CHINA BEFORE CORONA
The leaves ain’t brown, and the sky isn’t gray. I went for a sail, on a spring’s day. I would be in quarantine if it was today.
Corona dreaming, on Hangzhou’s western lake.
Wait a minute! What is this place?!
Category: Experiences
You only die twice
THE WEIRD STORY ABOUT THE BIKER THE GOT KILLED ONLY TO BE REBORN
Riding a bike on India’s backcountry highways is a dangerous form of art. Actually, forget it! Riding a motorcycle in India is sheer lunacy, the most dangerous, irresponsible thing I’ve ever done in my life! And I’ve done some crazy s*** on four wheels, on two, with an air tank strap to my back, and on foot – you name it. Nothing, I mean NOTHING matches the stuff you have to cope with while piloting a beat-up 1950s Royale Enfield Bullitt 350cc motorcycle. Just ask Om Singh Rathore. That died as a nobody on this very piece of tarmac between Udaipur and Jodhpur, Rajasthan, in 1991. Now he is a local celebrity complete with a personal shrine, a cult of believers, and is more alive than ever. We stopped by to say hello.
The road to Zion
WENT TO MEET THREE PATRIARCHS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT
I’m leaving Las Vegas. Driving on an endless, empty stretch of the Interstate 15 highway. It’s 7am on a bright Sunday morning and I’m pretty much the only car around. My temples are pounding. A few cans of beer from yesterday’s Supercross races are still lodged in my head as I drive north away from Sin City, towards Zion.
“Government doesn’t count dead Chinese”
DRIVE FAST ENOUGH AND PERHAPS THEY WON’T COUNT YOU TOO
You can ask yourself many existential questions while navigating the narrow road down Tiger Leaping Gorge in southwest China. Can a river cut through a Himalayan Mountain range? Can a tiger leap across a 20 meter-wide torrential river? Can we survive this ride without being crushed by falling debris?
The answer is: Surprisingly Yes. Unlikely. We did, barely.
Now for the details.
Does this king worth the journey?
WITNESSING MARIPOSA MAGIC HIGH UP IN THE MEXICAN HIGHLANDS
It’s a cool January way up in the rain forests of central Mexico. No. Scrape that. It’s cold. Damn cold, and foggy, and drizzling. This is NOT what I had in mind when Continental Airways (Now United) and the Mexican Ministry of Tourism invited me to visit the secret winter hideaway of the Mariposa. Yet, for countless royalties, this forgotten patch of dark pine grove, 3,300 meters high, is the perfect idea of a winter resort. Some of them flew over 7,000 Kilometers from Southern Canada just to get here. I’m just waiting to get back down and into the relatively warmer van. Go figure.
Scouting Malibu on an Indian
FOR SOME, THIS IS JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE
“Damn!” I hit the footwell once-again. “This bike wasn’t meant to lean at tight curves.” Yet, here I am, riding the narrow, beautiful roads on the mountains above Malibu, trying to keep up with two FTR naked bikes just ahead of me. It ain’t easy doing it with as big low cruiser, but it’s Cardo’s honor on the line. I twist the throttle all the way and hope for the best…
The land of amazing sunsets, and sharks
PART TWO: TUBBATAHA BELOW WATER
Amazing sunsets aside, nobody ventures that far off to Tubbataha Reef for what’s up there in the air. The main attractions lie beneath the waves and include a fantastic tropical marine biodiversity found in very few places around the globe.
With that in mind, we took on the role of Jane and went down to the jungle below, looking for Tarzan.
The land of amazing sunsets, & sharks
PART ONE: TUBBATAHA ABOVE WATER
“I think I see Purple there is that a Purple?” Asks my brother Guy as we both stare at must be of the most staggering sunsets, ever. “Neah, I think it’s Violet,” I think to myself. Gosh, the sunsets in this land contain almost all shades and colors – from deep Red Scarlet to Bright Cyan. Though the term “land” could be a bit of an overstatement as no part of this tiny sandy atoll is over 0.5 meters high.
Steeper than ‘Frisco, Zanier than NYC
RIDING WITH THE BONNIER MOTORCYCLE TEAM THROUGH THE BACK ALLEYS OF LA
HOLLY S***! This street is steep. I’m leaning back on my Yamaha MT07 as we take the vertical plunge down Baxter – the steepest piece of tarmac in California. Jeez! And I thought Lombard Street in San Francisco was the record holder. Yet, this is LA, and I, plus 40 other bikers, are about to discover parts of it none of us even imagined existed. Welcome to Bonnier’s 3rd annual Alley Rally. Hold on to your handlebars, the ride’s gonna be tough!
Crazy, Pointless, Irresistible
DRIVING THE ULTIMATE JOYRIDE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
It’s a bike! No. It’s a car! No. It’s…errr, what the hell is this thing?
Had a Martian landed in the middle of Orange County, he probably would have garnered less attention. Seriously, the US capital of Botox, Silicon, and nail jobs just south of LA had seen everything, but nothing like this.
Some would call it an obscene phallic symbol on wheels. Polaris calls it Slingshot.