Motorcycle Rides, Roads and Self-Guided Travel
This section focuses on local and international motorcycle rides, roads and self-guided travel experiences from the editors of Rider magazine. Some of the articles you will recognize from print, and others are web exclusive. Click on any of the images to see the sites in a larger format. Planning a trip of your own? Check out RiderDiaries.com to see over 100 tour articles from the editors of Rider complete with large-scale ride maps, and dealership, accommodation and biker-friendly locators.
Cloverleaf Around Yakima, Washington
Alan Paulsen
September 11, 2012
When I last visited my friends Brian and Pam Rafferty in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to develop an article (Connecting the Dakotas, Rider, August 2009), they weren’t of a mind to leave one of America’s most livable cities. Well, the economic travails of the times dictated that they pull up stakes... 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 »
Motorcycle Travel in Hope, Whistler and the Sea to Sky Highway
Ken Bingenheimer
August 8, 2012
It was noon when my wife, Judy, and I left the rental shop in Vancouver where we had picked up the 2011 Harley-Davidson we would be riding the next few days. The GPS on the Electra Glide Ultra Limited had been set to guide us out of town to Hope along British Columbia 7. From there we planned to double... 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 »
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 »
Riding U.S. 20 from Albany to Buffalo, N.Y.
Clement Salvadori
July 5, 2012
(This story was published in the July 2012 issue of Rider magazine.) Story and photos by Clement Salvadori My duties at Americade, up in Lake George, New York, were finished by noon—I could have been in Buffalo by nightfall, had I chosen to hustle along the Interstates. But that’s not much fun; might... 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 »
Border Run: Montorcycle Travel in Washington and Canada
Ben Getz
June 26, 2012
(The article Border Run was printed in the August 2012 issue of Rider.) Story and photos by Ben Getz Good things come in threes, they say…or is that disasters? Well, maybe it’s not that important, since both descriptions have been applied to my friends and me. One hot August weekend my disparate... Read more »
The Long Road to Indy, A Scenic Sport-Touring Ride to the MotoGP
Lance Oliver
June 6, 2012
(This Long Road to Indy feature was published in the June 2012 issue of Rider magazine.) Imagine a multi-state Main Street for Motorcycling, a cross-country route made just for riding. Miles of sinuous asphalt draped over rolling hills, winding past tumbledown barns with faded Mail Pouch tobacco ads,... Read more »
