Ted Edwards

Garage Mahal

Posted by Ted Edwards | Apr 7, 2022 | Nuts & Bolts, Ride Life |

Some find rest on a couch reading a good book, some recharge their batteries on a beach tanning under the sun, others find solace doing yoga poses on stand up paddle boards and as much as I find bliss in a snowy mountaintop view, I love a busy garage: the smell of gasoline, the sound of bad music, the cold metal and the hot blowtorch, the clink of a dropped wrench and tinkle of ice in a mason jar of scotch. Todd’s shop is special in this way, crowded with bikes and tools here is the place where bikes and riders properly worship the God of Speed and ply The Carb Whisperer’s expertise. This is the Garage Mahal, a Mecca with every tool you could think of, all the expertise you need and all of the reasons to never leave.

Old Man Gave Me The Finger

Posted by Ted Edwards | Jan 24, 2022 | Ride Life |

He was an old man with a tan wrinkled face and blue overalls, like Uncle Jesse from Dukes of Hazzard. He sported a long white beard like Santa Claus, a small black skull cap helmet with tan leather gloves and black work boots astride an early 70s vintage Harley Davidson Electra Glide. Naturally, I gave him an extra long look.
He gave me the finger.

Butler Motorcycle Maps

Posted by Ted Edwards | Jan 19, 2022 | Bikes & Gear, Rides & Roads |

Technology is everywhere- at our fingertips, on our wrists and in our bikes. Silicon wafers have their proper place but one time they should be put away is during trip planning. Here, old school is best.
As in maps, large maps, big sheets of two dimensional land spread across tables or floors, unfurled like a relentlessly expanding universe. These are what true planners use to fertilize their imagination and ripen plans of adventures to come. Deep thinking riders hoard maps like greedy pirates and cling to them like treasure. In the motorcycling world, Butler Maps have no equal.

The Writing On The Wall

Posted by Ted Edwards | Dec 31, 2021 | Ride Life |

Our life is but a blip in the expanse of time and tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. Money, fame, and millions of Facebook or Instagram followers will not buy anyone an extra day. God decides that. It made me reflect on how I would end the sentence on the board. If I had the chalk, what would I write? Years after taking the picture, I know the answer.

Libby Accidentally

Posted by Ted Edwards | Dec 8, 2021 | Ride Life, Rides & Roads |

Our plan was grand: my cousin and riding buddy Dave “White Girl” Wensveen and I would tour Yellowstone, Beartooth Pass and Glacier National Park in one giant sweep, gathering them all like kids plucking pastel eggs from the green grass on Easter morning. We crammed White Girl’s Dodge diesel pickup camper full of provisions, stowed our twin VFR800s in the trailer and pointed the Dodge’s hood east. Things went wrong as soon as we left the driveway.

Moto Medic First Aid Kit

Posted by Ted Edwards | Nov 22, 2021 | Bikes & Gear |

It’s a side of motorcycling easily buried beneath the glory of dream tours, record breaking dirt jumps and lurid track lean angles: people get hurt in this sport.
Other drivers, weather, wildlife and pilot error can instantly change your day or permanently change your life. Accidents happen anywhere from suburban intersections with help minutes away to remote mountains or deserts hours from assistance. How prepared are you?

To The Hesitant

Posted by Ted Edwards | Oct 29, 2021 | Ride Life |

Man’s function is not to survive but to live, to put life in our years not add years to our life. The world belongs to those who regard their life loosely while holding their dreams tightly and at our passing, as our life plays out before our aged soul, we will contemplate a life fully explored or squandered in safety.

Road and Dirt with a Harley-Davidson Pan America

Posted by Ted Edwards | Sep 27, 2021 | Bikes & Gear |

September in the Pacific Northwest is Gods gift to motorcyclists. Cool air descends from Cascade Mountain crests chilling the warm valley floor like God’s own air conditioning, as select leaves turn colors, giving a preview of the fall to come. Crisp water from the appropriately named Icicle River dribbled to our left, foaming over smooth boulders as we rode.
So I celebrated the priceless moment by goosing the throttle, letting the rear step out in a slow, steady dirt drift while ahead of me Donni Reddington did the same, only in a much better way since she coaches dirt riders for a living at Skool Of Moto. If you asked either of us we would tell you, life will never get better than this, or more strange. I never thought I would be doing this on a Harley. But is it really that surprising?

Fall Rain

Posted by Ted Edwards | Sep 6, 2021 | Ride Life |

Fall came today like always does in the Northwest, like a light switch flicked by the finger of God.
Yesterday, smoke from forest fires hung in the air perverting the sky sour and sunsets blood red, lingering in the air with depressing tenacity, draining spirits and permeating pores until residents could scarcely remember a day without the smoky blanket of depression draped over them. Then today, the unofficial first day of fall up here in the PNW, God cried “Hold. Enough.”