New England Sport Touring

Here is a story for today… It goes something like this. F. Kafka a Austrian-Czech author that wrote some pretty bizarre stories in his short life (that ended in 1924) told a story about meeting a young girl in a park that was crying because she lost her doll. He tried to help the young girl find this doll and when he realized it was gone forever, he decided to write the young girl a letter from the doll. The letter explained that the doll had left to explore the world and would write to the young girl about her travels. Over the next few years Kafka would send the…

Postcards from my past Come on, come on take a little ride with meYou just might trip over some of your own memories, eventually? I had moved out of my parents’ house 2 days after HS graduation, my 1st place was this studio in Lowell, then I decided to move up in the world and got this 2-room place in the center of Fitchburg MA It was the summer of 1985. One night I discovered this little door in the ceiling of a closet in the bedroom. It contained drop downstairs to the roof. As far as I could tell it was the only access to the flat roof. The…

Tank is full, switch is on Night is warm, cops are gone Rocket bike is all her own It’s called a hurricane She told me once it’s quite a ride It’s shaped so there’s this place inside Where if you’re moving you can hide Safe within the rain- David Wilcox The above lyrics are from a song that came out in the late 80s, a one hit wonder or something like that. Or most likely you’ve never heard this song, or the artist for that matter. Listening to that song over and over again for many years I can relate to much of what is said in this story. David…

My inspiration for the 1st Sunday of the Month RTE at the Reservoir was from some events I had attended in the past and something I had remembered from reading columns from one of my favorite moto journalists, Peter Egan From a very young age I had not only completely falling in love with riding my motorcycle I was also mildly obsessed with finding everything about them in print. Books and magazines could be found in every room in my house. At one time I had boxes in my garage with hundreds, maybe thousands of motorcycles magazines from the early 80s up to the early 2000s. From technical details of…

When you walk into this little restaurant and notice the murals on the walls, the old-fashioned booths and the counter stools you will be transported to your childhood. Well, that’s if you grew up back in the 70s or 80s and it seemed like every small town in America had a small little dairy bar like The Shady Glenn. Oh, and bring you wallet and leave your credit card at home because this is a Cash only establishment! Or it was the last time I was there; I hope they keep that tradition going! This one is located on a main road coming out of the town of Manchester CT…

“and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” Or how about to gaze at your motorcycle while you lean up against a tree, letting the afternoon sun warm your soul? On this particular day I was reminded of the John Lubbock quote that you see at the beginning of this post. Now I don’t think Mr. Lubbock was considering laying in the town center of looking at a beautiful 2004 Red Ducati ST3 when he penned the book “The Use Of Life”…

Dear Fellow Traveler. Come along with me for a little ride. This particular trip is one that was planned for a few years but just couldn’t find the exact time to go. See this one was like many trips that I have taken in the past. Many times, while reading a travel guide, or watching a show on the discovery channel I would come across a unique place that I would immediately grab my map book, or in this case laptop and open google maps and search for the location and drop a pin on it. I will say google has certainly made this process so easy, which I’m not…

I tend to have this ability to find a motorcycle that I’ve always wanted, purchase it and then sell it only to really regret letting it go a short while down the road. It seems to be something I’m really good at! Something completely opposite of my good riding buddy Top Gun Tommy, you see he has a completely different outlook on owning dream motorcycles. Something I am very envious of! He can look back with fondness over just being able to say he owned that special bike at one time and be totally okay with having sold it and not having it in his garage any longer. I seem…