Welcome to the Bike's & Bio's Page of the GlobeRiders 2023 Muscat to München Adventure's Live!Journal!

This is the "up close and personal" Chapter of our Live!Journal.  I've asked each of our riders to share a little about themselves, and also provide a couple of favorite photos to go along with their Bio's. 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 fascinating adventure. Not only do our participants get to experience the wonders of the Middle East and Europe, on their own bike's, but they also get to meet local people off the beaten track, taste the cuisine and immerse themselves in this amazing continent.

It's my privilege to introduce the members of the GlobeRiders GlobeRiders 2023 Muscat to München Adventure.

Best Regards,

Helge Pedersen

My name is Fred, I am passionate about two things: (1) my m/c (1250 GS & Yamaha T 700) and (2) my wife Birgit (1200 GS & KTM 890). We are married since 1980, two children aged 36 & 40, and two grandchildren.

We live in Southern Germany in a town called Tübingen. My wife and I have a small family business. I am very grateful to Birgit that she organises everything while I am on the road.

I did 3 tours with Helge, my first was in 2014 from LA to Patagonia. I met really lovely people on these trips, some of which became very good friends to this day. That’s also the reason why we have our GS's parked in Mike’s garage in LA, who I met on one of the tours.

I am looking forward to seeing you all and to riding with you. And sorry for my English grammar and my pronunciation.

I grew up in Seattle and currently live in Tacoma, Washington where I work as a real estate investor. I went on the GlobeRiders Cape to Cairo Adventure in 2017, Himalayan Adventure in 2018 and Africa Adventure in 2019 as well as the Moto discovery Ruta 40 Expedition thru Patagonia in early 2022. I am 52 years old and will be riding a brand new R1250GSA.

I am a real estate guy living in Los Angeles. I grew up in Germany, lived in Vancouver, B.C. for 10 years and then moved to California over 30 years ago.

I enjoy the outdoors and traveling. I like being on the bike on a road I’ve never been on, seeing new landscapes, meeting new people, and learning about their lives, culture and history. I’ve ridden Alaska to Argentina; done a fair amount of dirt biking in Baja and California; ridden the Alps a few times; and ridden with Helge the length of Africa, around the Himalayas and the Silk Road.

All Helge trips were great, so I’m looking forward to this one!

We are Hugo and Michele Cookson. We live in Kelowna BC, Canada. We have been blissfully married for 27 years. Both Michele and I have been retired for the last 7 years. Before that I worked in the transportation industry and Michele owned a Hair Salon.

During the last 7 years we have been adventure cruising in the Mediterranean, West Coast of the USA, Mexico and Central America. This will be our first major Bike trip having done previous smaller rides in BC, Northwestern States and Mexico.

We are really excited for this new adventure and to meet everyone.

We live in West Vancouver, Canada, for about 6 months of the year with adult kids nearby and a herd of grandkids.

We’ve enjoyed traveling for many years, our travels have included long range cruising for months on end with our boat, to riding our motorcycle to remote corners of the world.

After several years riding various continents by myself I had the idea to try and ride around the world but wasn’t sure how or if I could even accomplish it. Then someone gave me Helge’s book 10 Years On 2 Wheels and I thought this is the guy that can help me make traveling around the world on a motorcycle happen.

I’ve started riding with Helge in 2006, this M2M tour will be my 8th tour with GlobeRiders, two of which were scouting or pre run tours which are basically a fantastic working holiday. Linda, my beautiful wife, surprising also has the adventure traveling bug and not only has she join on our boating adventures but also has joined me on several riding tours, in fact each time I say this is my last big ride she is the one who prompts “let’s just do one more.”

We are very excited about this upcoming M2M and especially excited to have the privilege to attend BMW 100th Years Celebration with Helge being honored for his lifetime contribution to Adventure touring in the Travel Around World section of the BMW museum.

See you all in Muscat soon.

Vincent & Linda

Hello, I’m Lisa, Helge’s partner. I was a self employed massage therapist for 27 years and currently teach yoga. While I’ll get to enjoy the travel through exotic lands with all of you, I will also be assisting Helge during this tour. I’m really excited about getting to see several bucket list sites: Petra in Jordan, Iran’s Crown Jewels in Tehran, the famed lands of ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq) and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. I’ve also heard the cuisine in Georgia is pretty amazing and am eagerly anticipating that.

I’m looking forward to experiencing all the sights and sounds of this tour in the company of our group!

I've been through several phases of adventure in my life: mountain climbing, racing and cruising sailboats, bicycling, and a few other odds and ends. But the longest, most enduring adventure has been riding motorcycles.

The GlobeRiders South of the Equator Africa trip had such an impact on me that I got on the waiting list for the M2M. I got on the tour and here I am! Experiencing new cultures, great roads, and wonderful people!

Hi Everyone,

Our home is in eastern Canada, the Province of New Brunswick along the Fundy Coast. I’ve been riding motorcycles for many years, Tammy also has her motorcycle license, although she will be riding on the back with me for this journey. We are excited on many levels to do this trip, my/our motorcycle trips have been in North America and 17 of the 20 countries will be new for pus.

I became aware of Helge/GlobeRiders during the summer of 2019 when Tammy and I were doing a couple week tour of Newfoundland/Labrador on the KTM. Tammy returned home at the end of the Newfoundland portion while I continued onto Labrador to complete the ride on my own. At the ferry crossing into Labrador I was befriend by three other riders, that I travelled with for much of the ride. One of the individuals was from California and during conversations, the tours that he had done with GlobeRiders were discussed, and there was nothing but positive accolades for Helge/GlobeRiders.

When the M2M trip opportunity came, I took 4-5 days to make my decision, bad choice ☹, all booked up. Fortunately, a couple of days prior to leaving for Belize last November, received an email from Helge that there was an opening, this time I only took a couple of hours to decide, better choice 😊.

So glad to be on this amazing journey, with a great group of people.

Tammy and Terry Keiver

In 1998 Audrey and I rode two-up from our home just west of Calgary, Alberta to the BMW MOA National Rally in Missoula, Montana. Little did we know that a couple of presentations at the rally would change our lives forever. We attended Helge Pedersen’s multimedia slideshow on his Ten Years on Two Wheels and were blown away at the idea of riding around the world. To be honest, Helge’s presentation made it seem like you probably needed to be superhuman to accomplish some of those feats, like crossing the Darien Gap using a block and tackle. We also attended Susan and Grant Johnson’s presentation (founders of Horizons Unlimited) of their journey around the world, which made it seem that ordinary mortals could do this. Upon returning home we found out that both of our employers offered a self-funded leave of absence program, and we signed up for a year-long leave of absence starting in July of 2002. That year we travelled all over Europe and northern Africa in the winter. When we were about to fly home from London in July 2003, after living in a tent for a year, we looked at each other and said if we didn’t have to return to work, we could easily turn around and rideo India. We were hooked.

In 2007, after spending four months in Germany after an accident at the cargo terminal where I ruptured my patella tendon on Day 1, we rode from Munich to Cape Town. Then we shipped our motorbikes to New York and rode up to Newfoundland and across Canada back home. 2012 saw us ride from Munich to the Great Wall of China via Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, then returning to Europe via Japan, SE Asia and Turkey. 2016 we shipped our bikes to Bogota, Colombia and spent the year riding around South America with a side trip to Antarctica from Ushuaia. We flew our bikes from Sao Paulo to Mexico City to ride home, flying over the Darien Gap that Helge had conquered.

We had been saving New Zealand and Australia for last, a trip to do after our planned retirement in June of 2021. In July of 2020 Audrey was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive brain tumour and just four months later she passed away. A week after the diagnosis she wrote a letter and said, "My one and only love, Ekke. Your job is to travel out on your motorbike. What else?"

A short time after Audrey passed away, I received a letter from Helge Pedersen at GlobeRiders saying that there was a spot on the Himalaya Adventure tour. I signed up for that September 2021 tour, but it was postponed due to COVID and eventually cancelled altogether. In the meantime, respecting my Sweetheart’s wishes I rode. Lots. I spent the summers of 2021 and 2022 riding in Europe and I also rode to the end of the road in Panama, to the edge of the Darien Gap.

I am looking forward to riding on my very first organized tour, Muscat to München with GlobeRiders. Bringing it all full circle to that presentation by Helge in 1998.

You can follow Ekke via his webblog: 2 Roam the Roads of Lands Remote.

We live in Ravensdale, WA, and this will be our second long-haul adventure tour together. We road the South of the Equator Adventure last year.

Dan: I celebrated my 73rd birthday just a couple of weeks before our arrival in Cape Town, South Africa, and I'll turn 74 shortly after we finish the M2M Adventure. I started riding motorized-two-wheelers at the age of 12 in Idaho on a Tote-Goat. Since then, I've had British, Italian, Japanese and German motorcycles. Sometimes a lot of them at the same time. After six years in the US Navy, I finished University for the first time and had a short carrier as a Wildlife Biologist. After, my work with the Arizona Game & Fish, I had a 35yr carrier in the tech industry as an Electrical and Mechanical Engineer and software developer. I've been working with Helge at GlobeRiders since 2008 and have a great passion for long road trips. Our current bike is a 2014 R1200GSA with a sidecar conversion. Jill has a much better view of the world in the sidecar. We are also in the process of having another sidecar rig made by MOBEC in Germany which we will take delivery of at the conclusion of the Muscat to Munich 2023 tour. Looking forward to the ride and friendships on the road in Africa.

Hi, Jill here, I am a retired educator and full-time artist. I too am 73-years young. I have 5 children and 10 grandchildren ranging in age from 23 years to 15 months. I have done my fair share of traveling but never on a motorcycle (or in my case, more recently in a sidecar). We live on a quiet private lake on a piece of property that once was a thriving commercial resort. It came with a 50 x 20 ft dance hall (that I believe is the last of its kind) and a cabin that used to be rented by the hour. I was born in Brooklyn, New York and lived on Long Island until 1983. During my time in New York, I opened a health food store with a small cafe inside and was a "chef" in several vegetarian restaurants. I then managed a nursery and landscape business on Fire Island, NY, until I relocated to Washington State and started my teaching career.