Ride Life
Stories From The Open Road
Rob’s Monthly Musings: Awake, Alert, Aware
I was out for a ride on a rare, warm winter day recently, and making a left-hand turn onto a side road, I found myself suddenly stopping behind a small transport van. There was a gas station entrance to the right, and opposite on the left was the entrance/exit for a restaurant. In the moment, I considered a quick skirt to the right around the van, so I could continue on my way. But further examination halted my impulse. I glimpsed a black pickup truck ahead, coming the opposite way, and a small silver sedan stopped at the restaurant exit. The transport van was waiting to make a left into the restaurant parking lot, while the black truck suddenly took its left into the gas station lot. Had I not paused before making an impulsive move, I would’ve been broadsided by the pickup truck. A little awareness and prudence quite possibly saved my life.
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Flow Rider
Descending off the high plains of panhandle Texas and into the desert and Mesa’s of New Mexico, the setting sun was splashing a kaleidoscope of color across the sky. Behind us, as darkness crapped over the canopy above, a full moon was rising behind our right shoulders. Mike was riding lead, his silhouette framed by the sinking sun, and I fell into a completely calm state, almost like a trance, and time seemed to stand still.
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Trippin’ On Two Wheels, Part 1
It all started in a seaside resort in Italy. Well, to be a bit more accurate it started at the Misano Circuit Sic 58 in the summer of 2002. June 14th to be precise. It was the first World Ducati Week and the festivities ran through to the weekend that the circuit hosted its round of the World Superbikes series. At that time American Ben Bostrom was flying high and Troy Baylis was the reigning world champion, both on Ducati 998s, while Colin Edwards was attempting to break the Ducati dominance on his Honda. Heady times. Well not as heady as ending up with a bedroom next to Ben Bostrom’s heartthrob girlfriend. But I digress.
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Analog- 1993 Honda VFR 750
In a digital world driven by touchscreens, scrolling menus and artificial intelligence there lives a Unicorn, a 1993 VFR 750. In this electric world measured by binary strings of 1s and 0s she is a deliciously analog endangered species driven by feel, a deft but heavy touch, proper feel at the levers. Her cockpit is full of spinning number odometers and sweeping white needles on black numbered faceplates that don’t disappear when the bike turns off. When I feel saturated by screen time and need to unplug and return to the heart of motorcycling, the core of who I am, I ride The Unicorn.
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Dennis Gage On Two Wheels
Seeing television’s most famous car guy sitting on a BMW R60 in period gear must seem a little confusing to some of our readers. But after years of bringing the best of the classic four-wheeled world to the small screen, it is time to let the secret out: Dennis Gage is a motorcycle nut with a small collection of interesting European motorcycles: A collection that has just seen the addition of a Moto Guzzi Breva that he purchased on eBay from my hometown of Charlotte, NC.
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Rob’s Monthly Musings- Year End Reflections
It has been quite the holiday season already here in the United States. Although everyone celebrated Thanksgiving, it seems like Christmas decoration, sales, and the general spirit of the season began right after Halloween. So much of it is commerce-driven, of course, but I still love this season, when you peel back all of the extraneous layers
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Tombstone’s Helldorado Days
The way to Tombstone, AZ can feel like a wagon trail that happens to be paved. Passing through small, dusty towns that aren’t much more than stage coach stops, a place to get some grub, put up your boots, feed your steel horse and get back on the trail. For those of us who watched too many westerns, this is the way of the west. Whether you’re pushing cattle, prospecting for precious metals, running from the law, endlessly searching for a homestead or riding to the next cold beer, we are always trying to get somewhere else. Just passing through, gone before the dust settles. The West is less a place and more a state of mind. It embodies wanderlust, adventure, independence. Not much more needed than our ride, big black boots, and shoulders covered in well-worn leather. It is freedom. And for three days and nights in the third weekend of October for the last 96 years, it is Helldorado Days.
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Barber Vintage Festival 2025: Gasoline and Adrenaline
This wasn’t my first rodeo. Just my second. The last time I attended Barber Vintage Festival was a few years ago. I can hear some of you gasp in reaction, the sound of eyes rolling as you say, “Well I’ve been to all 20 of them.” Attending this year was a good reminder to not miss it next year. It really is one of the most exciting motorcycle events at one of the best motorcycle facilities in the world. And being only two hours away in Atlanta, I really had no excuses.
The Barber Vintage Festival is an event of epic proportions. The options of activities are seemingly endless; from the museum, to racing, the swaps, camping, and everything in between.
Drew Perlmutter- An Old Moto Soul
Drew Perlmutter is a fascinating anachronism.
A younger Millennial born into the digital age of the internet and social media, Drew is nonetheless an outlier, a young man who doesn’t follow the crowd, doesn’t live or die by post clicks. He’d rather tinker on an old Honda Dream 305, his 1982 Gold Wing, or ride across the country on a motorcycle, tent camping along the way.
The first time I met Drew, after an hour of conversation I told him, “You have an old soul, and I mean that as a high compliment.” Though in his early 30s, Drew reminds me of the free spirit and heart for adventure that existed among my generation that came of age in the 1960s-70s. We grew up riding beater motorcycles, could tinker enough to keep them running or fix them, and we loved to see the world without windows and ceilings, riding and camping out in the elements.
Drew is cut from our cloth.
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