Roundtrip Tour

A collection of 79 posts

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Adventures Along the Mid Atlantic BDR

It had been eight months since fellow board member and MABDR architect Kevin Woody and I joined the rest of the BDR team in late summber 2017 for the filming of the expedition documentary.  When the opportunity arose to join four of our generous supporters for another go on this

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3 Days From Denver, CO to Princeton, OR

Late June, Denver, CO. Summers here are always hot and dry, and I can’t wait to get out of the big city. I’ve got the last of my Mosko Moto bags packed. I throw the kickstand up, kick it into first gear, and I’m off. I won’

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Baja California: Life’s a Beach

Baja California is a gentle introduction to the colorful world of Mexico. Crossing at Tijuana with a vehicle is easy. Too easy, in fact—traffic only slows a little for the open barriers, the wait-go signs that immediately turn green, and the yellow topes (infamously high Mexian speed bumps) before

May/Jun '23 Premium Content

Pennsylvania: Dusty Adventure Trails

Three years ago, I crossed Pennsylvania from north to south following the Mid-Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route (MABDR), published in the RoadRUNNER 2020 Special Collector’s Edition. The journey revealed the wild beauty of eastern Pennsylvania and I developed a taste for more of such adventures. After a two-year lockdown, I

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Mexico, Part 2: South-Eastern Mexico

After a long, relaxing stay in Oaxaca, we get itchy feet. Being an architect, Aidan is keen to visit Santuario del Gusano de Seda, an unusual exposed-concrete building housing a silkworm sanctuary in the mountains to the northeast. Since we set off rather late, it becomes a two-day ride and

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Mexico, Part 1: Copper Canyon to Oaxaca

Most people choose the southern ferry route to Mazatlán when moving from Baja California to mainland Mexico. But my partner Aidan and I have plans to explore the country’s northern regions, despite their notorious reputation. We have done our research, though, and feel safe enough—so long as we

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An Épico Adventure in Colombia

Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR) was having a fundraiser that included auctions of goods and services. I saw a nine-day tour of Colombia, threw in a low-ball offer, and suddenly, I was headed for Santiago de Cali and Épico Moto Adventures’ Seven Wonders Tour. The extremely genial host Ricardo Congote greeted

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Riding Mopeds from Paris to Dakar

A motorcycle trip in Africa is always demanding, but on a moped like the Piaggio Ciao, it turns into an enormous challenge. That’s especially true when your journey takes you from Paris to Dakar in Senegal, covering almost 2,900 miles over 23 days in the summer. When preparing

Mar/Apr '23 Premium Content

Getting High in Colorado

Riding in central Colorado is a treat, no matter the time of year, but doing it in the fall is something everyone should experience. The aspen trees are bunched in groves varying in thickness all over the mountains and they begin to explode into a wildfire of color in mid-September.

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North East Backcountry Discovery Route

We began this ride in Bennington, VT, which is located in the southwestern corner of the state. Our plan was to pick up the North East Backcountry Discovery Route (NEBDR) for four days of adventure, riding through Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Caleb and I woke early to get geared

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Fine Writing and Riding Instruments

There are certainly worse fates than to be lost in Italy on a Moto Guzzi. I’ve learned to not get too concerned about finding my way in foreign places. It always seems to work itself out. After all, it was mid-day and twilight was far off. I was safe

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Sölkpass & Radstädter Tauern: Ancient Alpine Trade Routes

It is a sunny day in late May and Austria has lifted the pandemic riding restrictions for those of us who live here. What better way to celebrate our long-awaited freedom than by tackling the highest pass in Styria—the wonderful Sölkpass between Stein an der Enns on the north

Mar/Apr '23 Premium Content

ZenMoto Part 1: Minnesota to Montana

It takes about an hour before I leave behind the exurbs of Minneapolis, MN. The riding is easy—lots of straight roads and not a lot of traffic or navigating. There is space in my head to scroll through the 50 million things that one thinks about on the first

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Maine: Exploring Lighthouses and Mountains

Hewn from bedrock and shaped by glaciers, Maine’s landscape is unique, from its rugged coastline dotted with lighthouses to its pristine lakes and deep woods. Maine has always attracted individualists and adventurers, from lumberjacks and hunters, to fisherman plying Georges Banks, and to Henry David Thoreau and motorcyclists. Lighting

Mar/Apr '23 Premium Content

Chile: Rewards and Just Desserts

With 10,000 miles clocked on the odometer since kick-starting our trip in South America five months ago, I’d stopped seeing it as an extended vacation. Traveling had become a way of life for Jason and me. The honeymoon period wasn’t over—it was a new chapter, having

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Lost Sierra

It was the most exciting newspaper story I’d read in a long time—a group of outdoor enthusiasts had gathered sufficient capital and government support to begin carving 600 miles of multi-use, single-track trails through the Lost Sierra. To me, this was catnip. I already had a friend connected

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Hahntennjoch & Kaunertaler Gletscher: From Valley to Glacier

It’s motorcycling season and today we’re going to ride a route that should cover an amazing range of scenery types as we climb two famous motorcycling roads from the verdant floor of the Elmen Valley in Austria at 3,200 feet to the very foot of the Kaunertaler

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A Thousand Shifts

The strange, quiet noise of travel. When you have nothing but time to think—about the past, about all the good and the bad times, about the things that lie ahead, for now unknown but certainly there, approaching on that smooth ribbon of pavement. I was somewhere between my home

Jan/Feb '23 Premium Content

Iceland: The Land of Fire and Ice

It didn’t start very well. After two days in Reykjavik—which included eating whale, hiking to a live volcano, getting accustomed to 20 hours of daylight, and soaking in the Blue Lagoon hot pools—two friends and I traveled to nearby Selfoss to begin a six-day off-road motorcycle tour

Jan/Feb '23 Premium Content

Texas: The Mysteries of Caddo Lake

Caddo Lake sits on the border between Texas and Louisiana, a maze of tight waterways, cypress trees, and abundant wildlife. It’s often called the only natural lake in Texas, but as with all Texas tales, that may or may not be accurate. Regardless, it’s a perfect spot for

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A U.S. Bucket List on a Budget

Slurping a coffee at Burnout Cafe in Vancouver, Canada, the butterflies in my tummy were doing barrel rolls. This was it! The start of our big ride from Canada to the southern tip of Argentina. With no house to sell and no apartment to rent out while we are gone,

Nov/Dec '22 Premium Content

Snowbiking Serenity in Kalispell, Montana

I felt the crunch of compacting snow under my boot and before I knew it, I was face down—sunk to my hip in fresh powder with a Husqvarna TE 300 towering over me. The snow around my leg instantly solidified like concrete, locking my boot into place some 33-odd

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Part 2: The First Indians to Motorcycle Around the World on a Royal Enfield

As told by Subhash Sharma This incredible story marks the 50th anniversary of the first Indians to ride round the world. In 1972, when motorcycle travel was unheard of in India, Subhash Sharma and three friends rode 67,000 miles across the globe on two Royal Enfield motorcycles. They did

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Part 1: The First Indians to Motorcycle Around the World on a Royal Enfield

As told by Subhash Sharma This incredible story marks the 50th anniversary of the first Indians to ride round the world. In 1972, when motorcycle travel was unheard of in India, Subhash Sharma and three friends rode 67,000 miles across the globe on two Royal Enfield motorcycles. Today, Subhash

Nov/Dec '22 Premium Content

Spain: A Man in La Mancha

“Down in a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to recollect, there lived, not long ago, one of those gentlemen who usually keeps a lance upon a rack, an old buckler, a lean stallion, and a coursing greyhound.” —Cervantes, Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes