Riding Across North America
I’ve been riding motorcycles since I was about 14 years old and owned my own street bikes since I was 23. Most of my riding has been long distance touring – initially on bikes that were meant to be street cruisers. In 2014, I finally purchased the touring bike of my dreams. Over my lifetime, I have ridden over a quarter of a million kilometres on two wheels. The accompanying map shows every place I have ridden on motorcycle.
Places I have travelled on motorcycle
I have ridden over a quarter of a million kilometres on two wheels.
Starting small
I started riding with my friend, Paul Hunter’s, 50 cc dirt bike. We would share a helmet between us and take turns riding the wooded trails between Westminster Park subdivision and Pond Mills in London, Ontario, Canada.
Through my teens, I had several friends who rode and who took me on as a passenger: Rick Thompson, Bruce Legg and others.
My rebel cousin Bob
As a child and teenager, I heard many stories about my much older rebel cousin, Bob Herdman, who bought a Harley in 1969 and rode from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to California, USA, for the Summer of Love. Bob eventually settled in southwest Alberta, Canada. Bob was even featured on the cover of Canadian Biker Magazine when he rode his motorcycle to the Arctic Circle!
The stories I heard of Bob made him an inspiring folk hero in my young mind.
My first street bike
In 1988, I purchased my first street bike. It was a used 1985 Yamaha Virago 750. I took a driving course and joined a riding club (The Virago Owners’ Club). We did regular day-trips around southern Ontario and longer road trips to rallies in the United States.
My first ride across North America
In 1991, I moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, to attend the Vancouver School of Theology (at UBC). I shipped my belongings by freight, climbed on my Virago with my then-fiancée and we took 8 days to ride to the West Coast. We took the American route as far as Montana, then crossed north into Alberta to visit my cousin, Bob, for the first time since I was out of diapers. Then we took the Canadian route through the Rockies. My fiancée then flew back home.
Living and riding in British Columbia
While living in Vancouver, I started a new local chapter of the Virago Owners’ Club so I would have friends to ride with out there. (It was also a personal experiment in understanding group growth strategies for later application to churches.) The Vancouver Chapter grew to be the second largest chapter in North America. We rode all over southern British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest, with frequent trips into Washington State.
My second ride across North America
At the end of my first year of school, I was due to head back to London, Ontario to get married later that summer (1992). That spring I received a phone call from my good friend and riding buddy, Matt Daudlin, that went something like this:
Matt: I hear you’re planning to ride your bike back home from Vancouver. We can’t have you riding all the way from Vancouver (British Columbia) to London (Ontario) by yourself, now can we?
Me: Absolutely not! What did you have in mind?
Matt: I thought I might ride out there to meet you and ride back with you.
Me: Well, we can’t have you ride all the way across the continent to meet me just to turn around and ride right back again, now can we?
Matt: Absolutely not! What did you have in mind?
Me: I think San Francisco (California) is on the way home!
It was an incredible ride that deserves a blog post of it’s own. Matt rode from Chatham, Ontario in April all the way to Vancouver, BC. He stayed with me for a week and we did some day trips around the Lower Mainland. Then, after my last worship service in the church I was working at, we hopped on our two bikes and rode down the West Coast Highway to San Francisco. Then we headed east through the mountains, across the desert, through more mountains to Denver, then across the Prairies back to southern Ontario.
Honeymoon to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
My fiancée and I were married later that summer and then we rode east through New England to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia for our honeymoon, where we rode the Cabot Trail (counter clockwise, of course) and returned home through Quebec.
My third ride across North America
In 1996, I graduated from the Vancouver School of Theology (UBC) with my Master of Divinity Degree and my graduation present to myself was brand new (but last year’s model) 1995 Yamaha Virago 1100. I rode it for a month around the Lower Mainland to break it in, then took it back to the dealer for a final once-over before hitting the road. Then my (now ex) wife and I rode the reverse route to our earlier westward trip. We took the American route through the Rockies, through Washington, Idaho and western Montana. My goal was to ride the Going to the Sun Highway from west to east. Cresting the top and seeing the Prairies laid out ahead of us as far as the eye could see is a sight I will never forget.
(of David Letterman fame)
Settling down in my ancestral home: Hamilton, Ontario
We settled in suburban Hamilton, Ontario — the place where my Gaelic speaking Scottish ancestors first settled in 1834. I tried a couple of different riding clubs before settling with the Widows Sons (Masonic) Riding Club.
In summer of 2001, my then-wife and I rode to visit a friend in Colorado. My wife was 3 months pregnant at the time. We stopped in Chicago to visit another friend. On the way home we took a detour to Texas.
Finally owning my dream bike
A brother in the Widows Sons had a bike that I fell in love with. 1t was a 2004 Yamaha Road Star 1700. It was my dream bike. Every time he and I went for a ride together, I said to him, “Be careful with that bike. You know you’re riding my next bike!” I made no secret of my interest in owning his bike if he ever decided to sell it. In 2014, he bought a Harley and gave me first dibs on the Road Star. I jumped at the chance. It’s my dream bike. I’m still riding it to this day.
