Welcome to the Bike's & Bio's Page of the GlobeRiders Alaska to Tierra del Fuego 2013 Live!Journal!

This is the "up close" and personal Chapter of the Alaska to Tierra del Fuego Live!Journal.  I've asked each of our particpents to share a little about themselves, and also provide a couple of favorite photos to go along with their Bios. You may not be with them in the flesh, but at least you can learn a bit more about them virtually.

This is going to be a fantastic adventure and we hope you enjoy meeting our particents and following along as we ride the America's.

It's my privilege to introduce the members of the GlobeRiders Alaska to Tierra del Fuego Adventure 2013.

Best Regards,

GlobeRiders Partner, Guide and all things GPS

We are 57 &56 years old, married and parents to 3 wonderful children (28, 24, 21).

Kainan is an experienced biker and in the last few years made quite a few bike trips around the world: Mongolia, Cambodia, Baja, Turkey, Cairo to Cape Town, Southern Africa and many more. He will be riding a KTM990, and also owns a KTM EXC400 and a Yamaha FJR 1300.

Shiree views the bike as her sworn enemy, and she joins this trip according to the old Chinese rule of "know thy enemy".

Shiree and Kainan

My wife Ade and I live in Anchorage Alaska and Bali Indonesia. Together we manage a ceramic manufacturing and retail business in Bali ( www.jenggala.com ). My other job is to fly for Atlas Air out of the Anchorage crew base. Atlas Air operates to almost every country on earth and I am very lucky to fly with some of the best pilots in this profession.

I have been riding motorcycles on and off since the late 80's but only now am seriously getting into it. I look forward to learning to navigate all sorts of terrain and I thought that this trip would be a good start.

Peter

My name is Fred (57), I am an architect and live in south Germany not far from the border with Switzerland.

Thank you to my wife Brigit. She supported me to realize this trip. Also to our daughter Stefanie who is also an architect and our son Andy who is studying in Vienna.

Birigit is also a GS rider and I am looking forward to riding Stage 1, July - October of this year with her.

After 3 weeks on the road, I think it starts to change my life.

Fred

I am a self employed gardener. This is my first GlobeRiders trip. The bike is a 2009 R1200 GS. The bike suspension was modified to Ohlins shocks by Stig Petterson. The bike's rear wheel was changed to a Volkswagen car tire which is interchangeable with the chair wheel. The front forks have been extended. The bike modifications and sidecar manufacture were accomplished by Claude Stanley Motorsports in Middleburg, PA, USA.

Marty

Countless after-school hours on an Honda 50 as a boy laid the foundation for my buying a Harley in 1990 to travel with my partner, Marty Kromer. Together we were fortunate to be able to take a portion of each summer and tour through North America over the following six years, visiting most of the lower 48 United States, Alaska and much of Canada. Other life issues then got in the way and our opportunity for long windows of time on the road closed.

I'm now at something of a threshold of life, ending one set of responsibilities – both career and personal, evaluating options before making new commitments, and attempting to look at the world from a new perspective. What better way of getting a fresh view than from a bike? This time, as the monkey in a sidecar, my view is 360 degrees and of places I've only dreamed about until now.

In spring Marty and I rode to Prudhoe Bay, Stage 1 for the ride to Ushuaia. On 12/12/12 we left Delaware for the ride to LA to meet Helge and the crew for Stages 2 & 3.

Bill

I have owned , I think, a total of 18 motorcycles, from Japanese to British to German. I have been riding from age 17. Currently own a 2007 R1200GS. Favorite long trips have been England, The Pacific Northwest, the Northeast, New England, Morocco, South Africa, Japan,Vietnam/Cambodia and the Silk Road from Istanbul to Xian, China.

I love to travel for both work and play.

Have also traveled extensively in North America and Europe. In recent years have been to Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Spain, Finland and Sweden. The travel bug has definately bitten !! Looking forward to the many cultures, languages and history of South America. I am sure my expectations of visiting many different and beautiful places, and seeing many new peoples will be met on this trip. Especially on a motorcycle !! The adventurer of the unknown is ready to go.

In real life I own a sales agency (manufacturer's representative agency) and sell for several companies. They are mostly manufacturers of stainless steel and alloy tubing and pipe plus a couple of stamping companies and a tube fabricator. I sell into the medical, marine, electronics, food equipment, aircraft and heat exchanger industries... Travel 11 states of the Northeast.

Too many hobbies and not enough time. I have restored an old Chris Craft, built a Cobra kit car project, and enjoy hiking, skiing and am a regular squash player. Even riding a motorcycle!! "So many roads and so little time."

Personally, I am divorced and have a maturing 25 year old daughter, Daron, who lives in Portland, Oregon. She currently works for Watershed Sciences a growing company involved in geography information science and digital imaging.

Let the ride begin

Mac

My name is Mike McNulty and I am a GlobeRiders addict! There seems to be no cure. My first trip with Helge was the 2011 Silk Road trip. That trip required that I actually own a motorcycle. So I bought a new 2010 1200GS, in red naturally. First motorcycle in almost 35 years. Now I am back for more.

I am 65 years old, married to my wife Marilyn for 44 years, have 2 children, and 4 grandchildren. I own a semi-truck trailer sales and leasing business in Southern California and have been in business for 35 years. I have a son and son-in-law in the business which allows for all this time off. Other interests include hunting and flying.

My main interest in motorcycles is adventure travel to foreign countries. Several trips to Mexico, a Spain / Portugal / Morocco trip, and South America trip from Machu Picchu to Iguassu Falls. The Silk Road trip with Helge was an eye opener. A long trip, on your own bike, with the freedom to not “follow the leader” is so much better.

Mike

Age 67, married, 3 children, 6 grandchildren. 50 years riding motorcycles and 6th GloberRiders tour. I enjoy riding dirt, trials ,dual sport, street and adventure motorcycling. I am extremely fortunate to have my wife and families support to allow me to motorcycle to all parts of the world - a dream come true.

David

I live in North Central Washington State with my wife Paula who also loves to travel. If Paula and I are not on the road, I'm usually playing with some gadget, evaluating GPS's, planning the next ride or just enjoying my time at home with Paula.

I currently have three bikes: In 2011 I purchased a new R1200GS Adventure and love the bike. I own a 2004 R1150GS Adventure that I'm riding on this tour and will be watching for it's odometer to turn over 100,000 miles somewhere in Patagonia. One of the most fun bikes I've owned is my 2006 R1200HP2 Enduro that I use for off-roading and our Africa Adventure.

Dan

Some times I feel that I have been riding motorcycles all my life, but that is not quite the truth. If that had been the case I would be much younger. However 30 years ago is the date that I set out to see the world and since that day I have seen a lot of the world from the saddle of my bikes. My other passion in life besides riding the world is taking pictures and together the two makes for a great combination.

Even though I have done this journey to Tierra del Fuego three years ago I am just as excited to do it over again. Every time I come back to a privies visited place I see it with different eyes.

I also enjoy the group dynamic of any of our GlobeRiders groups. There are so much to be learned from the participants of the journey. After every trip I walk away with new knowledge, new friends and I can’t wait to get to know this group on a deeper level than we have done over the phone and internet during the preparations for the ride.

It is also nice to know that we have so many followers through this journal, spread the words so that even more people get to enjoy our trip to the end of the world.

The hardest part with any journey is to leave my wife Karen back in Seattle. I wish that she could have been with us. She is a traveler at heart and have already seen some of the land that we will cover.

Enough said, let’s go for a Ride!

Helge P.