Sam Manicom spent eight years roaming the world by motorcycle, which is an accomplishment by itself. He later put those experiences into words, authoring four books: “Into Africa,” “Under Asian Skies,” “Distant Suns,” and “Tortillas to Totems.” Each volume takes readers through a different portion of his journey, Manicom tells Mark Long on this episode of the “Driven to Ride” podcast.

Manicom has traveled most of his life, using all manner of transportation. He explored Europe on a bicycle, hitchhiked by semi-truck, and crossed an ocean via cargo ship. All were tremendous experiences, he says, but motorcycles—a BMW R 80 GS, in particular—tick all the right boxes. For a chunk of that nearly decade-long journey, he even had a companion, aboard her own motorcycle.

During his time abroad, Manicom made an important discovery. “I found that a handshake and a smile and a ‘hello’ in somebody’s language gets you through an awful lot of very difficult situations,” he says. “You show respect to people and they’ll be gobsmacked, to begin with. Then, they tentatively smile back. All of a sudden, so many issues just melt away. It was such a good lesson to learn.”

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iRideArusha is the entry point for exploring Tanzania by motorcycle. On this episode of the “Driven to Ride” podcast, Kevin Bulger describes to host Mark Long how he and wife Sylvia, a native of the East African country, founded the company. Bulger’s big idea was to share his passion for adventure, motorcycles, and travel with like-minded enthusiasts from around the world.

“I’m not one of those guys that’s been riding since I was five years old,” admits the Chicagoan. In fact, he didn’t even throw a leg over a motorcycle of his own until he was an adult. “I bought that bike and literally rode it to every corner of every neighborhood in the city. It opened my eyes. ‘Wow, how diverse and broad and wonderful Chicago is.’ That got me interested to explore the wider world."

An investigative trip led to an opportunity better even than the Bulgers imagined. Rather than start an entirely new company, they partnered with the owner of iRideNairobi, a tour company in Kenya. “I thought, ‘We can open locations across East Africa,” says Kevin. “That’s sort of our grand vision—multiple outposts where riders can start in one location and end in another.” Grand, indeed.

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Cory Texter was practically born with a throttle in his hand. His grandfather Ray owned a Harley-Davidson dealership in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Father Randy was a successful national-number flat-tracker and an AMA U.S. Twin Sports champion. Sister Shayna has won 19 American Flat Track Singles races. Cory himself notched two AFT Production Twins titles.

Texter is the very definition of a self-starter. Before retiring from professional competition, he earned a college degree and tried his hand at journalism, podcasting and, most recently, race promoting—all successfully. In fact, he just wrapped the eighth edition of the “Winter Throwdown,” a Florida tradition geared toward amateur flat-trackers that draws 800-plus entries.

Racing is a metaphor for other aspects of his life, says Texer, 38, a husband and father of two young boys. “It’s such a simple thing when you break it down. There’s a green light to start the race, and there’s a checkered flag. You have to figure out a way to get to the checkered flag before everybody else, and you don’t always have to be the fastest guy to do that.”

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If you like watching riding vlogs, motorcycle reviews, or hey, even listening to a moto podcast, you have Genevieve Schmitt to thank for it.

Genevieve has blazed her own trail for basically her entire career. From reporting on the seat of a motorcycle on the Speed Channel (and earning the title of first woman to do so) to founding Women Riders Now dot com back in the early 2000s - before most people even thought about launching a motorcycle website - and growing it to an audience reaching the hundreds of thousands, she’s led the charge in the industry for not just women in motorcycling, but for any moto-content creator.

Genevieve wrote and covered stories from the female perspective, and surprise - it turns out that a whole lot of riders, male and female, appreicated Genevieve’s work - sharing her opinions on industry trends, motorcycle legislation, and reviewing bikes from not just stats from a spec sheet, but how a motorcycle actually makes you feel when you ride it.

There’s a reason she’s has earned the the title of “top 100 leaders in powersports”, too - Genevieve has toured the country giving seminars on introducing women to motorcycling, she’s been featured on the History Channel, ABC News, USA Today, The New York Times, and more, and she’s scooped up industry awards left and right, including the AMA’s Bessie Stringfield award.

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WATCH THE FULL FILM HERE

In the classic 19th century Jules Verne novel, “Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours,” eccentric Brit Phileas Fogg and his French valet, Passepartout, wager they can circumnavigate the world in 80 days. That nearly three-month time table would have been a walk in the park for the Vancouver-based content team at YouTube motorcycle sensation “FortNine.”

Ryan Kluftinger, Connor Bondlow, and Edwin El Bainou set out to ride across America, Europe, India, Southeast Asia, Australia, and then back through Alaska, the carrot being the current world record of 19 days and change, all while filming their every move. Their motorcycles of choice for this ultimate “Iron Butt” adventure? A pair of Ducati Multistrada V4 Rallys.

While Kluftinger describes their global lap as “the greatest ride of my life,” the two-plus-week excursion (no spoilers!) wasn’t without moments of undeniable reality. “What we were doing was fun and exciting,” he says, “and suddenly you remember the danger associated with it.” “Yalla Habibi!” premiered at the Rio Theater in Vancouver on December 22. Watch the trailer, or jump into the full film!

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This Saturday on Driven to Ride, we’re dropping something special.

We sat down in person with Ryan, Connor, and Edwin from FortNine for a full, hour-and-a-half conversation about one of the most ambitious motorcycle projects ever attempted: trying to circumnavigate the globe in under 19 days while filming a feature-length movie along the way.

From extreme sleep deprivation and hallucinations, to riding through freezing nights, dodging kangaroos in Australia, and pushing the human body far past its limits — this episode pulls back the curtain on what that trip really cost, physically and mentally.

This teaser is just a taste.

The full episode drops Saturday, both as a podcast and a full video.

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The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum exists at the intersection of the past, present, and future of motorcycling. “Driven to Ride” host Mark Long traveled to the museum for the very first time this past October. His eye-opening experience coincided with the annual Barber Vintage Festival, which attracts tens of thousands of riders from all over North America and beyond to central Alabama.

The magnificent five-story building sits in the southeast corner of Barber Motorsports Park, adjacent to the 2.38-mile, 17-turn road course, affectionately known as the “Alabama roller coaster.” The museum and park are the legacy of dairy heavyweight and successful Porsche racer George Barber, whose vivid vision for a “motorcycle mecca” began in the late-1980s.

Long took full advantage of the three-day weekend, conversing with Executive Director Brian Case, Conservation Manager Ally Domar, Education Programs Manager Dr. Liz Johnson, and legendary designer Pierre Terblanche. He also took in Q&A sessions with champion racers and celebrity authors, while roaming the exquisitely manicured, 880-acre grounds. It’s a don’t-miss episode.

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Ultan Guilfoyle is a filmmaker and an author, who co-curated the landmark 1998 exhibition “The Art of the Motorcycle” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. “Installing motorcycles in the rotunda was a thrill,” he recalls. “It was like taking sculptural, three-dimensional objects and putting them up in the space and allowing people to see them in a way they had never seen before.”

On this episode of the “Driven to Ride” podcast, Guilfoyle relates the story behind the exhaustive efforts to gather the astounding 111 motorcycles presented in the exhibition. “If you’re curating an art exhibition, say you’re doing Picasso, you know where all the Picassos are,” he tells host Mark Long. “You make 50 calls, and you’ve got 40 yeses and 10 nos. At least you got an idea. We had no idea.”

Co-curator Charles Falco and Guilfoyle had a list of 50 “must-have” motorcycles, without which they had little hope of achieving their lofty exhibition goals. Twenty-one of those machines were ultimately lent to the Guggenheim by the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Alabama. That, Guilfoyle says, led to a relationship with founder George Barber, a relationship that continues to this day.

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