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.
Motorcycle Travel in Iowa: Taking The Old Lincoln Highway Across The Hawkeye State
Clement Salvadori
July 24, 2012
Story and Photos By Clement Salvadori I was a little concerned about riding through Iowa in June of 2011. Nothing to do with bandits, earthquakes or extra-terrestrial beings, just two big rivers. That spring, middle America was in full flood, with huge amounts of snow melting and heavy rains, and I was... Read more »
Alaska Roadhouse Run: The Valdez to Fairbanks Trail
Dennis Bible
July 6, 2012
(This story was published in the July 2012 issue of Rider magazine.) Story and photos by Dennis Bible When gold was discovered in the 1890s in the Klondike and later in Fairbanks, one of the fastest ways for prospectors to get to the gold fields was a steamship ride from San Francisco or Seattle to Valdez,... Read more »
Two-up on the Redwood Coast: Motorcycle Travel in California and Oregon
Steve Mustoe
July 5, 2012
(This Favorite Ride was published in the July 2012 issue of Rider magazine.) We were twisting our way up Highway 1, tight curve after tight curve, stunning ocean views off to our right barely registering as I focused on the road ahead. The line of cars behind us grew more distant as we kept climbing.... Read more »
Colorado Chasms: Riding the other Canyonlands
Kathleen Kemsley
June 4, 2012
(This Favorite Ride was published in the June 2012 issue of Rider Magazine.) Story and photos by Kathleen Kemsley Colorado is best known for its lofty peaks, and rightly so. Those reaching at least 14,000 feet in elevation, known as Fourteeners, number 53 in this not-flat state. A lesser-known side of... Read more »
A Tale of Two Lakes: Riding the Circle Tour
Stacy V. Bearse
May 1, 2012
I’m a careful planner, but the key to this journey was decided by the flip of a coin. Heads, clockwise, tails, counterclockwise. It was tails, so my journey would take me up the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, across the top of Lake Superior, and back home along Lake Michigan’s western shore. My... Read more »
California’s Angeles Crest Highway and Beyond
Gary Koz Mraz
April 4, 2012
Snaking through the San Gabriel Mountains, California’s 66-mile Angeles Crest Highway, part of State Route 2, provides exceptional riding and spectacular views. Part of the road was closed for repairs for five years before it was reopened briefly in May 2009, then the road was closed again due to fires.... Read more »
Washington’s Scenic State Route 410 Favorite Ride
Phil Buonpastore
February 1, 2012
[This Washington’s Scenic State Route 410 Favorite Ride was originally published in the October 2011 issue of Rider magazine] The sun was shining. In the weeks before moving from Atlanta to Seattle, virtually everyone I talked to managed to get in at least one comment about the weather: “I hope you... Read more »
New Mexico’s Little Las Vegas Favorite Ride
Laura Melvin
January 24, 2012
[This New Mexico’s Little Las Vegas Favorite Ride was originally published in the January 2012 issue of Rider magazine] The name Las Vegas is generally associated with glitzy gambling in Nevada and Sin City, the fastest-growing city in the United States. But there is another Las Vegas that sits quietly... Read more »
Central California’s Morro Bay Loop Favorite Ride
Tom Culbertson
January 11, 2012
[This Central California’s Morro Bay Loop Favorite Ride was originally published in the December 2011 issue of Rider magazine] One of my favorite rides includes a road loaded with demanding curves and fantastic Pacific Ocean views, a road through peaceful and solitary farmland, and a road meandering... Read more »
Americade Day Trip to Lake George, New York
Lance Oliver
November 14, 2011
I’m 25 miles north of Lake George, New York, taking a break alongside the shore of the lake of the same name, when four riding buddies pull in beside me. Nothing unusual about that. Except for the mix of motorcycles they’re riding: a brand-new, big-ticket Harley-Davidson cruiser, a 1980s-era 750cc... Read more »
