Rider Magazine cover, January 2019.
About six years ago I went camping with a friend and within minutes of setting up, he came to the fire pit with a box full of old Rider and “Cycle” magazines. We spent all week looking at and talking bikes. We both had small dirt bikes over many years but never a “big” motorcycle. So when I got home, I checked our local “Bulkley Browser” for a used motorbike and, since I live in a small town, seeing only one listed for sale didn?t surprise me. It was a BMW R 1200 GS with 37,000 km, aluminum panniers and off-road tires. It looked nice to me so I took it home and was soon off to Alaska. I was hooked. The next summer I was ready to head south to Arizona, but just before I was about to leave the main shaft between the motor and clutch broke, and in my little town there was no way of getting it fixed. So back to the “for sale” listings, and I was wonderfully surprised to see a newer BMW R 1200 GSA with only 17,000 km for sale just up the road from my house. I picked it up, hit on the road and put more than 50,000 km on it in four years, through all of Canada and most of the Western States. We are all so blessed to be living in North America. Thank you for making two wheels my preferred mode of travel. Jeremy Penninga, Smithers, British Columbia
 
Growing up in a neighborhood near an inactive gravel pit, we spent a lot of time riding dirt bikes up, down and around well-established trai...