Moto Amore

I don't remember the first time I rode on a motorcycle, I'd have to guess I was seven or eight years old riding behind my father on one of his many motorcycles. I have a picture of my father on a military Indian motorcycle motorcycle in Papua New Guinea in 1942 four years before I was born. So I know his love of motorcycles as long and deep.

I was in love with motorcycling from the very first time I rode behind my father wearing my plastic bubble goggles to keep bugs out of my eyes, looking over his shoulder, and watching the headlight bounce ahead of us on the country road we were riding down, I loved holding onto my dad as we leaned into turns to the left and the right.

I was 12 years old at the time and completely devastated by his premature death, in hindsight, it took me six years to come fully grips with the fact that he was really gone, and he was not coming back.

Very unfortunately, my father was out riding motorcycle on May 30th 1959, he made some kind of mistake and fell off the motorcycle and hit his head and fractured his skull. He probably had a subdural hematoma, but there were no CT scans available in those days, so protocol was to wait and watch. He was in a coma for three days, and then he slipped away into a permanent sleep at 8:30 pm June 1st.

"I was in love with motorcycling from the very first time I rode behind my father wearing my plastic bubble goggles to keep bugs out of my eyes, looking over his shoulder, and watching the headlight bounce ahead of us on the country road we were riding down, I loved holding onto my dad..."

My love of motorcycles was not diminished by the fact that my father had died riding one. When I was about 18, someone set up a small concession in my hometown where I could rent small motorbikes by the hour. I took advantage of the service many times always wearing a helmet of course. I felt a little guilty about it, but I just couldn't resist. I tried to not ride anywhere where my mother or a friend of her might see me.

When I was 20 years old, I told my mother I wanted to buy a motorcycle and after some discussion she agreed. I bought a brand new 1966 Suzuki X6 hustler with a six speed gearbox for $650. It was a two stroke with oil injection I loved that motorcycle, I rode it all year round putting 13,000 miles on it in 12 months.

Eventually, I traded the Suzuki in on a used 1966 Triumph TR 6R, a 650 with a single carburetor. I loved riding that motorcycle even more, it had a lot more torque and raw power and it sounded like a real motorcycle.

In The summer of 1967 two friends and I drove from Massachusetts to Laguna Beach California in a 1950 Ford sedan with a homemade trailer with our three motorcycles in it, my Triumph and their two Yamaha big bear 305s. One friend Howard had a cousin who lived in Laguna Beach. He had a 1950 Ford woody station wagon with a blown engine. We gave him our Ford sedan with a good engine so that we could stay in his apartment for a few weeks.

Our friend Howard sold his Yamaha and flew back east to go into the Navy. Jack sold his Yamaha and sent the money back to the University of Massachusetts.

Jack and I got on my Triumph and had a wild ride back to Massachusetts including a rear tire blowout at night 10 miles outside of Des Moines Iowa. Fortunately, we were riding with another biker was on his way to Detroit so we were able to overcome this setback relatively easily. The last day of this cross country trip we rode 650 miles in the rain from Detroit back to Massachusetts and we were both elated that we had accomplished our mission and returned home safely.

My love of motorcycles was not diminished by the fact that my father had died riding one... When I was 20 years old, I told my mother I wanted to buy a motorcycle and after some discussion she agreed. I bought a brand new 1966 Suzuki X6 hustler with a six speed gearbox for $650."

I had many wonderful rides on that Triumph. To Cape Cod and back, up into the white mountains of New Hampshire and the green mountains of Vermont. In 1969 I traded in the 1966 Triumph in late 1968 for a brand new 1969 Triumph TR6C. Perhaps my favorite Motorcycle of all time, a beautiful small red gas tank polished aluminum fenders and a double upswept exhaust. Sadly I sold that bike in 1970 to pay part of my culinary school tuition.

It wasn't until 1974 but I bought my next motorcycle, a used 1967 Triumph TR6R That I brought with me when I moved to Middlebury, Vermont in 1976. After I moved to Vermont, I was concentrating on my new job at Mr Up's and building a house on 25 acres of land I had purchased 6 miles north of Middlebury.

Motorcycle riding through the years...

When I met my first wife Pat we did some riding on the motorcycle, but eventually she told me she didn't want to ride out anymore, she thought it was too dangerous and she thought I should sell it. So I traded it to a Carpenter for building credit and was without a motorcycle for almost 20 years.

I returned to the sport in 1994 When I bought a Honda 600 shadow, think small Harley sportster. A little later I bought an 1100 Honda shadow. I tried to get my new wife Alison to ride the 600, even though she had ridden motorcycles in college, she wasn't interested..

I sold the Hondas and bought a second hand 2005 BMW 1200 GS with beautiful large aluminum paniers and a nice red tank. I also bought a Suzuki DR 650 to do some trail riding on had a lot of fun with that bike going to different trail riding get-togethers.

In March 2011, my friend Merle and I flew to Santiago Chile and rented to BMW motorcycles and rode back-and-forth between the mountains and the ocean for almost 2 weeks some of the most beautiful country I've ever ridden in.

My first long trip (since 1967) was in April the same year. I rode the BMW to Key West and back to visit a friends of mine who spend winters down there on Big Pine key. That was a beautiful ride, the first time I've ever gone to the Barber Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Alabama. The first time I saw Mount Dora, Florida and lake Okeechobee. i had a wonderful time fishing with my friends Dale and Cindy.

The next year I rode down the East Coast to Cape Hatteras and then headed West to meet up with my friend Merle in Scottsdale, Arizona where he rented a BMW. We spent two weeks riding around the Grand Canyon, the Coronado Trail, to painted desert, Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly, Sedona and and any other attractions that we felt like visiting. Merle flew home and I rode home. A total of 9600 miles in 3 1/2 weeks, I loved every minute of it.

The next year Merle and I flew to Mountain View, California, and rented two BMWs and rode over the coast mountain range to highway 1 and down along the coast highway 1 over the Bixby Bridge, stopping for lunch at Nepenthe Restaurant over looking Big Sur. We turned in land to the Nacimiento-Ferguson Road and then north to Monterey Bay and stoped at the worlds biggest artichoke.

In May 2016, Merle and I went to Barcelona, rented motorcycles and drove into the Pyrenees for two weeks absolutely fantastic ride. We even went into the country of Andorra just to say we had been there. Some of the best riding ever.

So my Motorcycle Adventure continues, There are many other adventures I could write about plus at least 20 Moto Giro's that I've done with my friend Peter and our Small pre 1968 motorcycles.

Then of course there's my shop that I built in 2013 in the backyard where I had up to 18 motorcycles in at one time. There's about 10 back there now. I'll plan on selling some this year. I need to wind it down substantially, but it's difficult to let go…