![HIMALAYAN IN THE MID WEST](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/15533/522329/5f6e1de905964/HIMALAYAN-IN-THE-MID-WEST.jpg)
If somebody had told me 10 years ago, when I was doing track days on a Ducati 996 and tearing around the backcountry on a KTM 525, that I’d end up spending almost an entire riding season seated quite happily behind the handlebars of a 24 hp, 411cc, $4,700 adventure-touring bike made in India—leaving the other bikes in my small stable almost unridden—I might have been quite puzzled. Editor Mark Hoyer certainly was, as were several of my riding buddies. So, perhaps some explanation is due.
It all started with Alaska.
About a year ago, my wife Barbara and I took an Inside Passage cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage, and we managed to quit eating and drinking long enough to get off the ship and do some exploring of the interior by foot, rental car, and railway. And, of course, I was predictably knocked out by the vastness and beauty of the Alaskan landscape. Gobsmacked, as our British friends might say, and often do. By the time we lifted off from Fairbanks on the flight back to Wisconsin, I looked out the window and announced to Barb, who was already nodding off, “I’m coming back here on a motorcycle.”
She mumbled something in her sleep that I interpreted as “Great idea!”
But what bike? I had a long flight to think about it. And a long winter ahead.
Friends who’d ridden in Alaska had described summer as “road-repair season,” and said to expect occasional stretches of mud and gravel, even on normally paved roads, and suggested that being able to pick up your own bike (while recovering from a slight concussion) was a very good thing. None of this sounded ideal for my 2009 Buell Ulysses, which is a great highway and gravel-road bike, but something of a tall and heavy handful in deep muck.
Denne historien er fra Issue 3 - 2020-utgaven av Cycle World.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 3 - 2020-utgaven av Cycle World.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
![KENNY CUMMINGS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15533/566995/5fe2dd983b446/crp_KENNY-CUMMINGS.jpg)
KENNY CUMMINGS
The BUILDER
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WORKING FOR THE READER
On 58 years and a new start
![WRITING BY ACCIDENT](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15533/566995/5fe2edea81cf3/crp_WRITING-BY-ACCIDENT.jpg)
WRITING BY ACCIDENT
Learning to get solidly behind every word
![LITTLE HERO](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15533/566995/5fe2db8d36ad5/crp_LITTLE-HERO.jpg)
LITTLE HERO
The Honda Trail 125 faces Captain Overkill and comes out humbly victorious
![CREATIVE TOOLS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15533/566995/5fe2d9a5b28ed/crp_CREATIVE-TOOLS.jpg)
CREATIVE TOOLS
How four master builders defined the path of the 2021 BMW R 18
![THE SUZUKI HAYABUSA](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15533/566995/5fe2d45f2142b/crp_THE-SUZUKI-HAYABUSA.jpg)
THE SUZUKI HAYABUSA
Suzuki said the first Hayabusa invented a new category called Ultimate Sport. We said, “Yeah, right,”…until we rode it.
![FORCES OF CREATION](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15533/566995/5fe2cd63d8295/crp_FORCES-OF-CREATION.jpg)
FORCES OF CREATION
The Harley-Davidson V-Twin has shaped American motorcycling
![ASSAULT ON PIKES PEAK EXPEDITION II](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15533/566995/5fe2e0ade4b6f/crp_ASSAULT-ON-PIKES-PEAK-EXPEDITION-II.jpg)
ASSAULT ON PIKES PEAK EXPEDITION II
Forty-three years ago, we did it with a Honda 50 and a Stella 10-speed bicycle...
![ALTERED STATE of ADVENTURE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15533/566995/5fe2e6816c850/crp_ALTERED-STATE-of-ADVENTURE.jpg)
ALTERED STATE of ADVENTURE
Smaller ADVs, bigger rewards.
![ADDING A DIMENSION](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15533/566995/5fe2eb76d1054/crp_ADDING-DIMENSION.jpg)
ADDING A DIMENSION
We send our motorcycle-loving car racer to the Yamaha Champions Riding School so he can learn to think outside the, ahem, box.