When I got into motorcycling, I had just one friend who rode and he lived about 1,500 miles away. I made friends with riders I met at rallies and races, but have made many more thanks to being an MSTA member. Here are some short summaries of the many friendships I’ve made through the MSTA:
Bill Thom & the Eastern Pennsylvania MSTA Crew
When I joined the MSTA in 2014, Bill was the first person from the club to reach out to me. He invited me to a MSTA lunch meetup near Hersey, Pa., and I saw him and the rest of the EPA group (Doc Lane, Robert Balasco, Bill’s daughter and son-in-law, and more) at the monthly club meetups. I still need to get out to his homestead in central Pennsylvania, which I hope to do this summer.
The CBUS MSTA crew
Another treat from living in Columbus was the first Sunday of the month breakfast meetups for the MSTA group. It was a morning of fun and informative conversation with the likes of Bryan Dunlap, Doug McPeek, Larry Watts, John Boyd and more.
A few of those conversations that have really stuck with me. I’ll never forget John’s advice about riding in Alaska, “There’s nothing highway about the Denali Highway.”
John also told a story about a BMW rider’s process of purchasing a new motorcycle that I re-tell regularly.
Bryan had me laughing with his joke, “You know what BMW stands for, right? Bring more wampum.”
Larry was especially helpful during my short stint as a Kawasaki Ninja 500 owner, as he’s spent years riding and racing them. I still miss my old Ninja 500 a little.
National MSTA
My MSTA membership has given me the pleasure of working with current President Pat Mogavero and vice president Norm Kern. Pat has given me the opportunity to serve as the club’s website editor, and Norm is a walking encyclopedia for the FJR and Garmin Basecamp.
Larry Ward and Roy Dyckman
I didn’t meet Larry and Roy through the MSTA, but it was thanks to their radio show that I learned the MSTA existed — and got my start in motojournalism. I met them in 2009 at a hotel in Greenfield, Ind., while I was doing a test run for the trip I planned to take in 2010 to the World Superbike round in Salt Lake City. When I planned the test trip, I overlooked that MotoGP was racing at Indianapolis that weekend. When I pulled into the hotel parking lot, there were a bunch of other sport and sport-touring riders there – Larry and Roy among them.
We saw each other every year on the Indy MotoGP weekend for six years and stayed in touch otherwise. Since the end of MotoGP’s run at Indy, we’ve attended a bunch of rallies and races together.
Larry and Roy anchored iHeart Media’s 2 Wheel Power Hour Motorcycle Show for about two decade, and Larry welcomed me to the show’s “cast of characters” in 2016 as the show’s road racing reporter. Roy also has served as a kind of mentor to me with regard to long-distance riding and was the person who first told me about the Iron Butt Association.
It was great sharing the airwaves with Larry and Roy, and hopefully we’ll get to restart the show as a podcast soon.