A little background about the me and the trip

Growing up I had older brothers that were into BMX riding and were very competitive. They were the ones that challenged me and in a roundabout way gave me the inner spark that would someday make me the adventurous type. My middle brother introduced me to skateboarding and my oldest brother, who was a professional BMX racer, was the one who taught me how to ride a bicycle and was the source of my fascination of two wheels. I remember as a 2^nd grader following the sidewalks in my neighborhood to see how far it would take me. I'm amazed because I have since gone back to one of the sidewalks and realize that I rode at least 10 miles away, something that nowadays would probably not be allowed to happen for a 2^nd grader. THIS was my first "Adventure" ride.

This spirit remained in me, but it was NOT until I was in my mid twenties that I decided to venture into the motorized version of 2 wheels. I started slow admittedly, on a 1979 Vespa P200, but none the less started. From there I immediately realized that I was going to need a little more power so I moved up to a 1976 BMW 60/6. This bike had saddle bags which gave me a whole new outlook of riding distances on the bikes.

Even though the BMW was old, it was comfortable, reliable and easy to work on. Most of the first trips were pretty much around the San Francisco Bay Area and on occasion I would make it to Tahoe. Regardless I rode pretty much every day no matter what the condition, I just LOVED it. It made commuting fun and made me look forward to going to work (also made me look forward to riding back home too;-). But as fun as this was I just wanted to go further and this is where the idea of South America was born. I can't explain exactly why South America vs. "just" sticking to the US but as anyone that is a motorcyclist can tell you, there is simply no other way of seeing the world. Now add to the fact that I have an overwhelming urge for adventure and my heart races just thinking about doing a journey that will last a few months vs. just a weekend trip.

My first major trip was a few years ago with my middle brother to Baja, California. This trip was planned and achieved (ride included) in about 3 weeks. There was definitely a lot of naivety between the 2 of us to plan and ride this in such a short period but none the less it happened and we had a blast! The experience we had meeting people and see this unbelievable scenery was nothing short of pure amazement.

Since then, I have done other international motorcycle trips, but MOST have been less than a week. I have moto-crossed through Costa Rica, dodged elephants and camels in Northern India with my middle bother, rode off road 300 miles to Mike's Sky ranch in Baja, Mexico(http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=41230) and rode the perimeter and lush mountains of Bali.

In addition to the trips I just mentioned, late last year with my middle brother and I rode through Mexico and Central America. We started on Friday November the 13th 2010. The original plan for this trip was to ride from San Francisco and make it as far south as possible in 7 weeks. The plan would be for me to leave the bike at the end of the 7 weeks and pick it up at a later date. I would continue doing this until I reach Ushuaia/Tierra del Fuego. After about 2 weeks into this ride I realized that I would not be making it too far south and that the logistics of leaving my bike somewhere in Central America then returning later would not work out, mainly due to Central American visas only lasting a maximum of 3 months:-(

This being the case, in 7 weeks I ended riding the entire Pacific coast down to Nicaragua with my brother then riding my bike back solo up the Gulf coast and then dropping it off in Mexico City in December. (Mexico allows one to keep their bike in the country for 6 months). My brother ended up making it down to Buenos Aires and had the time of his life. I ended up returning to Mexico City in February of 2011 and rode my bike back to SF where I would someday make this attempt again.

What I have learned and enjoyed most about doing these kinds of trips is that I get a new appreciation for mankind. A lot of us tend to hear the news and think that this is what the world is about. I disagree, I feel that when riding a motorcycle people are most often genuinely intrigued about you, the bike and the story you have to tell them, especially since you are coming from a world that they only see on TV.

Here I am again today, about to embark on another adventure. My bike is being flown to Bogotá, Colombia since I've already done the northern half of Latin America and I'm going to ride for a month solo then go back  to Bogotá where I am going to meet my girlfriend and where we are going to ride 2 up. The general plan is for us to the west coast together down to Tierra Del Fuego then ride up the east coast and make it to Brazil for Carnaval in March 2013. Who know where we go from there Africa, Europe, Asia, all of the above? We don’t know but I hope you enjoy the experiences that we share with you.

Happy travels!