About

My Story

My teen years were all about motorcycles! My younger brother and I received a Kawasaki G3TR as a Christmas present when I was about 13 years old. I think my Dad bought it just for use to trail ride out in the desert (my grandfather had a cabin out in Landers, CA). But my dad had been a previous motorcycle racer in the 50's; and in fact was the monkey on the two-time National Hare and Hound Championship Sidehack team. So it wasn't long before competitive juices were flowing and we started entering desert races, enduros, and motocross races. Later my older brother got bit by the bug as well, and was a Baja and professional motocross racer.

I went through a variety of bikes, and turned into a pretty good desert racer finally reaching the District 37 expert class on my Kawasaki KDX 175. But then life took over - college, career, marriage, kids, etc. and I stopped riding around 1981.

Spring of 2006 - I've got the itch to buy a motorcycle and start riding on a regular basis again. I'm thinking about getting a bike that I can do some touring and cruising with. About the time I'm pondering this, however, my friend Bob invited me to go dirt bike riding with him (he had a couple of dirt bikes - XR650 and XR 400), and then I started thinking about getting a bike to meet the needs of both street and dirt.

The Result -
2006 BMW R1200GS

Now, at the time that this is occuring, I have a home and family in Camas, WA but working up in Edmonton, Canada. I planned on keeping the bike up in Edmonton from late Spring to Fall while I working in Edmonton, and then riding it back to Camas to keep it there in the winter with the chance to take it for a few rides on trips home.

The first decision, once I had made up my mind on the 1200GS, was where to buy the bike. I had already decided to buy in the US, as the Canada work was temporary and I wanted to register the bike in Washington. As it turns out, I was attending a conference in Las Vegas in June; and had already made plans to take a 3 to 4 day ride around northern Arizona after the conference with another friend of mine (Pete). My original plan was to rent a Harley Softtail for that ride, but the plans changed to instead buy the 1200GS in Vegas, and use our planned ride as a shakedown ride for the new bike. I would then ride the new bike back to Edmonton.

Upon arriving in Vegas for the conference, I made my way over to Las Vegas BMW, purchased the 1200GS and made plans to pick it up later in the week. After the conference, Pete and I then took off for a quick 2-1/2 day ride (I had to cut it a little short, as I now needed to take some additional time to ride it back to Edmonton). Also due to fires around the Sedona area at that time, we decided to ride through southern Utah instead. We left early on Sunday morning, and I got back to Vegas by noon on Tuesday so that Las Vegas BMW could take care of the first service on the bike. I then left the next morning, Wednesday, and arrived in Edmonton on Friday morning after about 1500 miles.

The BMW turned out to be an excellent motorcycle in the dirt, and probably the vast majority of the miles I've ridden with it have been on dirt roads and trails. But it wasn't long before I wanted a smaller and more offroad-oriented dual-sport bike for more serious off-roading. First, I bought a Husqvarna TE310, and then a Husaberg 570. Then I purchased a second Husaberg 570, modified it to be a Offroad Rally race bike; and at the age of 57, I started racing again in offroad navigational rally events. Motorcycles have been bought and sold, but I'm still riding and racing (both 2-wheel and 4-wheel).

Anyways, the plan is to document many of my rides, races, and adventures on this website. I hope that you enjoy the pictures and stories.

Bikes

Adventures

Races