• Stories from the Road

    Die Young as Late as You Can

    The idea is to die young as late as possible. Several years ago I was taking pictures of my yellow duck in a field near the center of Lincoln MA. The bike was way up on a small hill and I was 200 yds away near the road snapping photos. I heard a car stop behind me, and when I turned around and looked this older gentleman was snapping photos of me. I thought maybe he was a town official, or retired Police officer and he was going to inform me I shouldn’t be parked there. But to my surprise when I waved to him He commented what a great…

  • Stories from the Road

    Before I Die…

    Before I die A few years back someone painted the side of an Abandoned building in New Orleans with those three simple words leaving a space for people who happen to wander by to fill in the blank. Since then, other Installations of this art project sprung up all over the world.    Some of the most common things people have put on the wall deal with love, with travel and peace for the world.  Some people have put very personal messages up like…” before I die, I want to right all my wrongs” or “before I die, I want to come out of the closet to my family” or “before I die, I want to heal from my…

  • Stories from the Road

    Have You Been Here Yet?

    We’ve all been here haven’t we? Maybe not this exact spot (this is just outside of Reading PA) but you’ve been here, I know you have! Couple hundred miles into a couple hundred mile ride, late in the day, on a country back road. A road you’ve never been on, or maybe a road you know like the back of your hand. Either way you approach a corner and what you see is more then just a curve with yellow flowers, but you experience it. Something that doesn’t happen in a car, only on two wheels. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a Ducati or any other brand or style.…

  • Stories from the Road

    How The King Broke My Heart

    How the king broke my heart! And why I became such a huge Freddie Spencer fan. So it was 1984, I was just a young kid riding my very 1st motorcycle around the back roads of Massachusetts. I would go into my local moto dealer and drool over the new bikes, this was the dawn of the true sport bike age. Sky cycle was my heaven back then. Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha is how they got the name SKY cycle. I would go in and collect all the brochures of GPZ’s, FJ’s and GS’s sit on them when I had the chance and read the local road racing newspapers they…

  • Stories from the Road

    Get Lost In the Middle

    I want to get lost in the middle! “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” B. Franklin That’s a pretty powerful quote isn’t it? Especially in times like these, our elected officials (they work for us you know, don’t forget that!) are increasingly taking away the very thing our Fore fathers fought so hard for, our liberties! I’m sure like most everything else that is said on the interwebs these days you can find many different interpretations of a quote like what Mr., Franklin said about essential liberty. Well, I’m here to share one more less common quote from…

  • Stories from the Road

    I like Old Maps

    I like old maps, the smell of coffee and flashy helmets. Yeah I’m not like most people, I get that. I look at life differently then most, normal to some completely wacked to others. I think I have always seen the romance in life, and how to live it. I think that’s a common thread for us motorcyclists. Maybe not all two wheeled rides, because some see motorcycles as a tool while others like me see it more as a passion, a way of life. When did it start? Well for me later then some, I was a freshman in HS when I got my first bike. It wasn’t a…

  • Stories from the Road

    You Can’t Go Home Again

    You can’t go home again Or can you? I’m hear to say of course you can, and it’s something you should do again and again. It doesn’t have to be an actual physical location you go home to but also a mindset, a feeling in your heart and peaceful place in your mind. I just went home again today. It was a mountain road that crosses into the state of New York. Funny thing is I’ve never lived in NY or anywhere near this beautiful twisty road but Oh yes I was home again. See it was the summer of 86, I was just a young 19 year old kid…

  • Stories from the Road

    Passionate people ride red bikes?

    Passionate people ride red bikes?   Do you think that’s true, do they ride other color bikes too? Let me ask you, when you think of red motorcycles do you think of one brand? Ducati, moto Guzzi or Honda? I was chatting with my good friend Rich Grant one morning about motorcycles, motorcycle racers and brands of bikes. The moto Guzzi v11 Le Mans came up. A bike I would love to own someday, but surprisingly not the red one, but the ultra sexy silver and Green version. I described the bike as a typical Italian motorcycle a little heavy, slow and sometimes unreliable. However stunningly beautiful, refined and full…

  • Stories from the Road

    Western MA Journey

    Western Mass Journey As you turn left onto Route 66 and head west you will find yourself crossing into the little town of Westhampton. Now we’re not on “that” Route 66 or in the famous Hamptons of Long Island, but instead we are traveling through a little section of Western MA. Route 66 travels between the towns of Northampton and Huntington, it will bring you west to route 112. It’s not a long road, maybe all of 20 miles or less however it’s a beautiful road to travel. Rolling New England hills quickly come into view when you reach about a 1/3 of the way into your ride. Just a…