Unlike most motorcycle journalists, I came to be a writer late in life. After spending more than 35 years in not-so-exciting banking and finance jobs, I retired at 55 to focus on things I was more passionate about.
Motorcycling has been in my blood ever since I was a little kid. I would disobey my mom and sneak over to the neighbor’s house to ride their homemade minibikes. I had a number of motorcycles in my 20s, but after a bad crash, I gave it up for almost 20 years while raising my kids.
Editor’s Note: This month, we are celebrating Ultimate Motorcycling‘s 20th anniversary. We will be publishing reflections from members of the Ultimate Motorcycling staff and team. Ultimate Motorcycling Associate Editor Freeman Wood talks about joining the world of moto-journalism.
In my 40s, I could no longer resist the call of the bike and purchased a middleweight adventure bike. The old adage that many motorcyclist journalists will say is—do what you love and love what you do, and you’ll never work a day in your life. That is certainly true.
Once I jumped back into motorcycling, I found myself scouring every published article on bikes I could find; researching my next motorcycle, learning about the industry, and discovering what was coming up next was very exciting.
I realized that it would be fantastic if the next phase of my career/life could be something around traveling and motorcycles. I am, by all accounts, an everyday motorcyclist, like many of you reading this article.
I am not a track day guy, or a hard-core dirt bike rider. I like to tour and go on adventures. In the last 10 years, I have crossed this country, east and west, as well as north and south, well over a dozen times. I’ve been to almost every state and several European countries on a motorcycle and ridden nearly every famous route there is. I have ridden through everything from scorching desert heat to early fall snow and ice to the ungodly humidity of the south. I have dodged tornadoes, twice, semis coming straight at me on two-lane Texas backroads, and even braved the lane splitting that is required because I live in Los Angeles.
No matter what conditions I find myself in, lift my visor, and you will still see an ear-to-ear grin. Motorcycling is my passion, and always will be.
My journey through corporate life had me writing plenty. So, after I retired, I started writing travel and adventure blogs. First, I wrote about a cross-country bicycle trip I took, and then the various motorcycle trips I was doing. I loved it, and my friends and family did, too.
Early on in the pandemic, I wrote a piece that combined aspects of various trips I had done in recent years; the story was called A Motorcyclist Dream. With no formal experience or education in journalism, I decided to submit the article to Ultimate Motorcycling for publication. I knew it was a long shot, but thankfully, Editor Don Williams liked it, and the rest was history.
Most days, you will find me planning some motorcycle adventure, researching my next motorcycle, or puttering around the garage, working on the various bikes I have. And now, when my wife yells at me for doing too many trips, or having too many motorcycles, I just have to say, “But, honey, it’s my job!”
