New Zealand: To The Cape & Back

Friday afternoon, the sun was out and it couldn’t get any stiller. In a bit of a last minute decision we decide on doing a 2-1/2 day ride to the tip of the North Island of New Zealand. To Cape Reinga and the lighthouse there.

New Zealand: Waitomo, Waterfalls, and the West Coast

The alarm chirped at 7:00 AM, the sun blasting through the dark curtains won’t help if we pull the covers over our heads. Without much hesitation, we climb out of bed and perform our wake-up rituals. The previous night we had done the bulk of the packing, which made the morning start less ominous.

2008 Honda CBF1000 – Sense Appeal

lubricious |loō bri sh əs| (also lubricous | loōbrikəs|) adjective 1 offensively displaying or intended to arouse sexual desire. 2 smooth and slippery with oil or a similar substance. A mobile contradiction in terms the Honda CBF1000 is at once lubricious and not. Designed in Germany, this upright standard’s looks teeter between friendly and bland…

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2008 KTM 950 Super Enduro R – The Cure for Common Sense

Periodically in a review I dance around the topic of whether a bike “spoke” to me or not. This is not one of those reviews. Let’s cut a swath of broken daisies through the meadow and directly to the point; the KTM 950 Super Enduro R is pure delightful lunacy.

Review: Rev’It! Apache H20 Boots

For my own meagre off road skills, I want a boot that isn’t as “full on” as a motocross boot, yet serves the off road premise a bit better than my street boots. I want a waterproof boot. Here in Auckland, we get four seasons in one day and I don’t like wet feet. I want a dual sport boot that I can walk in. I want a boot I don’t look out of place in when stopping between gravel roads at a remote cafe. Until the Rev’it! Apache H20, I think I would have been searching for awhile.

Ducati: Many Roads of Canada – Alberta

It’s the West, home’s backyard, and Alberta feels like an old friend. The border between provinces continues to be startlingly accurate. Behind me is the wide sky and roll of the prairies, ahead the dinosaurs, oil and ranches, the Rockies, British Columbia and finally home.

Ducati: Many Roads of Canada – Finding Forget

The sign for Saskatchewan is a harbinger of prosperity.  Pump-jacks line the roadside fellating like 50’s cartoon mosquitoes pulling congealed crude from the earth.  David & David’s “Welcome to Boomtown” drifts through my mind.  If there is a place to let your mind roam while riding, this is it, a wide openness painted in blue…

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Ducati: Many Roads of Canada – Holland… Manitoba

Pickups charge down side-roads towards the highway, plumes of silica fog hanging in their wake.  They are driven with the impunity of those who know they will never come across an unexpected corner.  Those drivers are right.  Welcome to the prairies.

Ducati: Many Roads of Canada – Finding the North Star

My original plan was to push through Winnipeg, but my blind servitude to the Garmin Zumo GPS carries me into the downtown core.  Then architecture grabbed me, the Bank of Montreal, the Royal Bank, the Via Rail station.  A rail hub and the former central point of the fur trade Winnipeg has maintained a sense…

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Review: Revit Cayenne Pro

The Rev’it! Cayenne Pro is a seasoned veteran on the road, equally it’s at home on the aggressive back roads of any adventure. One of the most gossiped and admired adventure-touring jackets, and the successor to the ever popular Rev’it! Cayenne, has had major reconstructive surgery.

Ducati: Many Roads of Canada – Jennifer and Joezs Dream

Just for reference, Ontario is large enough that when the provincial government decided to protect 222,000 square kilometers (56 million acres) of boreal forest from development in July of 2008, comparisons were drawn.  For example, 222,000 square kilometers is equal to the entirety of the U.S.’s road-less areas, half the size of Texas, or the…

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Ducati: Many Roads of Canada – Signs of Travel

That’s the last Inukshuk, Highway 17 has been lined with them the past two days.  These human forms, some classic in design and others more avant-garde, have been my constant companions as I cross Ontario.  Whenever I’ve been feeling a bit low I glance up the highway’s stony embankments, and there is an Inukshuk.  My…

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