My first attempt to learn how to ride a motorbike was a disastrous attempt at taking the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) course back in 2000 or 2001. The teachers didn’t teach, the bike was massively too small for my legs, and it went downhill from there. Despite that beginning, I still wanted to ride – I just didn’t want to actually take the MSF class to learn how. Since no one was willing to let my untrained self have a go at riding their bikes, I put my plans on the back burner for a while.
Several years later, in 2006, my husband finally told me that he’d buy me a bike, with one condition. Of course, that condition was that I take (and pass!) the MSF class first. As enticement, he took the class with me. It was amazing the difference having teachers that actually cared about teaching and helping us improve our skills – I passed, and we headed to The Motorcycle Shop in Anchorage, Alaska, where I ordered up my first motorbike, a pretty red 2007 BMW F 650 GS.
After a long Alaskan winter, my bike arrived and I spent lots of time puttering around the streets in our subdivision. By the end of that first summer, we’d tackled our first motorcycle excursion – a week and a half adventure along the Alcan to Whitehorse, YT, and back home again. We’ve since taken numerous other excursions, our longest trip being from Anchorage to Nakusp, BC and back, and another bike, a 2010 red Ducati Monster 696, has joined my BMW (and my husband’s bikes) in our garage. In 2015, I sold my Monster and replaced it with a 2015 Ducati Scrambler – it’s even more fun than the Monster was. Our most recent big trip was last summer, when we relocated from Anchorage to Portland, OR (I didn’t get to ride but had a blast driving my GTI on my first big car road trip).
In the summer of 2014, I took an extended solo motorbike trip through Europe. I shipped my BMW from Vancouver BC to London and headed east. I camped for the most part (European campgrounds are so much nicer than campgrounds in the US – most have food and booze), met some great people from all over, and saw some incredible sights. And I learned that the world is a much smaller place, with people being pretty much the same everywhere. You can find my posts from my adventure easily on my ‘tags’ page – just click on either ‘sabbatical’ or any of the country names to check out my photos and adventures.
When I’m not motoring around the pacific northwest, I’m working hard as HR business partner for a financial services firm. Yes, HR nerds listen to punk rock and ride motorbikes.
Things I like (other than motorbikes): travel, camping, cats, my dog, shoes, aged cheese, autumn, tea, pumpkin cheesecake, full english breakfasts, photograpy, stouts and porters, reading (almost anything), and cashmere.
This blog will be where I blather about my bikes, review some gear, and my two-wheeled adventures, near and far. Come along for the ride!