From Henry . . .

 

 

My name is Henry Black, married 41 years, a retired C.P.A. living, about 20 minutes north of San Francisco, in Larkspur, California.

 

At the age of 67, am aptly called "Q-Tip"- you'll see when we all meet face-to-face. I missed being the oldest on the 2007 "Silk Road" trip by one year. Any challengers for the age throne these trips (Hanami and World tour)?

 

In addition to being retired, I suffer from MBS (multiple bike syndrome) as I have three of them. One is my Touratech bike (poorly disguised as a BMW R 1200 GS). I have been riding since 1964 and have managed to ride in 25 countries on organized tours and three more countries on disorganized (solo) tours.

 

In Japan, I will be mounted on a KTM 990 Adventure.

 

I am looking forward to this tour not only to travel with new people; but also to sightsee in storied parts of the world that I have as yet to visit.

 

I live with my wife and one of our two daughters, aged 35 and 36 (the daughters) - no grand kids.

 

I am going to get a small foretaste of our trip when I ride to Mexico (Copper Canyon Rim, Baja, etc.) in February.

 

While I don't normally anticipate upcoming events, this trip has me excited.

 

 

Henry

From Debbie . . .

 

 

We are self-employed and our passion is travel. We work hard and love to play.

 

Our "Adventure" riding began when we walked into SSBMW and Brendan showed Harrison an 1150 GS Adventure outfitted for the Silk Road Tour.  Our passion for travel took on an entire new perspective and became a lot more fun.

 

Harrison is riding a 2004 1150GS Adventure.

 

Debbie is riding a 2006 F650GS (vertically challenged).

 

This will be our 3rd Globeriders Tour. We will continue on to Beijing for the World Tour (our 4th!).

 

On a more personal note, we have 4 children, 8 grandchildren and a wonderful management team that enables us to have this exciting and full life.

 

We look forward to meeting everyone and exploring new places on our planet.

 

 

Debbie & Christian

From Harrison . . .

 

 

"What she said . . . ."

From Michael . . .

 

 

I am joining this group as a newbie to GlobeRiders. I am 59 years old, married, with three college graduates and two grandchildren. I'm very proud to finally get all of mychildren through higher education: a graduate of the Air Force Academy, a son with a degree in Risk Management, and a daughter with a Doctorate in Microbiology.

My wife Lauren is very supportive of this effort, donating her time and money to support me and my chosen charity.

 

I am an Eagle Scout with extensive survival hiking and camping experience. I am also a serious snow skier and adventure traveler. I have been riding since my late 20’s. I have traveled extensively the North American Continent by motorcycle, hiking, truck, etc.

 

Logging over 100,000 miles on motorcycles of various types (from scooters, Harley’s, Honda Gold Wing’s, and KTM 400 open-class enduros), I have been on numerous tours, covering over 10,000 miles per trip. I have raced enduros, finishing 4th in the overall Southeastern Trail conference in the late 80’s . I love motorcycle touring and made a personal goal of traveling around the world for A Purpose before I fully retire. The 2008 World Tour will help me in that objective…

 

My second objective is to raise money for Fisher House, my favorite charity. To do that, H & H Insurance Services is sponsoring me in time, money and my participation to raise that money. H & H is a commercial insurance agency in Atlanta Georgia, www.h-hinsurance.com. I have set-up a special web page for you to make a contribution to my effort. Please go to this site and make a generous contribution by clicking here or the graphic below:

 

 

Fisher House supports military families, and is a wonderful group to ride for. We can make a difference to these families and soldiers. They need our help and I hope you can take the time to investigate this wonderful group. I hope you will follow my journey and then follow along with your contributions.

 

I hope you can help me support and promote this effort. I have received support from everyone I have discussed this with so far, and hope that significant funds can be raised for this group.

 

 

Michael

 

 

To view a YouTube video about the efforts of Fisher House, please click here.

 

To visit Fisher House on MySpace, please click here.

From Terry . . .

 

 

Hello from Bemidji Minnesota,

 

My name is Terry Nielsen. I was born in 1952 and was raised on a farm in the Red River Valley on the Minnesota side. I retired last year at the age of 54 after 30 years in banking.

 

My first motorcycle, which I got at age 15, was an Omega, Kawasaki’s first attempt at making motorcycles. I have had an unnatural attraction to them ever since, and currently own way too many, including a 1947 Indian Chief that I have owned since I was 18 years old. I took my first long trip on that Indian in 1974, traveling from Minnesota to the World’s Fair in Spokane, WA. From there I went down the coast of Washington as far south as the Redwoods in Northern California, and then back to Minnesota.

 

To date my biggest adventure has been a trip to Alaska. My son Matt, 22 at the time, with his 14 year-old sister, Kimberly, on the back, drove the same R80 G/S that I will be taking on the World Tour. My other daughter Sarah, 19 at the time, rode behind me on my R100 GSPD. We camped-out the entire trip including sleeping on the fantail of the ferry we took coming back on the Inside Passage.

 

There have been numerous motorcycle trips to Europe with the best one being just last September with my new wife. Mary and I spent two weeks trying to bag as many passes as we could in Northern Italy and Switzerland.

 

I have thought about taking a trip like this World Tour ever since I picked up a copy of Ten Years on Two Wheels. This book might also explain my preference for an R80 G/S, my bike of choice for traveling.

 

I am very much looking forward to meeting everyone, and sharing one of the greatest adventure tours on the planet with like-minded riders.

 

 

Terry

From Ed . . .

 

 

I learned to ride motorcycles when I was 16 years old courtesy of a neighbor, “Wildman” Walter. The following 36 years were filled with a mix of various Japanese and European motorcycles.

 

I began riding BMWs in 1978 with the purchase of an R100S that replaced a stolen Kawasaki Z1. That bike hooked me on BMWs and I have been riding them ever since.

 

I currently own a 1993 R100 GS/PD that I purchased new and immediately took to Sasebo, Japan for four years. It proved to be a great choice for my wife, Kathy, and I to explore the back roads and farms all around us.

 

My latest BMW is a 2007 R1200 GS Adventure that my good friend, Wayne “The Rev” Elston, of South Sound BMW sold me.

Wayne very casually mentioned I should check out a group called “GlobeRiders” if I wanted to see what the bike and (hopefully I) was capable of. The rest is history.....I signed up for both the Japan Hanami and World Tours 2008.

 

 

Ed

From TJ . . .

 

 

This year I'm heading around the world on my motorcycle.  It's a trip I've been planning and re-planning since 1994 when I read Jimmy Rogers' Investment Biker.  My passion for long distance motorcycle travel began that same year when I needed to abandon a bicycle trip across the US due to a work conflict.  Unwilling to give up the adventure of seeing the country on two wheels I opted to cruise at a higher speed and purchased a BMW R1100GS.  A six month adventure around North America was all it took for me to include motorcycle travel along with sailing and bicycling as my most favored ways to see the world.

 

 

It was during my motorcycle travels back then that I heard about a man named 'Helge' who successfully made it  through the Darien Gap with his bike. I thought that was quite a feat and it served to inspire me even more.  Coincidently, in 1996 I came across Helge’s R80GS in Seattle while getting service as I traveled down from Alaska.

 

 

The following year I set off for Switzerland and found the GS to be a great bike for blasting around the Alps in Switzerland, Italy and Austria.  My plans for making my way around the world were interrupted during this trip when I came across a German Tech company I thought needed to be in the US.  The chemistry was great and I succeeded in persuading them to expand and spent several years running those operations in North America.  It was a great young company and several of the people were serious adventure travelers.  Even the company’s boss shipped his Landcruiser off to Africa for a six month safari and made a movie about it.

 

 

After the company was sold I set off to New Zealand for a multi-month bicycle adventure.  The following year I sailed from San Diego to New Zealand intent on bicycling around Australia afterward and then riding  the Tour D'Afrique, a bicycle adventure across Africa.  The sailing went well, but my knee didn't and I had to bow out of the later adventures.

 

 

After some time mulling my options, I refocused on my motorcycle and plans for this RTW adventure began to take shape.  Most things fell into place, but I was struggling with the logistics of crossing Russia and China on my own.  It was at that point I came across GlobeRiders while searching the web.   In yet another coincidence, I learned it was run by the same ‘Helge’ who's bike and stories I had come across some 12 years before.  The GR World Tour became a real problem solver for me.  Usually, I’m not one to do tours but the WT includes lots interesting side trips and adventures that I probably wouldn’t have done or even known about on my own.   I’m looking forward to this adventure and am excited to meet up with everyone in China!

 

 

Oh, for those interested in all the other facts about me, I’m 44 and grew up on the outskirts of Detroit during the Motown boom.    I’ve had careers in real estate development, technology, radio, and investment. My other hobbies include bicycling, sailing, hiking, diving, skiing and sea kayaking.  My main residence in Northern Michigan, my secondary is some mountainside or seaside in my Airstream.   I’m currently single and blessed with many close friends and an awesome two year old god daughter.  I have to give special thanks to my dear friend Amy while I travel around the next year as she’ll be managing my ‘home desk’ and taking care of my dog Tucker.   Luckily her passion is flying gliders so while I travel she’ll be soaring the skies back home.

 

 

TJ

 

 

[Note: To visit TJ's website about his 2008 RTW ('Round the World) motorcycle adventure, please click here.]

 

From Mike . . .

 

 

As you can see from my "tour roster" above, this will be my fourth departure on a World Tour.  Along with five other clients, and our new Partner and Guide, Dan Townsley, I'll be joining this World Tour via ferry from Japan, where we will have just completed our new Japan Hanami Tour.

 

Between both tours, I'll be on the road for 77 days, and with travel time, away from home for one day shy of three months.

 

In Sep and Oct of this year, I'll join Helge and a group of client/riders, both new faces and returning friends, for our 56-day IndoChina Adventure.

 

As the saying goes, "It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.  What an amazing way to spend my "retirement" from a long, intense career in design and management.

 

The World Tour immerses us in the history and "today" of two of the world's most closely-tracked countries, China and Russia.  The eleven of us making the long-haul this year will see the vibrant and almost frenetic pace of modernization and constuction in Beijing.  We'll explore and endure the isolation and vastness of Siberia, and slowly segue back into a more familiar world as we enter Europe.

 

As the World Tour officially ends, we'll take one more group ride to the BMW Motorrad Days International Rallye in Germany, a huge party thrown by BMW Motorrad for it's customers and fans, the largest "Beemer" event in the world.

 

For those joining us via the web and Live!Journal, thanks for joining in on The Ride, and a warm "Hello Again" to those also joining us for their second, or third, or forth "virual" World Tour with GlobeRiders!

 

 

Best Regards,

 

MikeP

 

 

[To learn more about Mike, you can view his GlobeRiders Bio by clicking here.]

About Tom . . .

 

 

[Awaiting bio from Tom.]

From Stuart . . .

 

 

Stuart D Robertson

 

New Zealander. Age 64.

 

I reckon I am in pretty good health considering a lifetime of near scrapes. I have tried many things, but spent most of my business life as a CPA advising small business and latterly more involved in Insolvency, Receiverships, Liquidations and debt negotiation, so I have left a buoyant business right now.

 

I have a poor opinion of professionals and commercial high flyers, as in my experience its hard to find an honest one. We have an “easy money society”. Not many people willing to work or offer service. The future will be interesting as petrol becomes more expensive, travel more difficult, more people wanting what there is less of, and leaner times wherever home is.

 

So I stopped being accountable a couple of years ago and took to the road. South America, (Chile Argentina, Bolivia Peru), then North America, a circuit of the US and in and out of Canada, then Central America, Texas to Panama, and a short visit to Cuba. Then it was Europe; Germany to Turkey via Austria Italy Hungary Romania Bulgaria, then the UK via Greece Italy France Switzerland. Southern Africa followed in late 2007. All fantastic adventures which is why I continue to ride.

 

I am riding a R1200 GS but will swap for a F650 to ride back to the Antipodes, from the UK via Turkey Iran Pakistan India Myanmar, Thailand. Malaysia and Indonesia, well that’s the plan anyway as first I have to make it to the UK.

 

 

Stuart

From Dan . . .

 

 

As the newest GlobeRider Partner I don't bring a lot of past GlobeRider Tour knowledge to the group, but I have been riding motorcycles for over forty years and have covered much of the Americas and Europe.

 

I am 58 years old and I've spent the last twenty-seven years of my professional life working for the IBM Corporation as an Engineer and as a Technology Consultant and Technical Sales professional.

 

I retired last year with the intent of spending lots of time riding my bikes.

 

I think I'm going to get my wish <g>.

 

Over the past fifteen years I have been very interested in GPS devices and software. I have been asked by Helge and Mike to carry the "GPS Geek" mantle for our team, so if you have questions, I'm your man.

 

I like to work on my own bikes and just finished outfitting my BMW HP2 for Adventure and Off-road touring.   No, I'm not bringing it on this tour, I have a trusted 2004 R1150GS Adventure that I think is the best bike for this tour since I'm also supporting the World Tour 2008 with Mike.  I'll be leaving the GS in Germany as a staging point for the Silk Road Adventure 2009.

 

Aside from looking forward to the travel, I have a great interest in food and photography: not necessarily in that order - but sometimes.  Meeting other riders that enjoy the adventure of the long-haul ride and helping to make the accompanying experiences memorable is the icing on the cake for me.

 

As my wife says, "You're in biker heaven!" and she's right!

 

Dan

 

 

[To see what Dan actually looks like, and learn a bit more about his, you can view his GlobeRiders Bio by clicking here.]