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Welcome riders to my little corner of Throttle Burn. For those of you who don’t know me, I am a big fan of touring on a motorcycle. By no means, am I an expert on the subject, but I sure am passionate about traveling on two wheels.
If you love to ride, and you love to travel, why not combine those two activities?! Kevin and Jeff will tell you that touring on a motorcycle is one of THE BEST ways to experience the world. And I couldn't agree more.
Right now, you may be wondering who Kevin and Jeff are, so allow me to introduce the real touring experts, best friends Kevin O’Neill and Jeff Book, founders and owners of the Bucket List Motorcycle Tour Club (BLMTC).
Kevin and Jeff are both passionate and enthusiastic about traveling by motorcycle. These two avid riders met in college, served together in the Army in Europe and have been buddies ever since. Decades of riding experience has brought them to countless states across the U.S. and abroad to experience the world through motorcycles. The BLMTC was created out of a desire to help other riders connect and explore new places together. They organize destination rides throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Booking a tour with Jeff and Kevin allows you to simply enjoy the best parts of a bike adventure, including meticulously planned itineraries, routes, activities and accommodations; without the daunting task of actually planning the entire trip yourself.
Their club is free to join on the MeetUp app (links below). The club operates internationally with chapters in Europe and the U.S. to help members stay in contact and informed about upcoming events. So, if you’ve ever wanted to experience a road trip on a motorcycle, look to Jeff and Kevin to help you make your bucket list dreams a reality.
As I was wondering up content for this zine, I remembered the outstanding local group ride I attended with the BLMTC, and couldn’t help but want to get Kevin involved (Access to Jeff was a little limited as he currently resides in Frankfurt, Germany. Next time Jeff! - editor’s note). Fortunately for me, when I reached out, Kevin was happy to oblige. It should also be mentioned that one of my favorite things about the motorcycle community is how we support our friends. So here I am, proudly spreading the good word of the BLMTC.
Now, let's backtrack a little to this spring when I first met Kevin at the Pennsylvania’s Motorcycle Safety Program (PAMSP) Instructor Training Class we were both attending. Kevin’s been teaching for years, but like many things, Covid had put a temporary pause on the classes in this area. While I was becoming a freshly minted instructor, Kevin was there taking a little refresher course to get back into it, now that Pennsylvania was getting the program up and running again.
Kevin and I became quick friends over our shared love of motorcycles, touring and Triumphs specifically, as one of his bikes is a Bonneville T120 and I scoot around on a Street Twin.
By the end of training Kevin had extended an invite to join the BLMTC, and if i’m being honest I was a little hesitant, because I typically prefer to ride solo. Some of my past experiences with group rides have left me feeling unimpressed or disappointed.
In fact, I prefer riding solo so much that last summer I rode coast to coast. Yeah you read that right - I went all the way across the country and back on my bike, all by myself, but that’s a story for another time. I’ve since learned this solo preference was mostly because I hadn’t yet found a good group of people to ride with. My past group-ride experiences had been lacking. For example, sometimes I’d get an invite, only to show up and realize it was more of a social hang out. And while that is cool, I had anticipated some real riding. On other occasions I’d arrive, just to quickly learn it was merely a pub crawl, riding from one bar to the next. And again, while that is fine and dandy for some, that's not my style. Personally, I don't drink and ride. And if I'm attending a group ride, emphasis on the word ride, I expect there to be some actual riding involved.
I can say thanks to the BLMTC, I'm now a convert. Before then I had just never found the right people. So, as summer began, and the riding season was in full force, a group ride hosted by The Club was posted on MeetUp, so I decided to join. As we started off from Washington Crossing, PA it was a hot and humid Saturday morning. Kevin led the group of 13 riders up scenic River Road and through the woods of historic Bucks County. The route was a leisurely cruise which included a few straights to enjoy some speed but was primarily focused on hitting as many twisting back roads as possible. Kevin will be the first to tell you that while he enjoys the speed that straight roads allow, the really technical roads that carry you through the hills and curves are his bread and butter. I had the most fantastic afternoon.
The ride was the perfect ratio of riding to socializing. By the time we reached our first resting stop, my body and brain were ready for a break. It was at the Van Sant Airport where we stretched our legs and enjoyed some drinks and food served from an outdoor kitchen. While watching the planes take-off and land I had the opportunity to get to know some of the amazing riders in the group. Kevin had even set up glider and biplane rides for anyone interested in flying high.
From there we continued cruising through the woods back towards the Delaware River. Traveling down River Road brought us towards our next break at Tinicum Park to watch a polo match. There we pulled up fieldside to find canopies and seating arranged by Kevin’s wife, Erin, with cold drinks and snacks waiting. While sitting in the shade, enjoying refreshments I was afforded another opportunity to get to know my riding companions. From the polo match some of the riders departed, but some of us weren’t quite ready for the fun to be over, so we chose to stick together and follow the river down to New Hope to extend the party.
Overall, I truly had a wonderful day. The ride went without a hitch, I did over 100 miles from start to finish and could not have been more pleased with the experience. The amount of work and deliberate planning Kevin had put into the ride was more than obvious.
You could tell that the route was scouted ahead of time, and careful consideration was taken into organizing fun activities during our ride breaks. I left grinning ear to ear, having gained a few more riding buddies, than when I began the day. Not only was it a terrific route, the real gems were the riders I met through the club. They are some of the most delightful, unique and entertaining people to be around. I really look forward to my next ride with the group.
A few weeks after I was able to sit down with Kevin for an interview. We met up again in New Hope, PA. Not only is New Hope a quaint little town that sits on the river, it’s also a local hot spot for riders, and there’s the Triumph Brewing Company. Since we’re both Triumph nerds it felt like the perfect place to hang out and chat for a bit. Kevin had so many brilliant stories to share, I could’ve sat and listened for hours. This summer alone, he has done club tours through the Alps (Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Germany), Croatia and Belize with a trip to the Carolinas and the “Tail of the Dragon” scheduled in September too!
Kevin shared one story in particular that really resonated with me. After Desert Storm he had just returned to his station in Germany, and promptly bought himself a new bike. A Kawasaki EX500, that he immediately took on a long ride.
This ride took him through Germany and France, before hopping on a ferry to Ireland. Upon arriving in Ireland, Kevin told me how he was denied entry, because unbeknownst to him, his passport didn’t work there. But he refused to turn around and told me how he protested to the border official saying, “Hey man, my name is O’Neill! Let me in!”
I couldn’t help but giggle at how he managed to talk his way into a foreign country. So, begrudgingly the guard granted him access, and he continued his long ride.
Kevin remembers really enjoying the roads and the country, but regrets being too timid and shy when it came to meeting the locals. He wished he could go back and redo that trip to really embrace everything that goes with being in a foreign country, especially when it comes to meeting the local inhabitants. But this regret is what has helped to shape the BLMTC into what it is today. While “tour” is in the company name, that is not Kevin and Jeff’s primary objective. Their main focus is to bring riders together. And they do this in one of the most spectacular ways; by experiencing new places. But more importantly by immersing the riders into the foreign culture by meeting the locals, enjoying their cuisine, traditions and activities, all while traveling on two wheels. As I left to scoot home that evening, my mind couldn’t help but wander, thinking about the exhilarating hairpin turns Kevin described from the Alps, or what it must've felt like cruising through the jungles of Belize. So, at this point, if my words haven’t encouraged you to take a moment to join the club, I’ll share one last thing.
The bike road trips I have done in the past tend to be a little impulsive, like my solo cross-country trip. When I left PA it was not my plan to go all the way to California. That sort of just happened. Originally, I had only planned to travel to Austin, TX and back - with a little detour throughout the southeast before returning home. The relaxed agendas of my past trips have given me the wiggle room to wander, and without that I would've never spent the night in a cave surrounded by two hundred acres of privately owned desert in Arizona. Nor would I have found a random gas station in the middle of nowhere Mississippi, where I had the best shrimp po’ boy and frog legs I've ever had in my life.
Though this impromptu nature of my past trips allows me to really explore, I am grateful for the plethora of experiences and memories that I wouldn’t have otherwise had if I had stuck to a strict schedule. It definitely wastes a lot of time and energy on the road figuring out the ‘where to next’ part. But after seeing how much is comfortably manageable when you actually take the time to carefully plan a trip like Kevin and Jeff do, I’m left wondering what a really well orchestrated trip would be like. And it’s made me eager to do one of their longer bike adventures.
Touring and spending days on the road is a lot of work. It is mentally and physically demanding, but much less so when you have fantastic guides like Kevin and Jeff to take care of all the logistics for you. Despite all the work and effort required to tour on a bike, I can't recommend it highly enough.
Traveling on a motorcycle affords us the opportunity to be present in the moment. To really be in the here and now. To smell all the smells and see all the sights. I will never forget feeling the drastic temperature changes as I conquered mountain passes, or being able to smell the salty sea air well before I could actually see the Pacific Ocean.
When exploring the world in a car or any other enclosed vehicle, you miss out on a lot of that. If the long demanding days on the open road don’t initially sound appealing to you, you should know that touring on a motorcycle is extremely rewarding. The joy and freedom you experience is unmatched, and provides an escape from the stresses of everyday life.
If anything I've written here has piqued your interest, then check out the tours offered by the BLMTC. Whether you have some bucket list roads you’ve always wanted to cruise, or bucket list places you’ve always wanted to visit, Kevin will encourage you to make it happen now! Because life is far too short, and we never know how long we have. So, if you're ready to make some memories that’ll last forever, why not make it easier on yourself by joining the Bucket List Motorcycle Tour Club, because they’re here to help you achieve those dream rides.
Visit TBLMTC at bucketlistmotorcycletours.com and their club on MeetUp at meetup.com/Bucket-List-Motorcycle-Tour-Club.
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