Month: July 2021

Hello.

My name is Håkon Lyberg. I am 58 years old and from Norway. I have been riding a motorcycle since 2009. I am currently driving a BMW r1200gsa which I am very happy with.

I also have a girlfriend who also rides a motorcycle, but she is not so happy when the trips get too long in one day!

We drive often to the Alps (Austria, Switzerland, Italy,) during the summer holidays. In 2019 we had a trip of about 6000 km, over 15 countries. Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Sweden

I have driven the Easy Rider designation, 805 KM in 12 hours; the Full Throttle 1610 KM in 24 hours; and now last Saturday the King of the Road 2415 KM in 36 hour trip. All have been certified by Long Distance Riders.

It is a challenge to drive in Norway now due to corona, we can not cross the border, If we do, then we have to be quarantined when we return. Norway is long and narrow, so then there will be a short return trip on the same roads. But I try to vary the roads a bit. Am sending photos so you can get a glimpse of the beautiful nature we have here in Norway. It does not get dark at night up here in the summer, look at the clock in the pictures, the sun does not set!

Looking forward to my next adventure.

Drive carefully and think safety.

I’ve been riding motorcycles for 33 years. During that time, I’ve done many motorcycle rides here in Ireland, the U.K., and Europe, but none documented. I came across the Long Distance Riders website a year or 2 ago and had it in mind to submit a ride for possible verification at some future date. My current bikes are, a 2000 Honda ST1100, a 2001 Yamaha FZS1000, and a 2008 Suzuki B-King 1340.

Due to the Covid pandemic, we had some serious travel restrictions in Ireland. We were in nationwide lockdown from just after Christmas to the start of June. With the easing of restrictions, I took Friday the 18th of June off work, with the intention of being able to visit some locations on the Irish Photo Rally and the I.B.A. Ireland Wolfhound Rally, plus 2 other motorcycle photo rallies I have been participating in the last 6-7 years, thus combining the rally locations with an attempt at an Easy Rider 805km ride.

I started the ride with a fuel receipt at 06.32 a.m. at a local petrol station in Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary (my home town) where a local lady signed my form as a starting witness. A steady run up the motorways into Northern Ireland, traveled on some nice country roads, I then rode in the North visiting the rally points in counties Down & Antrim, then had to make a short detour along the way due to road work & diversions but only about 10 minutes lost.

On the return journey, I met with some heavy lunch time traffic in Belfast and later on a couple of delays around Dublin as evening traffic built up. Returned to the same station in Carrick-on-Suir, a quick splash of petrol in the Bike and got my final receipt at 17.32 p.m. I bumped into a buddy from work who agreed to act as a finish witness and signed my form.

I really enjoyed the beautiful ride, and was happy to finally achieve the “Easy Rider” 805 km designation. I made a few mistakes and some wrong turns along the way, but qualified easily for the certification.

I’m looking forward to the next couple of rides I’ve planned over the coming months. It’s good to be back on the road again!

Hello, my name is Alfredo Duenas. I’ve been riding since October of 2019, when I got my M1 license. I’ve been riding a 2007 Kawasaki Vulcan 1600 Nomad, which is what I used for the Easy Rider 500 ride I completed on June 27, 2021.

One story I’ll share about my 500-mile Easy Rider accomplishment…

I was about 200 miles into the ride and I was leaning forward and stretching my back out while on I5 freeway at freeway speeds. I leaned back into my normal riding position and my backrest was gone.

I had about 30 miles to go, to my turnaround point. I kept thinking about turning back to look for the backrest. I then decided to stop on the side of the freeway to move the bar that holds the backrest and I found that I was very lucky.

As you can see in the photo, the backrest got caught on my saddlebag rack and if you look close you will see that the bolt and washer landed safely on the back seat. I was able to put it back together on the side of the road and continued my ride. My wife credits the Angels bell :), rather than luck!

I’m proud to be a member of Long Distance Riders and plan to complete more rides in the future.

I have been riding since 2006 off and on. My current motorcycle, a 2014 Ultra Classic, gave me the itch to ride further. My friend/coworker and I were making a few 250-mile day trips and I would get off thinking that wasn’t far enough. We were planning the Easy Rider 500 miler in May when he came down with Covid and passed away suddenly.

It took about a month with life and things for me to actually make the trip. It could not have been a better day, almost like he was there with me. I was determined to just pound out the miles and that is what I did. Rode hard with short stops, except for lunch, and got home with plenty of time to spare.

I am planning my next ride with my wife. We will probably do a 500-mile Easy Rider and then I definitely want to shoot for the Full Throttle and the King of the Road. Coast to Coast would most definitely be a retirement bucket list trip.

The pictures are from the Big Bend area of Texas. Wide open spaces where you can “scoot down the rode”.

Ride safe everyone!

My wife decided (convinced) me back in early 2014 that we needed to take a motorcycle riding course. I hadn’t been on a motorcycle in 20 plus years. She had been going to the local Harley dealership and the Tri-Glide Ultra (Trike) caught her eye. We rented one for a long weekend, putting over 300 miles on it.

Next thing I know is we are going to the dealership to look at bikes. She was partial to the maroon two-tone color and of course they had none in stock. But after a couple phone calls by our salesman, they found the color she was wanting only 2 ½ hours away. They unloaded it and she wrote a check for a 2015 Trike and the rest is history!

Since then, we put 77,000 miles on that trike and just purchased a 2021 this February. So far this year, we have been to Wisconsin to the Harley Museum and we did the Dragon’s Tail before hitting North and South Carolina. I did the 500-mile Easy Rider ride from Wood River IL, down to Osceola, Arkansas the other morning for breakfast. Over the past weekend I did a 2,000-mile weekend ride out through the Colorado Rockies. Got stopped short of my destination because of a mud slide. It was a beautiful sight riding through the Rockies at daylight. Fourth of July weekend we will be riding the Pig Trail in Arkansas. Then the following weekend weather permitting I will be off to the East Coast for 4 days. The third week in July we are off to Escanaba Michigan for the Great Lakes Rally.

Enjoy the ride, be safe and have numerous adventures.

Bob Carlton

P.S. I also forgot to mention, we belong to two HOG chapters. One is the St. Charles, MO chapter that took 2nd in the nation for riding over 1,000,000 miles. The other is the Alton HOG chapter that took first place in the region for highest average miles per person.

Let’s ride!