Driven to Ride

The freedom of the open road, escape from the every day, and throw in a little rebellious spirit - that’s what motorcycles are all about right? Well, according to author, historian, and professor, Dr Wendy Pojmann, that idea may only exist in the US - whereas, in Italy, motorcycles are looked at more as a part of everyday life.

In her book, Connected by the street, the myths and realities of motorcycles in the USA and Italy, Wendy breaks down the pretty striking difference between how motorcycles are perceived in the US culture versus the Italian culture - whether you look at racing, manufacturers, or even motorcycle clubs.

The product of Wendy’s research stems from her passion for everything Italian - from Ducatis and Vespas to espresso, and combines it with her personal experiences from the surprising reactions of both Italians and Americans when they learn she rides a motorcycle - although I guess you won’t find a huge of crossover between college professors and motorcycle riders.

What’s fascinating about Wendy’s book is that it takes a lot of things that motorcyclists may already ‘know’, but frames it in an academic sense, complete with research and historical context - and you may not look at Italian motorcycles the same way again.

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Ari Henning makes difficult look easy. That is, the host of “The Shop Manual,” RevZilla’s popular DIY video series, is able to convey with authority and clarity highly technical subjects related to motorcycle maintenance. If you don’t know Henning, you might think he is quoting directly from an actual shop manual. In reality, he knows those crucial details like the back of his throttle hand.

Henning inherited the ability to confront the uncomfortable from his ex-racer father, Todd. “There was this sense that, ‘If someone can build something, I can figure out how to take it apart.’ Seeing dad fix anything, whether it was a motorcycle or the dishwasher or the furnace, imbued in me, ‘You can figure this out.’ So I never hesitated to take something apart.”

That blind dive-into-the-unknown approach stretches beyond the shop to the open road. Henning and lifelong buddy Zack Courts’ often-comical “Common Tread XP” travel capers have been seen by millions on YouTube. “There’s this perception people seem to have that, when you leave your zip code, you’re more likely to have a mechanical or something,” he says. “That never bothered me.”

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Jared Zaugg remembers the exact moment that motorcycles entered his life. He was an impressionable teenager, who, like many younger siblings, thought the world of his older brother. “He was super cool,” says Zaugg. “One day, he comes riding up to the house on a motorcycle he borrowed. I don’t even remember the brand or model, but that was it. I thought, ‘That’s for me.’”

Thanks to his parents, Zaugg was raised around vintage automobiles. So, a deep interest in and an appreciation for machinery from a bygone era was already part of his genetic makeup. Which explains why he naturally gravitated toward vintage bikes. Not because they were less expensive, Zaugg notes. They weren’t, he acknowledges, but that’s where his personal tastes took him.

“Driven to Ride” podcast host Mark Long digs into Zaugg’s wondrous “Legend of the Motorcycle International Concours d'Elegance,” which celebrated the art and history of motorcycling. “Having motorcycles on a golf course at a resort on the ocean was unique,” says Zaugg. “It elevated motorcycles to the same level as motorcars, works of art worthy of admiration and presentation.”

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Do you remember your first motorcycle ride? Chances are, you were a teenager or maybe even younger. Ken Hill is an exception to that rule of thumb. In fact, the California native didn’t purchase his first motorcycle, a Honda CBR600F2, until age 30. He began road racing the very same year. Now in his early 60s, Hill is considered the top riding coach in the U.S.

“I always wanted to race cars,” Hill admits to “Driven to Ride” podcast host Mark Long. “I couldn’t afford to race cars, so I said, ‘You know what? I’ll race motorcycles.’ I’d never been to a track, never seen a motorcycle race. I was time-crunched. I was finance-crunched. To do something that I wanted to do, and to do it well, I had to structure it.”

A successful racing career led to instructor roles at the Freddie Spencer High Performance Riding School and the Yamaha Champions Riding School. Hill ultimately founded his own one-on-one coaching business, Ken Hill Coaching. “There’s nothing better than riding well,” he says. “I believe anybody can do it if they have to have the discipline and the right methodology.”

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A Swiss-born adventurer, photographer, and vlogger, Nathalie Depierraz has spent most of the past decade traveling by motorcycle throughout Europe and Africa. Known to her audience as “Nata On The Road,” she leads a largely nomadic life. “I would dare to say I’m a pro traveler,” Depierraz tells “Driven to Ride” host Mark Long, adding with a laugh, “I’m absolutely not a pro rider.”

For Depierraz, her choice of motorcycle—a Royal Enfield Himalayan 411 that she refers to as “my little tractor”—is simply a two-wheel tool used to achieve her greater travel goals. “Not that the bike doesn’t mean anything,” she concedes, “but I would never take my motorbike to just go around for an hour or something like that. That’s not my type of riding.”

Depierraz equates the travel experience to breathing oxygen—she can’t exist without it. With that in mind, risk, real or imagined, melts away. “For a lot of people, it’s scary,” she admits. “‘What if I don’t make it?’” And no other form of transportation provides the independence of a motorcycle. “I can go wherever I want, whenever I want,” she says. Who could ask for anything more?

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You’ve no doubt seen Tom McComas flash across the big screen, usually falling off a building or wheelying a motorcycle through rush-hour traffic. That's because he’s a bonafide Hollywood stuntman. McComas credits his career choice to a best-selling self-help book, “What Color is Your Parachute?” Summing it up, he says, “Figure out what you like to do, and find out a way to get paid doing it.”

McComas discovered his first love, motorcycling, growing up in Chicago. Bitten by the competition bug, he road raced for six years before discovering he could get paid to crash bikes. “I thought, ‘I’m not afraid to fall down. I like to fight. Let’s go!’” His big break? Doubling actor David Hasselhoff on the popular 1990s television series “Baywatch.”

McComas has since chalked up hundreds of appearances in film and on TV. “Getting into stunts was so difficult,” he says in reflection. “There’s a lot of rejection. I’m really grateful to be in the position I’m in, because I don’t go to work, I go to 

play

. Some days are better than others, for sure, but it’s amazing you can make a career out of doing what I do.”

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Ken Condon describes himself as a commuter, tourer, an off-road rider, a track-day instructor, road racer, an ice rider, a drag racer, and “plain old street rider.” Truth is, as wide-ranging as that description may sound, it barely scratches the surface of the many things Condon has done not just on a motorcycle but, more importantly, for his fellow motorcyclists.

Ken is the author of two books, “Riding in the Zone” and “Motorcycling the Right Way.” The latter is a compilation of the “Proficient Motorcycling” columns published in Motorcycle Consumer News. “I wrote that column for 14 years—2,800 words, plus photos, every month,” he tells “Driven to Ride” host Mark Long. Condon also penned “Street Strategies” for the same title.

That’s to say Condon has devoted most of his life to not only becoming a better rider himself but to helping others become better riders. “‘The well is very deep’ is what I tell my students,” he says. “You can choose to swim on the surface and tread water, or you can dive deep and get down there and see what it’s all about. And there’s an awful lot there. It just goes, and goes, and goes.”

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Sam Manicom spent eight years roaming the world by motorcycle, which is an accomplishment by itself. He later put those experiences into words, authoring four books: “Into Africa,” “Under Asian Skies,” “Distant Suns,” and “Tortillas to Totems.” Each volume takes readers through a different portion of his journey, Manicom tells Mark Long on this episode of the “Driven to Ride” podcast.

Manicom has traveled most of his life, using all manner of transportation. He explored Europe on a bicycle, hitchhiked by semi-truck, and crossed an ocean via cargo ship. All were tremendous experiences, he says, but motorcycles—a BMW R 80 GS, in particular—tick all the right boxes. For a chunk of that nearly decade-long journey, he even had a companion, aboard her own motorcycle.

During his time abroad, Manicom made an important discovery. “I found that a handshake and a smile and a ‘hello’ in somebody’s language gets you through an awful lot of very difficult situations,” he says. “You show respect to people and they’ll be gobsmacked, to begin with. Then, they tentatively smile back. All of a sudden, so many issues just melt away. It was such a good lesson to learn.”

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iRideArusha is the entry point for exploring Tanzania by motorcycle. On this episode of the “Driven to Ride” podcast, Kevin Bulger describes to host Mark Long how he and wife Sylvia, a native of the East African country, founded the company. Bulger’s big idea was to share his passion for adventure, motorcycles, and travel with like-minded enthusiasts from around the world.

“I’m not one of those guys that’s been riding since I was five years old,” admits the Chicagoan. In fact, he didn’t even throw a leg over a motorcycle of his own until he was an adult. “I bought that bike and literally rode it to every corner of every neighborhood in the city. It opened my eyes. ‘Wow, how diverse and broad and wonderful Chicago is.’ That got me interested to explore the wider world."

An investigative trip led to an opportunity better even than the Bulgers imagined. Rather than start an entirely new company, they partnered with the owner of iRideNairobi, a tour company in Kenya. “I thought, ‘We can open locations across East Africa,” says Kevin. “That’s sort of our grand vision—multiple outposts where riders can start in one location and end in another.” Grand, indeed.

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Cory Texter was practically born with a throttle in his hand. His grandfather Ray owned a Harley-Davidson dealership in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Father Randy was a successful national-number flat-tracker and an AMA U.S. Twin Sports champion. Sister Shayna has won 19 American Flat Track Singles races. Cory himself notched two AFT Production Twins titles.

Texter is the very definition of a self-starter. Before retiring from professional competition, he earned a college degree and tried his hand at journalism, podcasting and, most recently, race promoting—all successfully. In fact, he just wrapped the eighth edition of the “Winter Throwdown,” a Florida tradition geared toward amateur flat-trackers that draws 800-plus entries.

Racing is a metaphor for other aspects of his life, says Texer, 38, a husband and father of two young boys. “It’s such a simple thing when you break it down. There’s a green light to start the race, and there’s a checkered flag. You have to figure out a way to get to the checkered flag before everybody else, and you don’t always have to be the fastest guy to do that.”

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