HU Quebec 2024 at La Classique

Mike Muldoon A Stroke of Luck / The Real Mexico

1. A Stroke of Luck
Follow Your Heart. There are moments in one's life when things change. How you handle them will make all the difference down the road.

What happens when you get knocked down? Ye,s you get back up, but then what? Everyone is there to help, but in the end you have to listen to your heart, your gut, and your head. Is it easy? NO. Can it be scary? YES. Take that deep breath and move forward. Here is how a bike saved my life.

2. The Real Mexico
Getting past your fears and getting on to the back roads.

In the fall of 2021, things changed in my life and decisions had to be made. My riding partner was heading south to Mexico and she wanted to know if I was interested in going. "Yes" was the reply and the rest is history, but the gut was always in a knot as to what could possibly happen. Fear was the biggest hurdle to handle. We were to meet in southern Texas. I headed out on my own. Six months in Mexico was amazing. In the fall of 2022, a second trip was made to Mexico. It was a different trip. Also to be told.

MIKE MULDOON considers himself a late bloomer. His brother-in-law gave him a book that changed his vision of motorcycling and its enjoyment. It opened the world to him and, in many ways, it saved his life.

Joanne Morra Leave Room for Magic Life not going as planned, despite all your efforts? What happens instead is often so much better. Leave room for magic.

Ever hit a bottom in your life and felt like you could no longer control outcomes? Ever just wanted to quit? I have, a few times, in fact, but the most disheartening was a few years ago. A perfect storm of grief, PTSD, infertility, hormonal shifts, and a concussion brought me to my knees. My lovely doctor, at her wits end, asked me what I thought I needed most. My answer? I need to *#$@ off BY MYSELF on my bike.

[Photo credit: Scott Gullion, The Rolling Barrage.]

In this edition of Leave Room for Magic, I will share with you how my desire to be alone on the road with my grief did not go according to plan. Instead, I ended up on the TCAT with a bud, then got adopted by 100 leather clad angels who called me "Coleslaw", and mended a part of my broken heart. I hope to inspire you with my tales of what happens when you let go of the reins and leave room for magic to occur in your life. I'm still crying by the way, albeit less.

JOANNE MORRA is a high school teacher and singer from Toronto. She has ridden to Nova Scotia on a Triumph, to Vancouver on a KTM, and to New York on a Rebel. This summer she hits the United States. Unplanned routes, meeting new folk, and leaving lots of room for magic is how she rolls.

Jamie Smallwood My Motorcycle Trip 1964/65 An experience that changed a life, as only a motorcycle trip can do.

In 1964, at the age of 19 years old, I had just graduated from high school and was very much unsure of what the world expected of me and what my place in it was to be. I needed time. I needed space. That was when the idea of a motorcycle trip took hold. My aged Vespa 125 was certainly not up to the task. I needed a real motorcycle!

That spring, I presented my idea to my parents and my dad agreed to help me buy a motorcycle. The final father/son choice was a brand-new red Honda 305 Super Hawk. There was no real itinerary, except to head south from Montreal into the United States. I had this naïve idea that I could make a big square around North America. I would have to work on the way to bolster my meagre travel budget – but where? Where would I stay? Would I be accepted? I had a lot of fears. I left on October 19, 1964, with the promise that I would write a lot of letters and call home.

At the age of 79, JAMIE SMALLWOOD is content with the memories of his motorcycle travels: a five-month, 4,800-mile trip taken in 1964 through a pre-hippie America riding a Honda 305 Super Hawk and, in 1970, a summer in Europe with his wife aboard a BSA 500 Royal Star. Wheeled adventures after that included cross-country trips in a VW van.

C. Jane Taylor Spirit Traffic: Share Your Adventure Jane reads from her new motomemoir about learning to ride at 50 on a 10,000-mile trip, and invites listeners to share their own stories.

Everyone has a story. Come and share yours! Join author C. Jane Taylor in a presentation of adventure storytelling. Jane will start by reading from Spirit Traffic, her new adventure memoir about learning to ride a motorcycle at age 50 on a seven-week, 10,000-mile cross-country trip with her husband and son; they were all new riders on BMW 650s. She'll also discuss the 97-day, 13,000-mile national book tour she did on her bike in 2022. Afterward, listeners are invited to share their own stories on the theme "Adventure as I see it". Each story should illustrate a lesson learned and be limited to five-minutes.

C. JANE TAYLOR learned to ride at age 50 during a 10,000-mile cross-country trip. Her book Spirit Traffic tells of that adventure and was the subject of a national book tour by motorcycle. Her current book, Riding the Line, is being released serially on Substack; excerpts have been featured in Rider Magazine.

James Bai, @Wobbycat Out of the Darkness / Motorcycling in Thailand

1) Out of Darkness
Searching for healing on the road and in nature during the darkest part of his life, James traversed tip-to-toe of North America into Central America.

James shares his personal story of suddenly finding himself alone with only what he could carry on his motorcycle. With no direction navigationally or emotionally, he does what he knows best: ride. He tells of his struggles, epiphanies, and journey of discovering his new self revealed one mile-marker-forest-lake at a time. These truths are sometimes painful, but it is by facing them that he is able to move on. The hope of this presentation is that by sharing this story, people will find comfort knowing they are not alone in their suffering, and that they, too, will get through it. This audio-visual presentation should not be missed, if not just for the photos.

2) Motorcycling in Thailand
Practical information and stories about living in Thailand for eight months.

One of the top tourist destinations in the world, Thailand has so much more to offer than the beautiful, but busy, beaches in the south. Truly, it is an adventure motorcyclist's dream with affordable and easily accessible rental motorcycles where you can stay in villages and visit hill tribes where people still live traditionally. You can do it as rough or as comfortable as you'd like! James shares practical details from his own experience about how to travel overland in Thailand, personal stories including seeing elephants when he opened the washroom door, and has some suggested routes. And when you've finished dusting yourself off, why not spend some time on those beautiful beaches and take an unforgettable boat tours where the water is like emeralds!

JAMES BAI sold his house in Markham, Canada and is a solo world traveler who's been to over 20 countries with over 20 years of motorcycle experience. He prefers off the beaten track, brews his own coffee on the road, and likes long walks on the beach.

Louise Mitchell All I Need to Know I Learned ADV Riding (Some parts in French) Just like kindergarten, riding teaches us everything we need; life is beautiful, but when adventure riding, it's beautifuller - until it's not.

[FR] Moto Adventours semble bien se traduire dans toutes les langues. Avec le sens de l'humour d'un garçon de 12 ans et beaucoup d'enthousiasme, j'ai plongé dans le fond de la piscine de la moto d'aventure: apportez du papier toilette; ne perdez pas votre 14 mm; sachez où se trouve la batterie de la moto; gardez de l'argent dans votre poche. Osez venir écouter quelques anecdotes amusantes sur mes différents voyages et mes leçons apprises.

[EN] With the sense of humour of a 12-year-old boy and much enthusiasm, I jumped into the deep end of the adventure riding pool and it's taken over my life. I've learned more lessons than I can count riding all over the world: bring toilet paper; don't lose your 14mm; know where the battery is; keep some cash in your pocket. Dare to listen to some amusing stories and my lessons learned.

LOUISE MITCHELL is an avid adventure riding enthusiast. After watching "Long Way Round", she took the plunge and attended rallies across Canada and the U.S., including BMW trophy events. Retired from teaching 13-year-olds, she works at SMART Programs (Horseshoe) and fulfills her dreams by adventure riding anywhere and everywhere.

Jeff Dodge The "Don't Look Down Tour" - Peru 2024 21 days riding in rural Peru from the high Andes to the Amazon River basin

Four somewhat retired riders and two more old guys in an SUV explore areas of northern Peru where tourists are seldom seen. On rented "adventure" bikes, they travel through high mountain passes and plateaus, jungles and desert. A lot of time is spent above 10,000 feet in altitude and in temperatures ranging from just above freezing to +30°C. This was an unguided and only generally planned adventure which created many opportunities to interact with local people and to experience some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. This presentation is a highly visual tour of their trip, covering everything from the local food to the road conditions experienced along the way and, of course, the scenery.

JEFF DODGE is a late bloomer when it comes to adventure travel, having started riding in his early 50s. He has ridden 6,000 km across the Australian outback, has tackled parts of the Trans Canada Trail, and is recently back from 21 days' riding in Peru. In addition to riding, he is an avid sailor and has traveled extensively.

Jillian Henderson and Walter Romanowski Costa Rica: Pure Riding, Pura Vida Riding around this beautiful, safe Central American country

On our first adventure to Costa Rica, which started on Christmas Day 2022, we fell in love with this country. We returned three additional times in the next year to enjoy and explore on two KTM Adventure 390 motorcycles rented out of San Jose. In this presentation, you will see curvy roads, beach towns, rainforests, and waterfalls. We discuss and show you the good, the bad, and the ugly of riding around Costa Rica. Hone your skills because the roads here will challenge you, and it's so worth it.

JILLIAN HENDERSON and WALTER ROMANOWSKI have travelled in the USA, Canada, New Zealand, and, most recently, extensively through Costa Rica.

Oliver Solaro Ice Dog A BMW 850GSA... on the sea ice?

OLIVER "BROKENTOOTH" SOLARO at your service. My nutty little shtick is to incessantly force the spirit in my machine to cry uncle while being tasked to go places and do things it was never designed for. Feel free to point and mock at will.

For decades, my cranial "voices" have whispered many a scheme to facilitate my ongoing teenage rebellion against societal expectations of what travel on a motorcycle should be. This past winter has taken this philosophy and cranked it up to 11 with a little sojourn that I guarantee will leave you scratching your head. With any luck, this may be just an engineering exercise for something even more, um...frosty coming down the pipe.

Michelle Solaro Himalayan Histerics A first-time account of riding a clapped-out Royal Enfield in Nepal from a woman's point-of-view

Years later, a "Plenty of Fish" promise turns into a Christmas gift of plane tickets to Kathmandu where Michelle falls in love with exotic, intoxicating Nepal. Upon acquiring her leaky, rattle-can 350 Enfield, she dodges the butt-clenching madness of Kathmandu traffic for the serenity of the Kali Gandaki Gorge before heading west to the earthquake-ravaged Jiri region. From the snow capped Annapurna mountains to the steam of Sauraha's jungles, she clatters her way around a country where neither she nor her mate can read the signs or speak the language. At the end of it all, one brilliant shining moment in a home that fosters children of women in Nepali prisons tattoos a mark on her heart. One day she is told, in no uncertain terms, why you don't see much of women riding motorcycles in Nepal: "Because it's too hard." That's when things get interesting.....

Trading in her shiny road bike for a rough-and-tumble ready KLR 650 has opened up a world of possibilities for MICHELLE SOLARO as she chases the vanishing point just over the horizon.