and laughed, but to be honest it is totally true. Most of the time when looking through photos I am planning in my head how I could get my bike to this place or how I would shoot it if I was there.
Read MoreCan you handle the bivy?
REI Brain REI is the millennial version of Costco. All I remember from my youth was going with the family to Costco and coming home with ten times the stuff on our list. REI has the same effect on me now. As soon as I enter the doors my mind is hijacking me into all sorts of new gear by painting fantasies of person I want to be. It was on one of these trips that I ended up purchasing a bivy (shorthand for bivouac sack).
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