My Motorcycle Adventure Riding

In 2013 I discovered a great passion for the ride and the open road. Over the past ten years or so I’ve owned five bikes, four of them Harley Davidsons, and have ridden well over 70,000 miles. I am able to ride like this for two reasons. First, a riding partner, Pete, who rides the same way I do and has the same passion for the long trips. Many shy away from the long ride, opting more for the Saturday ride to the Dairy Shack, or the Sunday ride to church and then back to the garage until next week. My wife, Phyllis, says away from the long ride but will join me on day rides and shorter trips to dinner. I enjoy short day trips, too, but those long rides are a great adventure.

Second, a tolerant and understanding wife, Phyllis. She is quick to say that men need adventure in their lives and I agree. Pete thinks she is just glad to be rid of me for a few days.

Pete and I have been through South Dakota a few times, to the Big Texan Steak House in Amarillo a couple times, through Tulsa a few times, through Dodge City, Deadwood, Tombstone, Denver, Key West, Panama City Beach, and up and down Florida’s forgotten Coast just to name a few of the places we’ve ridden. Yes, we’ve been to Sturgis, but I am not a fan of wild and crazy biker rallies, though an organization I belong to, the Nazarene Motorcycle Fellowship (NMF) is planning an increased Christian biker presence at rallies. It will be very interesting to see how that works out.

So far, it’s been an amazing blessing and, Lord willing, I hope we have many rides to go.

My riding passion started as a kid. My grandfather patched together minibikes with Briggs and Stratton engines and gave them to me. I lived in Ashville, a small, rural town in south central Ohio so there were tons of places to ride, and ride we did. It was a hoot. I rode several of those minibikes into the ground. At one point my Grandpa gave me a small Honda motorcycle he had somehow patched together. I remember it well. I owe him a giant debt of gratitude for the mini bikes and for many other things. I look forward to seeing him in heaven someday. That was back in the day when no one cared about helmets or eye protection.

After my very early teen years I didn’t ride again until sometime in 1986. I would have been about 27 years old, working full-time as a uniformed federal technician in the Ohio Army National Guard. The officer I worked for put me in for a technician cash performance award and I got it. I quickly spent that award on a used Yamaha 350 road bike a coworker’s husband was selling. It was an older, chain-driven bike that had sat in a crate for years before it was even assembled. I had a great time with it. I rode it for a long time and since it was a metric bike, it literally never required maintenance. Just an oil change once in a while and air in the tires.

By the early-90s I was married and had two kids. I didn’t have a lot of freedom at that time, which pretty much ended the motorcycle riding for me. I sold the bike and ended my motorcycle riding days, or so I thought.

In 2013 my kids had grown and moved out and I was friends with the people who were active in my church’s motorcycle ministry, Full Armor Bikers (fullarmorbikers.com). After watching them for a while and after Phyllis mentioned it would be nice to take a motorcycle ride once in a while, that was it. We visited a used motorcycle dealer in Columbus and I bought a Suzuki Boulevard with saddlebags, double up seat and a backrest. We trailered that bike to DeLand, Florida, left the trailer at her sister’s place and rode the bike to Key West for a three day trip. We were hooked. Phyllis enjoyed sketching our travels and rode on the back of the bike all the way to Key West with her sketchbook. She continues illustrating our travels in her sketchbook.

Next came a 2010 HD Ultra Classic, 2016 HD Ultra Limited, 2020 HD Ultra Limited, and I have landed on a 2021 HD Road Glide Limited. Pete rides a 2022 Indian Pursuit Limited with their premium package. We’re a very diverse riding team with a Harley Davidson and an Indian motorcycle.

This blog is about MC riding, the open road, my experience with motorcycle ministry, my faith journey, and “Backroads, Buffoonery & Breakthroughs in Leadership“. Check out my book of the same title on Amazon.com. I hope you enjoy it.

Again, thanks for reading and please like my blog.
One last plug, I make part of my living speaking to large or small groups on leadership, emergency management, relationship violence, and long distance motorcycling. If you’re looking for a speaker for your group, give me a shout at [email protected]. Thanks.