Not Posing

This letter is a little late in coming, like eight years late, but since lately there has been a discussion of adventure riders "posing," I'd like to introduce a fellow we met on the homeward bound leg of our great Alaska adventure in 2004. We had ridden from Michigan on our BMWs, me on my new R1200GS with heated grips no less and all decked out in Aerostich gear. We were feeling, well I guess you could say macho. Then we met Mike Lynch.

Mike had ridden his Vespa scooter from Clearwater, Florida, headed for Prudhoe Bay. He almost made it when his tires blew out on the Haul road 200 mile short of his destination. Nothing like a night on the tundra! Undaunted, he camped in the alley behind the hardware store in Fairbanks until tires were airlifted from California. We met up with him at the dock in Haines as we were boarding the ferry to Bellingham, Washington. Oh, I almost forgot: This was his first motorcycle adventure. Guess the moral is: Just get on it and go!