Welcome to the Bike's & Bio's Page of the GlobeRiders Tierra del Fuego Adventure 2018 Live!Journal!

This is the "up close" and personal Chapter of the Tierra del Fuego Live!Journal.  We've asked each of our particpents to share a little about themselves, and also provide a couple of favorite photos to go along with their Bios. You may not be with them in the flesh, but at least you can learn a bit more about them virtually.

This is going to be a fantastic adventure and we hope you enjoy meeting our particents and following along as we ride South America.

It's my privilege to introduce the members of the GlobeRiders Tierra del Fuego Adventure 2018.

Best Regards,

Dan Townsley - All Things GPS

I decided to get my motorcycle license in April 2005.  I was going to be “50” years old this coming September and was tired of riding pillion.  I was becoming a bit of a control freak and decided I needed my own bike.  By mid April I had my license and we were off to Jim Hyde’s off road course north of Bakersfield, Ca.  It was Memorial Day Weekend.  My first clue that this was a totally new learning curve was when we  followed the GPS to Jim’s driveway.  Solid uphill rutted gravel…UUUgH. That weekend taught me more and gave me more bruises than I ever imagined. It was the best thing I ever did concerning riding motorcycles.

Since then, I have ridden my fair share of Globerider’s tours in many countries and many different terrains, that include sometimes challenging and sometimes scary (to me) situations.  I have always appreciated and am thankful for Helge’s never ending mantra of “you can do it”.

All and all it’s been a blast and I am really looking forward to the Cartagena to Tierra del Fuego adventure with my husband, my very good friends and my future new friends.

I spent my early years working in the logging industry while developing real estate as a sideline. Now, managing our company and developing real estate has taken preference and timber has become the side line.

I logged 3 1/2 years in Liberia, West Africa and returned home because of an overthrow of the government….this gave me a taste of travel and a desire for adventure that has followed me through my life.

I started riding motorcycles in my early 40’s.  First Honda’s, then Harley’s.  I was vacationing in Argentina in the late 90’s and we met a couple on a BMW that was totally tricked out!!  They were traveling the world.  It gave me the desire to do the same and so here I (we) are!

Globerider’s has been an almost continual source of adventure and excitement for me since 2005. On this journey I am looking forward to riding with many old friends and making new friends on this adventure.

I am a Chinese at age 61. I was born in Macau. Grew up in Hong Kong and had my first bike, a 1972 Honda CB175, during my teens. Like many, I went back to motorcycling when I left my office job in 2001. Since then there had been like 15 bikes showed up in my stable. I only manage to keep six of them now.

There were many fun tours I had made on two wheels. The most memorable ones are White Rim Trail, Alaska and Chiang Mai in Thailand. I had so much fun in Thailand and ended up with my leg broken. I also have many riding buddies in Hong Kong and China.

After high school in Hong Kong, I had two degrees in England. Then I worked in the telecommunication field for over thirty years in London, Munich, Hong Kong, China, many Asian Countries and US. Because of my job, I travelled to many Asian cities and some Latin American Cities. Ever since I left my last job in 2001, I have been working with European and US communication instrument manufactures, selling their products in Asia.

Moving to Seattle area in 1991, I fall in love with the Evergreen State and settle down in Bellevue since then. I live with my lovely wife, Jennie. We have a 24 year old son, Sean. The newest member of the family, in 2017, is a dog, Bonnie. Life has been good. Jennie and I travelled like 7 months in a year to see the world in the last few years.

Absolutely looking forward to this South American trip, meeting new friends and seeing new places.

Aillene and Mike Paull here, hailing from Seattle, WA USA.

Aillene is a Registered Nurse, having put in 10+ years in Neuro-Surgical Trauma at Harborview Hospital in Seattle, our only Level One Trauma Center for a four-state area. Mike is now retired after 30 years in hardware development, design and manufacturing for Olympic Medical, Physio-Control, Stratos Product Development Group and Microsoft.

Beyond the foundations of marriage, family, friends and food (we both cook and consume!), our passions span international travel, adventure motorcycling and boating.

We are the other couple who will be riding two-up for the entire South America tour (the other being our friends Linda and Vince; for total transparency, our friends Debbie and Harrison are also a couple, each on their own bikes!).

We are also the other sidecar on the tour, as Helge is segueing from Ten Years on 2 Wheels to 60 Day on 3 Wheels for this ride, how cool is that!

If my count is correct, including a pre-run in Africa, this will be my 10th tour with GlobeRiders. We are super excited to ride with GlobeRiders again, our old friends (all GlobeRiders Frequent Flyers), and the new friends we have yet to meet.

For this tour, we've shipped one of our four sidecars (we also have one in Germany, one at home, and our newest in Japan). This one a 2004 BMW R1200GS, rigged to an Ural tub, built by Jay and his crew at DMC Sidecars in Enumclaw, WA USA. Upgrades include a 40-liter fuel tank, Adventure Shocks, lighting, panniers and a long list of other goodies from Touratech-USA, twin shocks on the sidecar trailing arm, and custom-fabricated rotary-forged solid aluminum automotive wheels all-around. The paint job was done by my friend Dean Miyauchi, using original colors and matte paint, inspired by the D-Day paint scheme on a WWII P-47 Thunderbolt of the Arkansas "Razor Back" Squadron.

Hello my name is Linda Cummings, 

I've been riding two up with Vincent Cummings the past 8 thrilling years.  We've had many local back road adventures exploring beautiful British Columbia.  I went on my first adventure self guided tour 3 years ago riding across Austrailia.   We rented a bike from Noosa Heads, north of Brisbane and ended in Perth.  6 amazing weeks of incredible adventure exploring the land down under.  WOW!!! I was addicted!!

We met so many wonderful people along the way, asking if we had done the Nullarbar Hwy.  No, however we were anticipating it towards the end of our journey.  The Nullarbar, also referred to Ayres Hwy, the road that connects western Australia to southern Australia is a giant bed of flat and treeless 200,000sq-km area with no hills or lakes.  The highway runs for 1675km which is the longest straight stretch in Austrailia.  It's a long and lonely road which most Austrailians have never travelled on.  There are roadhouses every 200 km to 300 km  providing provisions and accommodations. This highway has an incredible long stretch without any deviation for 150 km.   This is regarded as the longest straight stretch of Austrailia and one of the longest in the world.  We thought it would be a real challenge knowing it was total desert country, however it was delightfully very fascinating.  We loved the land and it's challenges.  Highly recommended!!

Another great highway in Austrailia was the great Ocean Road. Riding along the ocean and viewing the 12 famous apostles was breath taking.  However, being my first real adventure , I could tell you of many great rides in Austrailia.   Waking up every morning not knowing what to expect for the day was exciting.

 
I'm really excited to share the great adventures of South America with my spouse and friends.

Linda Cummings 

I have spent most of my life living in Vancouver Canada. I’ve travelled extensively over the years; last count was 130 countries, the majority of them on 2 wheels. I’ve done 6 tours with GlobeRiders two of which were scouting trips [LA USA - Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina and Cape Town to Cairo] this will be my 7th expedition with GlobeRiders and 3rd time riding through South America. In addition I’ve ridden most of North America [coast to coast twice] and across Canada including Newfoundland, several trips to the Alps along with New Zealand and my last trip 2014 with my wife coast to coast across Australia.

I was pretty much done riding motorcycles around the world, I had hung up my helmet, sold the GS, retired from business and turned my attention to yachting to Alaska and beyond thanks to Mike Paull. Then I got an email from Mike saying lets do one more ride, so here we are, I dusted off the helmet bought a new GS. The main difference this time is I will be riding two up sharing the experience with my lovely wife Linda. So here’s to hoping I can still swing my leg over the saddle and don’t drop the bike too often with my wife onboard.

My name is Nick Gudewill, I am 69 years old and live in Victoria, B.C.

I am a retired small businessman with previous interests in the Coca Cola business and the helicopter industry and presently co-invest in commercial real estate with my three brothers.

One of my key passions in life is recreational boating and fishing up and down the west coast of British Columbia. My motorbike of choice is a 2015 BMW 1200 GSA equipped with a Garmin Navigator V.

I am married to my wife Waan and have two wonderful sons aged 29 and 31.

In 2011, I joined Helge on the Silk Road Adventure. In 2017, I was fortunate to participate in the Cape to Cairo trip with Helge as well. The GlobeRiders 2018 Tierra del Fuego Adventure is the third side of the triangle and promises to be another exciting journey.

An "avid" motorcyclist doesn't describe me. An "addicted" motorcyclist is more accurate. I've been riding constantly since college, first on Vespas and then on increasingly sophisticated (and expensive) motorcycles. These have been BMWs, airheads and K75s for the most part, until the Legends of Germany and I parted ways about ten years ago in a bitter divorce. Lately I've been on a string of UJMs. For this ride it's a 2015 Suzuki 650cc V-Strom, a dual-sport machine whose capabilities far exceed my modest skills.

When I finally despaired of further contributing anything useful to society more than 25 years ago, I embarked upon the life I had always desired, that of going from where I was to somewhere I was not. It never occurred to me not to do it on a bike. I was early on drawn into the community of long-distance riding and became close friends with Michael Kneebone (the founder of the Iron Butt Association). With him as my guide, mechanic, and traveling psychiatrist, we made a circumnavigation of Australia in 1989, a trans-Russia ride from the Pacific to the Ukraine in 2004, and visits to the most northern and most southern points in Europe and Africa. Along the way I've also won the BMW MOA mileage contest a couple of times, finished 2nd in it three times, and completed the Iron Butt Rally in 2001. Between 2003 and 2008 I visited each of the 3,069 counties in the continental U.S.

Apart from riding motorcycles, I've also enjoyed writing about them in national and club magazines throughout the years. And although I consider myself a recovering attorney now, I was able in 1991 to be able to assist other interested motorcycle rights enthusiasts in an effort to allow riders onto all HOV lanes that are maintained by federal funding. For that I was named the AMA Road Rider of the Year in 1992.

I rode by myself to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in 2014, a truly gnarly ride with street tires on the same Honda Nighthawk that I'd used to traverse Siberia ten years earlier. I didn't feel much more of a sense of accomplishment then than I did in the cross-Russia ride, only having survived yet another dangerous and arduous journey to no particular purpose. But I had at least made three of the four points at the tops and bottoms of the riding world.

The last, Ushuaia, is not a destination with which I am unfamiliar. I've tried four times since 1995 to make the ride from the Washington, D.C. area to the bottom of this hemisphere. This time I'll skip Central America and worry about merely reaching the end of the road in Patagonia. The rest will take care of itself somehow. It usually does.

I speak enough tourist Spanish to find out where the bathroom is. I hope that helps us one day.

My first foray into motorcycling was 1988.  I bought an '85 Nighthawk S and kept it on the dl at my brothers apartment as my parents (landlords) enforced a strict acceptable vehicle policy.  Soon after learning I had a moto they pinned an eviction notice on my bedroom door.  "You been served!" swooned my other brother.  I took my final ride to the auction block with-in 48 hours and settled back into family life.  My little pony was with me no more than 1.5 months.

2011 I watched Long Way Round, sitting on the edge of the couch til it was over, I was hooked.  After marching into the local dealer with a crazed look in my eye I was probably the easiest "lay-down", as its known in the sales world, ever.  I rolled outta there ready to ride the lightning.  The places I've travelled and people I've met on the road has enriched me beyond my wildest dreams.  The visceral experience of interacting with the road and nature is intoxicating.  The power and thrill of adventure between my legs is something special.

I am a car dealer by trade and am fortunate enough to have a successful business and a great staff that allows me to travel.  However they do wish I would take up a different hobby.  Mostly for their job stability. :)  I have 3 beautiful daughters, Shannon, Elizabeth & Heather.  Through my tales of travel and adventure I know I have enriched there lives as well.

Riding with Helge has been a bucket list point of mine for quite awhile.  He is also much more accessible than Charlie & Ewan.  Dang, why won't they call me back!!

I knew it would be great and it has been.  My inspiration to roll-on continues as I ride with so many like-minded people and can now call my friends.

My name is Spike Magnuson, and I’m 50 years old.  I currently live in Chehalis, WA.  I just recently retired after 21 years with the LINE-X Corporation, an aftermarket automotive business.  That explains this trip: a much needed vacation.

I started riding motorcycles at age 16, and currently own 2 Harleys, a 350 KTM and of course my R1200 GSA.  My adventure riding so far has been; 2 trips from Seattle to Deadhorse, AK, 1 trans-Canada trip to Maine and lots of local runs.

I was made in Norway, left to see the world on a BMW motorcycle and now live outside Seattle, USA. It has been an incredible journey and I have been very fortunate to have the lifestyle that I have had since the day I left Norway in 1982.

After 10 years of riding the world I settled in Seattle where GlobeRiders were created. We have done long distance tours all over the world since the year 2000. From the early start, I have decided not to make GlobeRiders a large company, but rather a small business that have the time and energy to get to know every one of our riders that travel with us.

I love the full process of building a team from start to the end. It is a long process, but worth it in the end when we all return home from our ride with memories for life.

Besides motorcycle touring, photography is a big part of my life and what a great combination it has been, riding the world and taking photographs. Yes, I have an addiction and that is that I carry way too much camera equipment with me on my bike.

On this journey this will be much easier as i will be riding a sidecar rig for the first time in my life. Quite a change and i am extreemely excited to venture out on three wheels.

The bike was built by DMC Sidecars in Seattle and i can't wait to test this rig on the road to Tierra del Fuego. I also outfitted the rig with Zega Pro panniers from Touratec-USA.

Alyxmoto installed Clearwater lights on the rig and bike and I really look forward to testing these in South America,

Stay tuned for stories in the journal about my experience on three wheels.

Looking forward to riding with this group of old friends and new the full length of South America.

My biggest burden being the leader of this pack is to make sure that everyone is safe and have a wonderful ride, I will do my very best.

Ride Far – Ride Safe!

Helge Pedersen