Troy Hendrick - RoadRUNNER

RoadRUNNER

Troy Hendrick

Through Trees of Stone

Mar/Apr '05 Premium Content

Through Trees of Stone

The wind howls across the Arizona plains as I aim a Honda Gold Wing 1800 toward the Petrified Forest National Park on US 180 east. I lean the 850-pound machine into the gusts to hold a straight line. The Painted Desert spreads before me - a vast horizon of cracked

Northern Arizona

Sep/Oct '04 Premium Content

Northern Arizona

I awake in Flagstaff to a dusting of snow on the trees and bushes. More of the same is heaped upon the naked rock that crowns Humphrey's Peak, the highest point in Arizona. This sharp summit, stretching 12,633 feet above this old railroad town, tears holes in the fast-moving

Western Louisiana/East Texas

Jan/Feb '04 Premium Content

Western Louisiana/East Texas

Late in March RoadRUNNER sent me south to the Sabine River Delta around Lake Charles, Louisiana, and on into East Texas to explore four National Forests and the Gulf Coast. That sounded like a top-notch trip. But from studying the map, it appeared the trip might include too many entrance-ramp

New Mexico Carlsbad Caverns

Nov/Dec '03 Premium Content

New Mexico Carlsbad Caverns

It's early. The sun begins to peek over the horizon of a cloudless sky. Although it looks as though it will be a bright, beautiful day, it doesn't matter much whether it rains or shines because I'm going to descend nearly 1,000 feet into the earth's crust for a

From New Orleans to Lake Charles: Bikin' in the Bayou

Nov/Dec '03 Premium Content

From New Orleans to Lake Charles: Bikin' in the Bayou

"Bienvenue!" the festive signs proclaim from the town limits. Only when one rolls closer does the translation "Welcome" appear in its tiny font. A preference for French isn't the only thing unique about this road connection. Traveling from New Orleans to Lake Charles on the swampiest routes in southern Louisiana,

Southern Arizona

Sep/Oct '03 Premium Content

Southern Arizona

Few places on earth offer more diversity. One moment I'm sweating bullets and then, less than an hour later at times, I've pulled over, teeth chattering, to hurriedly button the jacket liner into my shell so I can stuff my fingertips back in my gloves before they turn blue. Northeast

Shamrock Tour® - Port Jervis, New York

Sep/Oct '03 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Port Jervis, New York

Only a few hours west of the frenetic streetscapes of New York City lonely passages twist through three sets of mountains - the Catskills, the Poconos, and the Kittatinny Ridge. We blew into Jersey's portion of the Big Apple's sprawl, hopped on two Ducatis, and fled the urban mess as

Eastern Oklahoma

Jul/Aug '03 Premium Content

Eastern Oklahoma

There is an odd sensation creeping through me in eastern Oklahoma as we ride. It's not very subtle, either. The Kiamichi Mountains look different, like a space created specifically for man and his gods to commune. They appear old but alive, as if they murmur ancient secrets to the people

Moto Guzzi

> Those comfortable cruisers represent the most popular motorcycle category in the U.S., and Moto Guzzi has composed several variations on this easy-riding theme, each an Italian orchestration built around the same California chassis and engine. Two of them carried the tune like impresarios in a recently conducted test. Concept

Shamrock Tour® - Hot Springs and Western Arkansas

Mar/Apr '03 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Hot Springs and Western Arkansas

In a bygone era, Hot Springs was a crooked place. This past fall we lit out for those storied hills to prove that it still is. Men and women soothe their rheumatoid arthritis in the carbonated, pressure-heated springs seeping from the deep cavern of the mountains. They relax in a

Mid Atlantic: Bridge Tour

Mar/Apr '03 Premium Content

Mid Atlantic: Bridge Tour

Our shakedown of colonial American history begins in Elizabeth City, NC, just on the other side of the swamps and tidal flats from Jamestown, VA, the first permanent English colony in the New World. Along the way, we're crossing some of the greatest bridges on the East Coast, bridges that

High Noon in Pennsylvania

Mar/Apr '03 Premium Content

High Noon in Pennsylvania

The sky is blue and the roads are remote, twisting through the woods between Cumberland, Maryland and Somerset Counties. Swinging through the valleys and towns nestled at the feet of the mountains here, we have no way to predict what is about to happen. Sometimes, when the stars align in

Southwest Texas

Winter '02 Premium Content

Southwest Texas

This land is beautiful and cruel. Cacti and creosote dot the ground and bloom from the road's edge to the far horizon. Long, sharp spines flare from the waxy stems, ready to draw blood. So far, fighting wind, rain, and heat on US 90, we aren't impressed. My KTM Adventure

Easy Does It - East Tennessee

Fall '02 Premium Content

Easy Does It - East Tennessee

Telling me that County Road 116 is as nasty as Deal's Gap, a local rider also says I shouldn't stop along the way, either. 'If you ain't from there, you ain't one of them,' he says. 'And don't hit the shoulder, 'cause it's 150 feet down to a moonshine

Texas Hill Country

Summer '02 Premium Content

Texas Hill Country

All the people who told us that Texas is long, straight, and boring probably either think the world is flat, or they've never seen Hill Country. If waltzing a tall, steep-forked KTM Adventure enduro through huge canyon sweepers and over some of the best up and down action this side