Willie Mac/FL | Editor-at-Large

The Ride So Far
Lance Oliver

Let’s cut to the chase: this is one of the best motorcycle books that I have ever read. Maybe it’s because of the writing style, or maybe the mood I was in. Whatever… I loved the book so much I gave it to my wife to read. She doesn’t read motorcycle anything and she enjoyed it.

I’ll be honest, this book was a surprise. I usually don’t get excited about collected works, whether by one author, or a multitude of authors. This book was different. The Ride So Far is a collection of assorted stories by Lance Oliver, divided into two sections. Part I – Great Places & Memorable Places, is just that. He takes the reader helterskelter around the U.S. and Canada with stories of his life on a bike.

Oliver makes an interesting observation, when he comments, “I ride far more often for transportation than just for fun, but motorcycling injects fun into my transportation, and thus into my daily life, and that helps stave off impending geezerdom.”

Part II – Ruminations & Meditations takes us into “things we all talk about when the kickstands are down,” with chapter titles like: First Bike; What My Motorcycle Taught Me About Women; and Indian Versus Triumph. Fun stuff.

He takes the reader helter-skelter around the U.S. and Canada with stories of his life on a bike.

The book is a light read, with no technical jargon to wade through. Just the kind of book you want to pick up after a good day on the road that you don’t want to end. The Ride So Far is only about 219 pages, plus an index. In hardcover, the physical size isn’t much larger than a paperback mystery, so fits easily into a saddlebag.

Every book needs a bit of criticism, so here goes. It is much too short. That’s about it folks. Other than that, I can find nothing that really bothers me about the book. I would like to have seen double the size. I couldn’t put it down. So, I ended quickly. I wanted to keep going.

As Oliver says, “Keep your eyes on your goals, keep your focus sharp, and you’ll be less likely to end up some place you never wished to be, whether that’s falling into a rut in life or into a ditch on your bike.”