Riders

In Egypt in early 2016

Bit about me, well I came into this world in the late 80's in the Stunning Far North of New Zealand. I grew up in NZ,  and spent a lot of time running around my parents farm, raising animals and riding horses. Then moved closer to town (Whangarei) when I was 13. Spent a lot of time on or near the water growing up, and spent time on boats and out at the coast when I could. Now I pretty much live on the water and in marinas working on boats around the world.

I enjoy the great outdoors, diving, snorkelling, hiking, sailing, extreme sports, travelling and now my bike.

As you can probably see from a quick glance to the left or around this website, this trip was Tanguys' idea, but one I've come to embrace.

Brief Story with Bikes

Only started riding bikes in 2015. We were based in Bali for a couple months and I rented my first 125cc Scooter for the duration of our stay. Had fun and a few very nervous moments navigating the hectic non-stop traffic around and the built up southern end of Bali.

Off to work in the morning

In Bali it was also pretty cheap to try off-road dirt biking, so had a couple days learning how to ride a REAL bike and getting the hang of the gears. It was a 150cc Kawasaki bike that was nice and light for my first ride. Previously had only tried my brothers dirt bike, which my feet could barely touch the ground on. After figuring the gears/clutch I was pretty much thrown in the deep end into some jungle and volcano trails. Lots of fun!

Then it was back on the water, no more riding until 2016 when I bought my first bike in May, my reliable GS Beemer, which will take me all the way to Alaska and back if all goes well! 

Have so far done short trips around Georgia, South Carolina, and the East coast of Florida. Spent plenty of time after work (ok, Tanguy has helped loads) doing it up, resprayed the fairing, buying parts, and researching for our trip. Have done more online shopping in the past few months for bike parts and I have online shopped in my entire life combined I reckon!

Anyway this is my beauty, the 2009 F650GS when I bought it:

May 2016

And now:

Dec 2016

Born 1978 in Belgium, I grew up in France and studied in the UK for a few years... I  always liked the outdoors and adventure type activities. World travel is pretty much my life now but most of the time is on or near water. So when the occasion presents itself I head inland, preferably up in the mountains. I enjoy engineering type projects and as a kid, took everything apart and sometimes even put it back together! Over the years I have had various interests from sailing, diving, skiing to flying and skydiving. I go through phases and right now its the motorcycle phase and has been for some time!

My story with motorcycles...

The "Booster" years... (1994-1996)

I wasn't one of those kids who grew up around dirt bikes, in fact my parents didn't promote motorcycles at all... But growing up in France where scooters / mopeds are present everywhere and where kids can legally ride a 50cc moped on the roads at 14 (back in those days anyway) and after a long period of bugging the parents I eventually got a scooter... a 50cc MBK booster, which at the time was about the coolest thing a kid could own! And I loved it! It wasn't super fast but after some spanner swinging, some aftermarket parts and a lot of trial and error I managed to get it up to 75Kph (with a LOT of noise) and incredible acceleration. Anyway, I realized then that you didn't need a destination or purpose to go riding... You can just go and see where the wind takes you and have a blast.

I had the thing for a couple of years until I got a cage at 18 and the booster was sold. And I missed it when it was gone. They say a car (cage) gives you freedom but... Nah, the car never felt as free as the scooter, even in the rain!

Mine was grey with metal grills in front of

the headlights and had a luggage rack...

but you get the idea. I can't believe they still sell these 25 years later!

The "Dream" years... (2000-2001)

I left Europe and embarked on my journey on the oceans... It wasn't long before I landed in Asia, another huge motorcycle place, well, small motorcycles but still. I wasn't able to buy one there but I had one on rent for pretty much 8 months straight when based in Thailand.  The bike in question was an old and rickety Honda Dream, 100cc 5 gear step through... It might have been old and beat but it got me where I wanted to go, which was pretty much anywhere with a fun windy road. Flip-flops, a T-shirt and board shorts as protective gear in a country with no rules of the road... I was young and I got lucky! I I had a lot of fun riding the "dream"

The "Goat" years... (2009-2011)

Between 2003 and 2008 I went pretty much without riding. Too busy working, never got around to getting a license so couldn't rent one in "civilized" countries either. I think quite frankly I was into other stuff at the time until the time was right. Work was going to take me to Baja California in Mexico and what better way to get around Baja California than on 2 wheels?! I bought a Honda 1993 XR650L, didn't pay much for it and went off to get a motorcycle license, which in California is just a simple formality. No courses, a very basic multiple choice theory exam and and even more basic practical test and off you go! I did a bit of work on the "Goat", customized it somewhat and set of to explore Baja California. What a blast!!! The more I went riding the more I realized I wanted to keep going... This was it, bikes will be around me from here on out!

The "Goat" 1993 Honda XR650L as I bought in in late 2009

With the addition of a Larger tank and a custom paint job, the "Goat" became "Baja Grrrl"

With just a bag pack and the goat... I was off exploring Baja California

The "Beemer" Years... (2011-present)

Back in the U.S after my time in Mexico and finally had the opportunity to take some time off... And yes , I am going on a motorcycle road trip. Baja was great but I wanted to travel further & see more... San Diego was to be the starting point so the goal was going to be Maine, mainly because its to opposite corner of the country and because there were some really nice places to visit along the way (Oshkosh Air Ventures being one of them). As I was gearing up for the trip, it soon became apparent, as I am drifting around on highway 5 headed north at 70MPH, that the "Goat" was not going to be the right bike for this Journey. So a few days of research later I came to the conclusion that I was going to need something bigger, something heaver and something more powerful and the BMW R1200GS seemed like the right bike for the job. Good enough for Charley and Ewan for "the long way round" (yes I know those were 1150's),  good enough for me. A few weeks of searching online and a reasonably priced Yellow R1200GS became available. Saw it, took a short ride on it and bought it that same day. The bike was pretty close to being set up for a trip, equipped with panniers, crash bars etc... I added a large top box and threw on my duffle bag and off I went on a 20,000 miles 3 months adventure to the east coast which took me via Canada and to florida. The bike was great, never skipped a beat and the trip was awesome!

Work took me away again for some years and Bumble Bee went into storage for a little over 3 years. I did consider selling it but came up with way too many sentimental reasons too keep it!

The Bumble Bee loaded and ready for action

The "Varadero" months... (2015)

Work took me all sorts of places during that 3 year period but rarely anywhere I could ride. Apart from a few months in Asia where I was once again riding Asian scooters the likes of the Honda dream the days in the saddle where few and far between... until... Perth Australia where I was going to be based for 3 months. Not a very long time but the urge to ride defied any logic and common sense and I bought... you know it... A motorcycle. I had limited time and couldn't be picky, so the first thing with a reasonable engine and high enough for my 6'7" frame that came along (at an acceptable price) I bought. it turned out to be a 2008 Honda Varadero 1000cc with just under 5000 kms on the clock. I had it for 3 month and sold it back to the same dealer when leaving the country with a little under 10,000kms on the dials. It was a decent bike and I had many enjoyable week ends riding the Australian outback on the mighty Varadero.

Back to the Bumble Bee...

Back once again in the US of A and reunited with the Bumble Bee, which after a few tantrums came back to life and we are now friends again... Planning a bigger road trip, the bike has been modified a little and overhauled. She now has close to 40,000 miles on the clock and runs better than ever... And the rest will follow on the blog page

The "midlife crisis" machine (2017...)

It finally happened a few weeks short of my 39th birthday and the need to buy something I really didn't need... Something fast and exciting! This is an addition to the stable, the Bumble Bee will of course remain the long haul adventure machine but for the local short rides and the pure joy of acceleration and fun on twisty roads, I now have " the Killer Bee" (didn't want to go with "hornet" since thats already taken by Honda and the Wasp would be too closely related to 'Vespa" which is a completely different animal all together. 

A very close relative to the Bumble Bee, this one is a little faster, a little more aggressive and a ton of fun!

The Killer Bee after its first wash under my ownership.