Favorite Rides: Motorcycle Rides from Rider Readers
Favorite Rides are YOUR favorite motorcycle rides. Published monthly in Rider magazine, each ride is from a different contributor. To submit your Favorite Ride for consideration, check out the Rider Magazine Editorial Guidelines.
Riding to Daytona: A Woman’s Solo Journey from Ohio to Florida
Vivian Wagner
April 3, 2013
Deep in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, I pulled my 2011 Harley-Davidson SuperLow 883 Sportster over to the edge of a back road. I took off my helmet, listening to the wind whispering through the branches of the tall, slender pines. It was just my motorcycle and me, and I couldn’t have been happier. This... Read more »
Georgia Great Roads
Philip Buonpastore, Edited by Heather Reinhart
March 7, 2013
The following is an excerpt from the article North Georgia Colors printed in the April 2007 issue. Tear it out and take it with you, or print the pdf version you can find by clicking here. To anyone who rides a motorcycle in the Southeastern United States, the roads of North Georgia into Southern Tennessee... Read more »
South Dakota Escape
Mike Koplen
March 6, 2013
As a young boy, my stamp collection included a green 1952 three-cent commemorative of Mt. Rushmore. The four presidential faces gazing wisely across America from the top of a mountain were mesmerizing, almost mystical in their patriotic magnificence. In my child’s imagination, they embodied the historical... Read more »
The Blue Ridge Parkway from the Backseat
Susan Benton
February 4, 2013
Plenty of riders have sung the praises of the Blue Ridge Parkway. But I’m here to give you the straight story from the passenger’s point of view. You remember us; we’re the ones in the turbulence, with no handlebars to hang onto and no clear view of the road ahead. Ours is a different experience... Read more »
Southern Utah Splendor
Michael S. Brown
January 3, 2013
For three decades, my buddy Ted and I have taken long rides from our homes near Portland, Oregon. Years ago, we exhausted all the scenic roads within a day’s ride, so we bought a Kendon Stand-Up trailer in order to get our 60-year-old selves and Suzuki V-Strom 650s farther afield with enough energy... Read more »
St. Augustine SaddleSore
Gary Dean Joyce
December 5, 2012
My favorite rides are usually on the Blue Ridge Parkway by way of the connecting back roads that bring multitudes of motorcycle riders to the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia. My home in Mayodan, North Carolina, is just 50 miles from the arterial ribbon of asphalt up on the Blue Ridge,... Read more »
Catskills Escape: Curves and Coolness in New York’s Reservoir Valleys
Mike Koplen
November 7, 2012
Say “New York” and people think of Manhattan with its skyscrapers. But most of New York State is rural, with excellent motorcycle roads throughout. From my home in the lower Hudson Valley, I can ride 25 minutes south across the George Washington Bridge into the Big Apple, or head north and cruise... Read more »
The Long Way to Monterey and Morro Bay, California
Tom Culbertson
October 9, 2012
It’s 6 a.m. on a Wednesday as I head out of Port Hueneme, California, north to Monterey—the long way! There are so many fantastic back roads through this remote and pristine Central-Coast countryside that every trip is a unique and rewarding adventure. Today, riding my BMW R 1100 R, I catch Highway... Read more »
Touring the Forgotten Iron Range in Wisconsin and Michigan
Gary Ilminen
September 6, 2012
Late in the 19th century, in Wisconsin’s far north and on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, above ground thousands of men hacked out a living logging the state’s vast hardwood forests. At the same time, thousands of feet below the surface, hard rock miners blasted and hammered out millions of tons of... Read more »
A Scootour of Puerto Rico
Lance Oliver
August 7, 2012
Sometimes you just need to take a ride. Even if circumstances aren’t optimal. Even if there are obstacles to overcome. Even if those around you react with, “You want to do what?” That’s how I came to find myself on Puerto Rico Route 191, a narrow road of tight switchbacks that climbs 2,000 feet... Read more »
