Willie Weir will take his bike just about anywhere. He’s ridden in India, Mexico, South Africa, the Balkans and
Cuba. And now he’s ridden through
Turkey, and he wants to tell
you all about it. Weir, who lives in Seattle, has clocked over
50,000 miles during his fat-tire travels. He pens articles and delivers commentaries about his adventures on KUOW. He’s
also published a book called “Spokesongs: Bicycle Adventures
on Three Continents.” If you want to catch Willie in action, he is
speaking at the University of Oregon on November 9.
Bike in Tuscany
Nine days peddaling through the
heart of Tuscany, stopping hither and yon
for a glass of wine or a steamy plate of pasta. Not bad. I could do it. And you can too…through, of all people, REI,
the Seattle-based retailer who is now putting together trips for adventuresome souls. The trip I’m
linking to here looks
amazing. It’ll set you back over 2 Gs, but when’s the next time you’re going to break a sweat riding into the hilltown
of Montepulciano, where what awaits is a nice Chianti and well, yes, perhaps some fava beans?
Harleys on the High Seas
Wasn’t there a time when cruises on the high seas were reserved for the really really rich
who strode about on the deck in their formal duds, sipped fine champagne and lit their cigars with $20 bills? That’s
how I remember it. Not like now when a cruise ship can be full of not just a horde of tattooed bikers, but their bikes
too. Yes, according to
this piece in the Times today, there is now a cruise operator that not only takes motorcyclists overseas, but their
bikes too. Says one would-be Hell’s-Angel-on-the-sea:
“Your own bike is everything. Any of these guys, they know every click their engine makes, they know the sound of
their muffler. If you put them on a strange bike they have no idea what they’re in for.”
My how times have changed. But of course, when it comes down to it, I think it’s pretty cool. Good for them. I just
pity the poor folks in far off locales to have to deal with the arrival of scores of loud bikes on their
shores.
RideAid With Frank Surgener
A friend of mine sent me this link to the impressive motorcyle ride of Frank
Surgener who cycled his way from Australia to Cambodia to raise money for Cambodian poverty. The opening flash goes on
forever, but once inside the pictures and the story is pretty nice. I salute folks who do this kind of thing. A nice
mix of travel and activism.
New Zealand: Trip Coach
I like the MSNBC trip coach feature. They take
someone who’s heading somewhere and give them advice on what to see and do, how to get there, etc. In this feature,
they advise a couple on New Zealand, one place I have ALWAYS wanted to go. Just reading the article made me get a
travel jones on.