West U.S.

Backcountry Discovery Routes Releases Steens Mountain and Alvord Desert, OR BDR-X

Earlier this year, Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR) released the Oregon BDR, its 12th full route, and each one can be completed in about a week....

Seeing Three Utah National Parks on a Motorcycle | Favorite Ride

Utah’s national parks – Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion – are known as the Mighty 5. All feature impressive red rock...

Backcountry Discovery Routes: BMW and BDR Collaborate on New Oregon Route

Following the success of the first partnership between BMW Motorrad USA and Backcountry Discovery Routes in 2022 with the Wyoming BDR, the two groups...

Backcountry Discovery Routes: Two Buddies on Yamaha Ténéré 700s in Utah and Arizona

During the long, dark winter in Minnesota, when the ground is covered in snow and ice and our motorcycles are mothballed for months, dreaming...

Valley of Fire and Lake Mead in Nevada | Favorite Ride

Johnny Cash sang about fire, murder, heartbreak, and sin, and I think he would have appreciated the symbolism of this ride, given its route....

Western Colorado Motorcycle Ride: Rolling Through the Rockies

As I sat in the grassy courtyard of the Retro Motel in Cortez, Colorado, the quaint motel’s name struck a chord. It dawned on...

Motorcycle Camping on a Honda CB500X and Husqvarna Norden 901

The following motorcycle camping trip story was part of Rider's adventure-themed November 2022 issue, which also included stories on the TransAmerica Trail, Trans Canada...

White Rim Trail on KTM 690 Enduros | Favorite Ride

White Rim Trail – or White Rim Road in national park parlance – is a 100-mile unpaved route that loops around the Island in...

Beartooth and Beyond | Favorite Ride

Hell yes! That is the only plausible answer when friends invite you to join them on an eight-day motorcycle ride through the mountains of...

Favorite Ride: Colorado Front Range Figure-8

As we sat in the crimson hue of the Colorado Front Range sunset, the stone walls of the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre echoed with...

Spring Trifecta: A Return to Riding, Concerts, and Baseball

I am not one to repeat most motorcycle rides, and I am certainly not one to revisit my old articles. However, there is a...

Backcountry Discovery Routes Releases Wyoming BDR

Since 2010, the adventure motorcycling non-profit Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR) has created 10 trans-state routes for dual-sport and adventure motorcycle travel. Now, BDR announces its eleventh...

Tracing the Cascades on a Yamaha Tracer 900 GT

Winding through a dark canopy of evergreens, the road played hide-and-seek with the Clackamas River, offering a glimpse here and there of clear water...

Favorite Ride: Jerome to Oatman, Arizona

Historic towns are a lot like vintage motorcycles. Both are more beautiful wearing the rich patina of years and experience. Yes, towns can be...

Fort Bragg to Sonoma Raceway: IMS Outdoors Northern California Ride

Taking in the view from Duncans Point on a cold, foggy summer day. (Photo by Kevin Wing) For 2021, the Progressive International Motorcycle Shows tour has...

Two Buddies Tour the Rocky Mountains

“You’ve got to enter this!” said my touring mate, Marco, when he called me about Moto Guzzi’s Spirit of the Eagle Rideaway competition. Describe your...

Favorite Ride: Rim of the World Scenic Byway

There are rides we’ve ridden only once and they became favorites, and then there are favorite rides we’ve ridden over and over again. This...

Favorite Ride: Rockies to Mount Rushmore

I see mountains! It’s Thursday, somewhere west of Anton, Colorado, and after four-and-a-half days and 1,600 miles, the snowcapped Rockies appear on the horizon....

Mojave National Preserve: From Neon to Nirvana

Covering three states and several desert ecosystems, this ride was a survey of contrasts, from arid sand dunes to thriving wetlands, whimsical Joshua trees...

No Promises of Tomorrow: Three Buddies Chase Sunsets and Dreams

At a rest stop, a lovely young lady walked slowly, allowing her old dog to keep pace. The dog stopped in front of me,...

Beartooth Forever: a Father-Daughter Ride to Yellowstone

Every now and then, you have a day that stands head and shoulders above others. A day when everything goes right, things look and...

Favorite Ride: Hawkeye Backroads – Secrets of Eastern Iowa

Iowa is not known as a motorcycling destination but a through state. Motorcyclists travel primarily on the four-lane roads thinking that’s all there is...

An Old Bike and the Sea: A first ride on Highway One

Northern California’s Pacific Coast Highway might be the best use of asphalt anywhere. From expansive ocean views to the west, to often fog-shrouded hilltops...

List of U.S. Motorcycle Tour Operators 2020

With international travel in 2020 looking less certain by the week (and possibly risky, not just health-wise but also with the possibility of becoming...

Gold Country Highs: Pass Bagging in Nevada and California

Late spring is a great time to do some pass bagging in the Nevada and California gold country. The passes are usually open by...

Riding the Rim and the Coronado Trail: Arizona Motorcycle Ride

Surely you’ve seen those whimsical national maps that portray cartoonish graphics to represent each of the 50 states. You know – the ones that...

Riding Washington’s Palouse Region

“The wheat field has...poetry,” Vincent Van Gogh once said. The muse the master painter found in wheat inspired dozens of his works. By the...

Riding Central New Mexico

Astronomy, History and Great Roads I stand over the open side case of my BMW R 1200 GS outside the Black’s Smuggler Winery in Bosque,...

Favorite Ride: Mineral King and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks

The mission was simple: See some scenery, carve some curves and soak up some cool temperatures before the summer heat arrived. Three of us left...

Stage Route to Deadwood: Tracing a Historic Route to the Black Hills

Cheyenne’s population of 60,000 more than doubles during its 10-day Frontier Days rodeo, which took place a week after I arrived. As it happened,...

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