ER: Tell me about your motorcycle.
JB: My motorcycle is a 1993 BMW K75S With approximately 34,000 miles on it. I did a couple of slight modifications for the trip. Nothing crazy, you know, but I put some hand guards on there, which I don’t see a lot of K75 bikes with. And I also added a larger windshield, which paid huge dividends. Both of those little tweaks paid huge dividends. In preparation for departure I had the bike looked over by Max BMW. They did transmission fluid, brakes, & added a new front tire.
ER: What do you need brakes for?
JB: Well I had done the brakes recently but apparently my rear caliper had gotten a little stuck.
ER: OH Nooo.
JB: So in the course of maybe 3000 miles I wore my rear brake pads way down… So I am glad they looked at it.
ER: You rode south in November from your home in Duxbury, MA what led you to take this trip Jeff?
JB: I was looking for a good reason to take a trip because I am so excited about the sport and feel empowered every time I ride my motorcycle. That’s number one. Number two was that I was speaking with my brother who lives in Vero Beach and I just kind of said, half-jokingly, “Hey maybe I should store my bike with you for the winter”. “Do you have room?” and he said “Yeah I probably have room”…. so the wheels got turning and that was probably like maybe three weeks before I made the final decision.
My father had passed away recently in July. You would have loved him, great guy and really into motorcycles and all types of vehicles! He is from Marblehead but was a resident in Vero Beach the last four years at an Alzheimer's unit, which was near my brother. So I said hey! my Dad would love it if I hit the road on the Motorcycle, he would be proud that I was doing something that we both love. He had taken many cross country trips on his Moto Guzzi back in the early nineties, some to visit me at Arizona State… and he was a collector of many different bikes in his life. I will ride in his honor! I will do a little bit of soul searching, and some deep thinking about my relationship with my father – he was a great Dad, Man and Friend to so many. I was grateful to have a reason to take a solo journey, and I can thank my Dad for that, even in death he keeps giving to me.
ER: When you ride on a multi-day trip do you have any goals for meals or is it more about the ride?
JB: Say that first part, Goals for what?
ER: For meals, did you have any goals for destination eating? Like I want to eat this specific cuisine at this specific region. Or were you hitting McDonald’s and Subway because you cared about was asphalt and rubber?
JB: Ok first of all I am somewhat on a health kick in the sense that I exercise alot and I like the idea of eating pretty healthy in general, so I am definitely not like a Subway/McDonald’s kind of guy and I also don’t eat big lunches and I don’t eat a big breakfast. But it was interesting on this particular trip because I really did not eat a lot on this trip. So to answer your original question, it was all about the riding on this trip. So to walk you through a typical day of nutrition it was a lot of water. Maybe two power bars during the day, possibly a bagel if they were giving them away for free at the hotel that I stayed at the previous night. So at most a bagel before I hit the road, lots of water and a couple of power bars during the day, never stopped for lunch, not one day. The only time I stopped was to gas up, take a leak, eat a powerbar and drink a water. Always killed four birds with one stone. So I never stopped just to take a leak. If I stopped it was to gas up, power bar, take a leak all at once. Very rarely were my stops more than say fifteen minutes and then I would be right back on the bike. When I did choose a place to stay for the night. Once I got checked into my room I would do some quick research; figure out a decent place to grab something to eat. I would order out. I ate in my room. I would repack all my bags, take a look at a map, and make a general plan for the following day and then I would go to bed early. So what caught me a little bit by surprise on this trip, which I really enjoyed about this trip, was to do back roads. I mean strictly back roads, and when I say that I mean ninety five percent of the miles I did. I think I came in about one thousand nine hundred and eighty total miles: back roads from Duxbury to Vero Beach. Five percent of that was probably interstate.
ER: Nice
JB: But to do all back roads, I was in the saddle from nine to eleven hours a day. And this late in the season with it being a little chilly in the morning, and getting dark so early, I mean really I was basically getting rolling at seven. And you know wrapping it up at five thirty. Cause it was starting to get dark. I think one night I went to about eight, not totally by choice though. To answer your original question about eating, it was the last priority for me on this trip, although I did enjoy my dinners. It was interesting, in connection with what… the trip took on more meaning not only as I approached the departure date, but also during the trip. And it became a very enjoyable introverted experience for me where, yes I was chatty enough and nice to everyone I met, and enjoyed a few small little conversations but in general, I was alone on the bike for eleven hours each day becoming one with the machine. Eleven hours every day for six days in a row, it was awesome! Enjoying a nice meal in solitude in my hotel room each night and getting a good night’s sleep. I couldn’t wait to Go to bed, wake up the next day and do it all over again.
ER: What kind of research did you do before this trip I mean I have you been on the MOA forum?
JB: My biggest chunk of research came at MAX BMW. So two weeks before I left I drove up to MAX, and it was a nice little practice ride, it was kind of a chilly morning so I was able to test out some new gear. I accumulated some additional gear for myself in preparation for the trip. Some different layers and you know some heated gear. The ride is an hour and twenty minutes or something and I spent all day at MAX BMW. I just showed up at 10:30 and gave them the bike and said do whatever you got to do to it. I think they were open till 4ish… and it was Halloween that day. They were having a great open house they had some coffee and there was a big buzz around the dealership and they were demoing all these bikes and everyone was in and out and I met a lot of really cool riders, most Fellow Beemer riders. I decided not to demo anything because I only wanted to know my K75 before embarking on my ride. I told some people about my trip and asked them some advice on roads that I should try to hit. So the big thing that came out of that day was the Blue Ridge parkway, and I also knew just from my past experience that I wanted to figure a way to do the tail of the dragon. So those two bits of information became the backbone of my route. So I just figured out where the beginning of the Blue Ridge parkway was and I said: “Alright, that’s my goal.” If I get over to the beginning of the blue ridge parkway, then I am going to take it all the way, as far as it goes and then at the end of that I will figure out how to get over to the tail of the dragon as I knew I would be in that vicinity. So that was probably the extent of the research. Believe it or not.
ER: (Laughing)
JB: I winged it. And wung it past tense and that was what made the trip so good. You know I got some great advice from this guy who um… what was his name? (He pedal biked across the country recently)… He also had a sweet GS adventure 1200, like one of the new ones. He just said: “Let the road dictate the pace.” So I went into the trip, very clearly in mind that I wasn’t trying to hit any mile goals each day. I didn’t have any predetermined stopping points for the night. And I rode completely free of any obligation of pace or destination, and that’s what made the trip so great. That being said, I rode as much as I could each day and as many hours as the day would give me, I rode. And that was the real enjoyment of the trip. Just riding riding riding. That was what it was all about.
ER: Take me back in time what was your first connection with motorcycles?
JB: Ah my first connection with motorcycles was that my father was an avid motorcycle owner and rider. I had mini bikes growing up. I had the Honda Fifty cc I think they are called CB’s or something. We had two of those and I rode those when I was like ten or whatever. My first bike that I bought with my own money was when I was fourteen. It was a four hundred cc Suzuki that was chained up to a tree that I saw on the way home from school one day. $100, I had to soak the carbs and the thing fired up and it was a great bike for me. I went into the registry when I was fifteen with a doctored birth certificate.
ER: (Laughing)
JB: I went to Massachusetts motor vehicle registry with a birth certificate that I had changed by one year. I was able to get my motorcycle permit. At the registry when I was fifteen.
ER: (Laughing) That’s awesome. (Interrupting JB) how come I haven’t heard this story yet?
JB: What’s that?
ER: how come I haven’t heard this story yet?
JB: Oh I don’t know, I don’t know I mean yeah but you know what is cool about that was back in the days when you would go down to the town hall and get a little note, like an index card of your birth certificate. I literally did it with an old typewriter I was born in seventy one and I changed it to an O somehow over the one. Went to the registry got my official permit, which I was subsequently pulled over a couple of times on my motorcycle when I was fifteen and got away with it with a warning. But from that point I started riding my dad’s BMW R27 and I forget what year it was but it was a sixty something. R27, single cylinder. That was the first officially registered bike that I used to cruise around Marblehead. But the flagship vehicle in our family was my Dad’s R60 with a sidecar. That we still have in the family today, my brother keeps it down in Vero Beach. I used the sidecar as my first vehicle to and from high school. The rule on permits in mass is that you can’t drive a passenger. But you can ride the bike alone with just a little written test. My dad had all kinds of bikes. He had a Virago 650 which I used to ride. And I had that 400 Suzuki which was sweet I loved that bike. And then when I went out to college I had a Suzuki intruder 700 out in Arizona. And then a big gap after college and really took a big gap from riding and then when my dad got too old to ride he gave me the Yamaha V star 650 which was a cool bike, he had it all tricked out nice. I would bop around a little bit on that over the course of six or seven years. And then I decided to give that one to my son and that was when I started doing research into my new bike that I wanted to get which brought me to the K75. Which has got me so excited to ride again. When I started riding that bike and then I met this guy up in Lincoln Vermont on the side of the road.
ER :( Laughing)
JB: In his Dodge Ram Cummins 2500 diesel. “Yankee Beemers?”
ER: (Laughing at Jeff’s impression of me on the first day we met. He leaves out that my exhaust was straight piped and the truck rolled coal. We had to shout as the truck’s exhaust was so loud.)
ER: “Yankee Beemers?” Yeah it’s a Beemer. “I’ll pull over”
ER: (Laughing)
JB: (Laughing) and then the rest is history.
ER: So listen…
JB: But yeah I’ve had like a rebirth! You know about born again Christians? I’m like a born again motorcycle rider. In the BMW congregation.
ER: Nice
ER: I saw the movie Easy Rider when I was very young and what stood out to me was that here's this guy Peter Fonda with this American flag on the fuel tank of his chopper and yet there were people while he was pursuing liberty and freedom that were angry enough about that how it threatened their way of life that they killed him for it. Just for the idea of freedom. What comes up for you when you think about that movie?
JB: When I think about that movie, my favorite and by the way I blocked out the fact that anyone died in that movie, I can’t remember that about the movie, but you know I am more of a positive thinker so sometimes I forget about the negative stuff. But I love how he hid his money inside the gas tank, in the tube.
ER: Nice
JB: Remember he had all his money rolled up in a little clear tube and he shoved it into his gas tank. Yeah when I saw that I was like aw man that’s a good way to hide your money. That’s my biggest memory about that movie, isn’t that funny.
ER: Back to your ride: you said on a recent post to your go fund me site that your brain melted your mind melted into the ride finally. I have inside and outside thoughts under my helmet what's going on under your helmet?
JB: Ok well let me just give you a quick little background on that particular comment because it was such as beautiful moment for me to just arrive at that point because on day one, the day I was supposed to leave was Wednesday I forget the exact date but we ended up having this hurricane nor'easter that day, so I had to postpone the trip. So I left on Thursday morning where it had stopped raining for a little window of time in the morning, but essentially my whole day one was wet. And it was a crappy part of the ride. And I was doing back roads, there were some decent ones but in general, you know going through Rhode Island and Connecticut and everything else. There wasn’t much to enjoy and to add the wetness it just bummed me out. It was a tough day along with some battery problems, resolved on the fly.
Day two was much better because I was dry but the challenge that day was a huge cross wind, and I was still just trying to find my rhythm. I worked my way down to Woodstock, Virginia on the end of day two.
On Day 3 I had this beautiful seventy mile ride from Woodstock, Virginia down to Waynesboro, Virginia which was the opening of the blue ridge parkway and then I proceeded to get on the blue ridge, I had already had seventy beautiful miles of just gorgeous roads and I was just getting into this really interesting part of the country with little mountain ranges and things like that. But then I dropped into the Blue Ridge. I can’t wait to take you on this ride Eric. The Blue Ridge parkway, this is something that you need to mention to the other club members, and I’ll do it too in person when I see them. It was just dumb luck that I hit the Blue Ridge parkway at the perfect time. 2nd week in November when there were no leaves on the trees thus no one looking at the leaves, thus open roads! I will be going back 2nd week of Nov next year again.
ER: Yeah
JB: There was no reason for anyone to go to the Blue Ridge parkway anymore, all the leaves were off the trees.
ER: The kids are in school.
JB: Huh, it was mid-week, people are in school there’s nothing to look at. As a motorcycle rider it was the most incredible two days of my riding life. Because I was alone on a forty-five mile an hour S turn mountain pass switchback road for four hundred miles.
ER: Wahhhh
JB: I think I probably had to make two passes over the course of two days. Easily made, just made two passes other than that I was alone. I would pull over and take a leak and then get back on my bike and keep going and never see another car the whole time. I was just like in the middle of nowhere on these well paved beautiful wide roads. Anyway at the end of day three I pulled into cool town called Boone North Carolina (he says stretching out Carolina with his best southern drawl). I had been on the bike for eleven hours of just the most incredible riding I have ever experienced in my life. Inside my helmet that day I just kept saying: “I can’t believe how good this is”.
But to answer your original question I guess it depends a little bit with what’s going on with my life and some of the current events, but in general, what happens to me when I am riding is I get very relaxed. It’s almost like an athletic meditative state where I am just enjoying. I don’t believe that I lose my awareness because I am so focused. It’s almost like being relaxed while I exercise. Like my heart rate is up and my excitement level is up and my endorphins are pumping and yet I feel totally calm and happy.
ER: So what you're saying is that you do what the voices tell you?
JB: The voices tell me? I don’t know.
ER: Never mind.
ER: What's therapeutic about riding a motorcycle for you?
JB: Um basically what I just described to you, it’s just this kind of feeling that I achieve while ride that I enjoy. And I guess when you are doing something you enjoy, I think that is therapeutic just in the very basic sense. If it makes you happy naturally than you’re good!
ER: Tell me about the solitude you get by riding alone?
JB: Let me back up and say that I did spend a lot of time thinking about my father on this trip. Because I am riding in honor of my father and I used it as a chance to just think about him. I also thought about my good friend Kellie Bresnehan who is in the process of battling Multiple Myeloma. I rode in honor of my Father but the $4700 I raised on this trip went given equally to Alzheimer’s and Multiple Myeloma Research.
ER: So it gives you the time you need?
JB: You know what I mean? It just is awesome. I don’t know how to explain it.
ER: People look at me and go “you are riding all that way alone?” And I am like ahh yeah (Laughing).
JB: So here is the thing Eric, I would have loved it if you would have been with me too. It just would have been different. It would have been equally as good. I like to ride alone and I like to ride with friends. I mean when me, you, Ron Dawson and Brian Hayes took our trip over to Maine I really enjoyed the camaraderie and the teamwork that we had as a group. I don’t consider myself like a lone wolf or anything, when I am alone I love it for being alone and when I am with my team I love the teamwork.
I always say this to my kids before we head out on one of our trips: “you know there’s not many people in this world that get to experience what we are about to experience. We are in control of a high performance piece of machinery and we are going to ride and take it seriously, we are going to be safe and we are going to enjoy the thrill of operating this high performance machine, let’s be safe and enjoy it, let's take this serious and really do it right!. This speech takes place before a 1 hour ride around town or if we are headed out down to the vineyard to motorcycle camp. A different kid each time and they all get the same preflight speech, because I mean it. We are very blessed that motorcycling is part of our family and I will thank my Dad for that. This is how I approach riding as well as many other efforts and passions in my life.
ER: I have the wife and two kids you have a wife and how many?
JB: Four kids
ER: Isn't it nice not to have to negotiate anything when you're when you're on a solo trip?
JB: Yes, yes it is. One of the things that I thought about and wrote in my journal, I have a little make shift journal. I never really wrote a lot in it, but I wrote down some thoughts. I did spend a good chunk of time appreciating that my family was cool enough to let me go off and do this type of thing. And this is not just a one shot deal. They know that this is something that I like to do and they have been really cool to allow me to do it. I do appreciate that and try to express that I appreciate it. But yeah that was probably a little bit of what I was thinking about when I made that comment of my brain melting into the trip and coming to grips with the reality, and my reality at that time: I am on day three on a seven day journey and I am just in the middle of nowhere and I am all alone and I love it and it’s great and I am enjoying every minute of this.
ER: You're from Massachusetts and yet you're in the MOV is that odd for you that you're in a club that it's not in your home state?
JB: No, no I don’t think so. Well put it this way, after I met this kid in Lincoln and he talked me into joining the MOV, there was no turning back. Although that first year I did also join the Yankee Beemers. So I joined the MOV and also joined the Yankees and I never did one thing with Yankees and just kept going back to the MOV. But for me, although I do know there are many beautiful places all over Massachusetts, and all around the country and whatever. My first love is Vermont because I have always loved Vermont. When I am not on a bike, I have traveled there with my family. And enjoyed swim holes and visiting some relatives and making some friends. Vermont was instrumental in my re-birth of motorcycle riding. And so I think that I will always stay true to that because it was the catalyst that got me going back in the loop with the riding. But I also happen to think that Vermont has the best roads. I mean whether you are in the mountains or in the lowlands I mean I just can’t get enough of it. You know just the views and the smells and the green and the turns, and the pavement is beautiful for the most part. And if you want to do a little dirt, you know you have that option too. But I like the people I am meeting as well in Vermont and I like to think of Vermont as my 2nd second home, my other 2nd second home is North Conway where we ski for the winter.
ER: You know we have some sick people in the club that are into doing 1000 miles in 24 hours does this trip make you want to do something like that?
JB: Yes.
ER: (Laughing)
JB: (Laughing) Yes I just need a new seat, I need to get one of those ones that I can control the little air cushions.
ER: You are talking about an Air hawk
JB: I will definitely need to do the iron butt just to add it to my resume. I don’t know if it is going to be on the K75 but I will tell you that I am patting myself on the back for doing a lengthy journey on the K75.
ER: What kind of ice cream have you eaten on this trip already because I normally see you would like a three scooper about a minute before its kick stands up?
JB: Yeah you know what’s funny is that I was just in this weird vein of society where this route I was taking which was totally adlibbed on a per hour basis. I didn’t see much ice cream on the way. And usually when I rolled into a place I was so exhausted, happily exhausted that I just had enough to get organized for the next day, I really did not eat ice cream until the last night which was in St. Augustine. When I pulled into St. Augustine it has finally gotten warm it was right by the water, it was this cool historic town. And I said alright, I am going to go out tonight and walk around a little bit. I ended up getting some gelato.
ER: Nice
JB: And I got some sort of salted caramel gelato mixed with mocha coffee. Tasty, very tasty.
ER: (interrupting) that’s really good. We serve that here for dessert and it made my lady guests make noises they don’t often make during waking hours.
JB: I’ll have what she’s having.
ER: Exactly. By the way just as a side note, Steph and I went to St. Augustine and you are spot on. It is this killer really old town. They always say that the settlers had grandchildren before Jamestown was even thought of it’s that old.
JB: Yeah, no I remember you saying that when you texted me I am thinking he is either a history buff or he’s spent some time here, but then I realized you are both.
ER: No I spent some time there (Big shout out to Mojo Barbecue, I followed my nose down narrow cobblestone streets one day to catch smoke wafting off a pit. Do not go to Ripley's it is a rip off).
JB: I mean I can’t wait. I want to bring Mary Lou there as like a little romantic getaway.
ER: You said you had some mechanical trouble did you miss Brian Hayes? Did you need a mechanic on the trip?
JB: yes I did, I would have loved having Brian Hayes to diagnose and repair my battery issue in the rain.
ER: I think this question might land flat, but I am going to ask it anyway. Top barbecue restaurant you went to on the trip?
JB: Let me think, I am not sure I hit a barbecue restaurant on the trip. I hit a Japanese place one night. I got a pre made chicken one night from a supermarket.
ER: I am going to take that as a no.
JB: I think I struck out on the barbecue.
ER: You suck.
JB: I definitely viewed some Barbecue from a distance and said oh man that would be good.
ER: (Laughing)
JB: I probably lost ten pounds on this trip. The trip was much more intense than I anticipated. Once I got to that level of intensity I really enjoyed it. And I just went with it and I guess what I mean by intense was my heart rate was up and it was all about just drinking water and riding. It felt really great to do just that. Of course at the end of the night I had to eat a nice meal. But I never went out, I never was looking for the hot spot in town or anything. I just got nutrition and ate enough to go to sleep.
The coolest place I arrived to, in my mind on this trip, was the feeling of being Psyched to go to bed and Psyched to get up each day. I’m trying to use this as a bit of a motivator in my life now. I said to myself: that’s not a bad way to live life to be excited to go to bed because you know you have earned it after a packed day and you can’t wait to get up and do it again. That’s the way I was rolling for six days and now I want to feel that all the time. Hopefully I can be that way in my life without riding the bike all the time, although maybe four trips on the bike would be a great way to break up the year don’t you think?
ER: Yeah
JB: (Laughing).
ER: Listen, you have attended pre-rally dinner and overnight camping at my house. You've come up midweek and overnighted. We have been tent neighbors at rallies. Any advice to someone that will attend an event at my home or go with us on the road?
JB: Just let you lead the way. Let you be in charge.
ER: That’s it? (Waiting to hear cautionary tales of earplugs and snoring). That’s all you got for them?
JB: Are you talking about you in particular? Or a rally in general?
ER: Yeah I am saying that you have had a pretty unique experience, we have done all this stuff together and so now the two of us is meeting a new person that doesn’t know you or me and is going to roll with us on a trip and you are going to turn to them and say “alright this is what you need to know about Rossier’s situation”.
JB: Ok well I would say that Rossier knows what he is doing and follow his lead. Because that’s what I have done with you, because I like the way you prepare. I like your knowledge, you know what I mean because you have a lot of information, you prepare, and you take it serious. You have been a good role model for me and hopefully will continue to be a good role model for me. That’s the advice I would give to a new person that jumps in and rides with you. I feel like maybe down the road I will lead a ride that you and I go on. Right now I like to let you lead because I know you are prepared and I know you are skilled and you take it serious and you enjoy it and you got a great attitude so. That’s why you are a natural born leader.
ER: Jeff, there is a large portion of our club half or better that's into the GS scene when are you going to start collecting GS's?
JB: Ah you know it could be next spring, or it could be two years from now. Almost every night I look at beemers on you know…
ER: Craigslist
JB: Cycle trader or craigslist I just rotate through the different states and enjoy looking at all the different bikes. I definitely want a GS at some point. And the only reason I say I don’t know if it is going to be the spring is that I am a spontaneous guy and if I saw the right deal and the right bike… I don’t think it would be one of the newer GS’s I think it would be one of the older ones.
ER: Airhead GS?
JB: I may get an RT or a GS? But I don’t think I’ll ever sell my K75 as she just brought me from Duxbury to Vero Beach in great form, 1900 plus miles back roads and I became one with that machine. I could go my whole life on just that one machine and be happy. Those are some of my Buda moments where I want to reduce my wants. But something tells me I will have a GS within eighteen months.
ER: You have posted pictures on Facebook of two of your daughter's riding on the back of your bike on day trips and weekend trips but your wife Mary Lou is your passenger with the most miles. I heard her say at a rally that motorcycles are not her thing but she does this just because she loves you, what does that say about her?
JB: That she’s really cool.
ER: Yeah.
JB: And that she respects the things that makes me happy. It almost makes it more meaningful that I know that she is not totally her thing, although I know it provides her a certain amount of enjoyment when she does come. I don’t think it has been a painful experience for her, but it's just not something that she naturally desires or seeks out. So I think that shows that she is adventurous enough to try new things. And I think that is one of the good things about our relationship in that we complement each other. I expose her to different things and she exposes me to different things as she is terrifically intellectual. I enjoy the fact that it shows a certain amount of respect for me to participate in the things that I enjoy, and I love her for that, for sure.
ER: You go to bed with your current net worth and when you wake up in the morning it's you and all of your children standing out and your wife standing outside of the homeless shelter and you guys are penny less how would you kick start your life?
JB: I would go get any job I could find. And then I would go get a second job. And then a third if I could fit it in. And I would just start there. Any Job, anything at all.
ER: You and your wife are elevated to famous status and I'm talking like Tom Brady and Gisele type fame how would you handle that what would you do in response to that?
JB: I would be very philanthropic and I would focus all my energy on good causes and charitable efforts. That’s what I want to do now, you know what I mean, but I can only offer my time. You know I ended up raising some decent money on this bike ride, but to be totally candid, that was kind of an afterthought. Do you know what I mean it was a good way to get permission from my wife to take the trip. But it is all good to do it. But my next move is to donate some of my time to help Alzheimer’s research. If I was like rich and famous I would just spend my whole life just trying to help good causes, and touring the world on my motorcycles.
ER: Steak bloody as hell or burnt to a crisp?
JB: Middle in between. Usually medium well.
ER: With pickles: sweet bread and butter or tangy dill and garlic?
JB: Sweet
ER: Mushrooms: garlic stuffed or Magic?
JB: Well I can’t do garlic it makes me incredibly gassy. Like you can’t even believe how much. I’ll eat some garlic sometime and come over to your house so you can see what it’s all about.
ER: (Laughing)
JB: Whatever the non-garlic choice is there.
ER: You're at home and you've worked all day and you're getting really relaxed. You develop a case of the munchies. What is your killer solution to the munchies? The fridge is fully stocked.
JB: Italian Ice.
ER: Every time I hear you come to Vermont you say four words: the Brandon motor lodge. Do you want to give your friends there a shout out and advertise them to the club?
JB: Absolutely I think that whenever you are planning any kind of journey through Vermont you should stay at the Brandon motor lodge. Aaron & Stacey Kerins are great friend of mine. They have two kids over there and they run a great lodge over there, it has a really nice vibe and its set up beautifully for ride in, ride out motorcycle trip action. I stayed there at the rally last year and it was very conveniently located to the rally so it worked out nice. That was a little bit of a compromise on the second rally with my wife Mary Lou. She had come on both, but staying in the little huts was a little more than she wanted to deal although she had fun. I figured ok, if you come again and I will get you a room at the motor lodge. It payed big dividends, she was happy.
ER: One of the things that may surprise you is that I've never been on 2 wheels due south past Massachusetts in the east. Do you have any advice for somebody who is taking a trip similar to yours?
JB: Yes, blue ridge parkway, second week in November or later. That is my advice. Like I can’t wait to take you… Eric I am taking you to the blue-ridge parkway, as soon as possible. In fact I think right now we should probably put the wheels in motion for the second week in November 2016. So I will be doing that ride again and I would like you to come with me.
ER: Any MOV events that you missed in 15 that you're going to plan to hit next year?
JB: Yeah, you know I feel like I missed all the events. I see them all and say I wish I could go, I wish I could go. I think I would like to get a little bit more educated about what the events there are for this year and I will definitely plan a couple of little trips around those and hopefully you can fill me in. But I don’t know them by name, but the sky’s the limit, you know.
ER: Tell me about one of your favorite restaurants and what is the plate look like, what's for dinner?
JB: Well my favorite restaurant is called the Lookout Tavern in Oak Bluffs which is on Martha’s Vineyard. The plate looks like sushi in the form of the deluxe platter.
ER: Nice (Starting to salivate)
JB: And the main entree is an Ahi tuna sandwich. (Jeff asks Mary Lou who is just out of earshot) “What kind of bread is that on?” Here, hold on...
ER: (Laughing)
JB: Mary Lou…
ER: (still laughing) you don’t have to ask.
JB: Bruschetta, Bruschetta? I don’t know.
ER: So you have a big chunk of ahi tuna open faced on the top of a crispy bread?
JB: No no you close it up like a sandwich and its got lettuce and onions.
ER: How about at home any favorites on the dinner table?
JB: Yeah shake and bake pork chops.
ER: Do you know where I can get any good barbecue?
JB: (Laughing)
ER: (Laughing) that’s it that’s good.
JB: You’re the barbecue guy.
ER: That’s all I wanted the laugh is great.
ER: The first day I met you we ate at the Mad Taco in Waitsfield do you think it's time we go back there?
JB: Yes I do.
ER: Me too.
ER: So Jeff, you left a good career in communications to follow your dream and make skiing a priority now you own a contracting company what has it meant to be able to follow your dreams?
JB: Oh man it meant everything. Well first of all I couldn’t have started a quality company if I didn’t pay my dues for fourteen years with that one company. I had absolutely no regrets about anything that I had done up to that point. But the key to my life transition was that I have the support of my wife. As a school teacher and someone who works very hard and has health insurance and everything, invaluable! It also means alot to me that I had the balls to do it. I walked away from what was a cushy situation in the middle of a recession. I owe it all to my wife for giving me the support that I needed to be strong enough to take that kind of chance.
It means the world to me because it enables me to deal with my kids on my own schedule and it has allowed me the flexibility to pursue my other passions like skiing and now motorcycling and for the last seven years the hockey reffing which was cool. So it means a lot.
ER: So now what's next?
JB: What’s next for me, I think what’s next is more motorcycling. That’s where I am really focused right now, we are hoping to travel a little bit as a family, we just got our passports so we are going to Honduras in April.
ER: Holy crap
JB: To visit some friends, and I am hoping maybe I can rent a motorcycle when I am there. But we’ll see, we’ll see I don’t want to get kidnapped or anything.
ER: What made you stick to the LeVangie twins like rubber cement?
JB: Ahhh I love the LeVangie twins because their vibe is so good. It just radiates out of their bodies.
ER: Yeah
JB: And I also think they are cool because of the industry that they are in and I admire their athletic prowess. And personalities I mean I love those girls.
ER: Can we both agree you will never buy a Honda element.
JB: (belly laughing) Ah yes. But I can’t guarantee not a mini cooper.
ER: I hit Marblehead just shy of high noon in blistering heat this summer. You described your hometown as a party town. What did that mean to you growing up?
JB: It was a great way to develop a very severe drinking problem that I enjoyed until I was forty-two.
ER: Yeah
JB: It was the culture, that’s what we did in Marblehead. We sailed and we drank and we had fun all the time, and that was a great way to grow up, and now times have changed. I really wouldn’t want my kids doing what I did. I have no regrets and I loved every minute of it. But it definitely developed some bad habits.
ER: So I want to close off with you and I want to thank you for taking the time with me, we have run twice as long as I thought, but can you tell me in closing about the motorcycle that you had out in Arizona with you. Was it the R27, or the R60?
JB: Well no I never had the beemers with me in Arizona. What I had in Arizona was a 1987 VS 700, Suzuki I think that’s what it was. And it had these little straight bars on the front. And it was a really sharp looking bike. The VS 700 intruder. Intruder? I think that’s what it was, eighty seven. But the key to that bike was it had these little straight bars on it so my hands were like right up by the headlights with these like straight across little bars. No fairing.
ER: They call those drag bars.
JB: OK so drag bars and although I would never ride without a helmet now, because I am smarter and wiser but back then there was no helmet law in Arizona, so that is how I got to and from Arizona State. And the beauty of that was you know parking on a big campus like that was a pain in the ass. You had to park in the perimeter of the campus and walk a mile to class. But with the motorcycle you got to zig zag right into the middle of campus and there was all these little motorcycle parking lots all over the place.
ER: Nice
JB: Yeah it was really cool. It was really really great. I loved that bike… but again never did any distance on the motorcycle until I got the K75. That’s what has me so excited right now is distance, you know a journey. Now I am being introduced to a whole new world of enjoying a motorcycle. There is something about riding a motorcycle with a tent and a sleeping bag and like enough gear to allow you to survive. And just know that you can go wherever you want and there’s something about that feeling that I really like.
ER: It’s the solitude, it’s everything you’ve said. The solitude, the meditation. It is this incredible melting of your mind. It is being so totally focused and occupied and at the same time 100% relaxed.
JB: Yes
ER: You know and your heart matches the rate that rubber meets asphalt. It’s unreal. The hair stands up on the back of your neck as you twist the throttle, that’s why we ride.
JB: When we were riding over in Maine we were going through that state park on those sweet roads, mixing the order once in a while, I said to Ron Dawson at one of the breaks, I think it is like flying a jet fighter. To be in control, of this piece of machinery. You know that was the other thing, how great is it to feel a bike after an hour of continuous riding let alone eleven hours. It’s not like at the tenth hour I am beginning to feel one with the bike. I am one with the bike after an hour, becoming one with the bike at that point and having another eight hours to go on beautiful roads it’s like heaven. I mean it was crazy, Day one was tough, day two was cross winds, three, four, five and six were all like, You’ve gotta be kidding me, this is just an endless source of enjoyment here.
ER: Yeah
JB: It was sweet.
ER: Sign me up.
If you go:
The Brandon Motor Lodge: www.brandonmotorlodge.com
2095 Franklin Street
Brandon, VT 05733
(800) 675-7614
The Lookout Tavern: www.lookoutmv.com
8 Seaview Ave
Oak Bluffs, MA 02557
(508) 696-9844
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