It’s a couples thing!

Recently, I asked two of the couples in our group that each have Super Teneres to write a little bio about themselves. In all my time on social media, these are the only two couples I can find… and both live in Oregon! ( disclaimer, If anyone knows another couple, I’ll add them to this blog post) I had planned to give them a good once over and paraphrase what they sent me, but after reading them, I’ll post them verbatim.

Butch and Becky Dunlap of Norway Oregon

Glen asked me to hammer out a short bio! SHORT??? I’ve never told a short story in my life!

Beckie and I have been riding together for 26 years, started off with cruisers and after a couple of years learned that we really liked riding so moved to Sport Tourers.

Our first “Long” ride was three weeks after Beckie rode her first bike home (Memorial Day ’92), a ten day ride from Corvallis OR, east to Arco ID, north to Kalispell, MT for a two day visit to Glacier National Park and down off Lolo Pass in a dreadful rainstorm. We experienced 100 degreetemps, RAIN, a two mile ride up a mud road on cruisers, RAIN, a grasshopper swarm, and RAIN. Beckie dropped her Vulcan in the mud, we both got miserably wet and cold. I figured it’d cure Beckie of any desire to ride, but when we got home she was more excited than ever.

The next year we were headed for Whitefish MT and got clear to Missoula before deciding that we weren’t ready to get married, turned south and went to West Yellowstone.

Somewhere between then and now we’ve ridden about a half million miles.
I started looking at Teneres when Beckie replaced her aging Triumph Sprint ST with an FJR and the salesman caught me standing in front of the Tenere and suggested I take it for a ride. “I don’t want to ride your Tenere, I can’t afford another bike right now.” But the thought festered for about a year. I couldn’t stand the idea of letting go of my Honda ST1300 so bought the Tenere and kept it.

When I brought the Tenere home Beckie made me promise that I wouldn’t rag on her to get a ADV bike, so I didn’t until one day when some knucklehead on the PNWSTOG got to bragging about he and his wife had just returned from Alaska. I said “Ya know, if you had a Tenere we could ride to Alaska”.

A few days later one of the PNWSTOG members decided to sell his. We were headed out the door on a trip, so I just suggested it to Beckie, she thought maybe it was a good idea and the next thing we knew we were upin Portland picking up another one.

That was just a year ago. She’s ridden it nearly 13,000 miles, lots of highway, three or five hundred miles of gravel, and a couple of hundred yards of goat path. One day a couple of months ago we’d just ridden down the south fork of the John Day River, crossed the Izee-Paulina road and continued south clear to Burns, the last 25 miles in the rain. She was a little damp, a little muddy, and TIRED. I said “If I told you you could only have one, could you give up the Tenere or the FJR?”. She said “I love riding this bike and I don’t have to make that choice!”

We grew up in a time when sex was safe and motorcycles were dangerous, neither of us ever thought of ourselves as bikers (still don’t), but we love riding motorcycles and can’t imagine not doing it!

 

Jason and Drea; ADV Couple
Jason began riding on two wheels in his early teens, when he professionally raced Mountain bikes on the Junior National Team until he was 18. He then picked up his first professional road bike contract that took him to Europe where he continued to race road bikes for the next 6 years. He spent two of those years living in Belgium. He didn’t trade in his spandex for gore-tex until the age of 32, when he was peer- pressured into getting his motorcycle endorsement by a close friend. He rode sport bikes with the guys until he was turned on to Adventure Riding while on a trip to Canada. He remembers meeting several people traveling by motorcycle, each from a different part of the world, and each with a unique story. He realized then that a nomadic life was just what he was missing. In fall of 2014, he purchased a 2013 Suzuki Vstrom DL650 and began riding off-road with a couple of seasoned riders. It turns out that due to his prior experience on two wheels, he was a natural. He found solace in the forest and was hooked! We didn’t meet until that next summer in late May (2015).
When I first learned that he rode a motorcycle, I was both afraid and intrigued. At that point riding was only dream for me, a dream that I let fear talk me out of. Just after we met, Jason left for a weeklong trip to Lake Tahoe, stopping in the Red Woods and Yosemite National Park along the way. When he returned, I insisted on going for a ride on the back. As it turned out, I loved it. The wind in my hair It was a bit scary at first but I soon learned to trust Jason and his riding ability. You see he rides safe, with all the gear, all the time and is constantly aware of his surroundings. It was easy for me to get over my fear.
We traveled every chance we could, riding 2UP on the Vstrom to places like the Oregon Coast, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, the Red Woods, Lassen Volcanic National Park, and Crater Lake National Park. Just two months later, I wanted my own motorcycle. That August, Jason taught me to ride on the Vstrom in a dealership parking lot where he worked. I was a natural! Jason passed his bike on to me and upgraded to a Vstrom DL1000. I passed my permit test and practiced on back roads until I was ready to take my endorsement test in November.
From there, we have been traveling together, laughing together, near or far, riding in the backcountry every chance we get. We have completed most of the Oregon Outback together. Jason has completed the Idaho BDR and hopes to finish the Washington BDR this July. We have explored most of the dirt roads in Oregon by now. We rode to Titus Canyon in Death Valley National Park, Alabama Hills, Bishop, CA., Hells Canyon (Hess Rd.), Steens Mountain, Hart Mountain, Alvord Desert, etc. We prefer to camp but enjoy the luxury of a soft bed and a warm shower every once in a while.

From the moment we met three years ago, we haven’t passed up an opportunity to adventure together. Jason is tickled to death to have a partner who shares the same passion of Adventure Motorcycling and dream of traveling around the world on motorcycles.
Cars are Stupid.
March 6, 2018
It all started with a Match.com message, Yin and Yang Subarus, and a big toe full
of Wanderlust. You take a sweet, proper guy who retired early from his professional cycling career and you stick him with a spontaneous, crude but fun- loving adventure seeker and Viola! The ambiguously adventurous riding duo was born.
Jason was previously a Sport Bike rider and had a few years under his belt already. My only experience riding was falling asleep on the back of a large couch on two wheels (Honda Gold Wing) on a dark highway. For me, it truly began when I went for my first 2up ride with Jason. Once I got past my nerves, I realized riding was that puzzle piece I had been searching for. It was like I was asleep all my life and then I suddenly woke up. There is something about the thrill of being outside the cage, experiencing the out-of-doors, and cruising the open road that was quieting my mind. A sort of Zen moment took place, a cure for the anxiety and chaos of the hamster wheel. We spent a couple of months traveling 2up, bagging a few National Parks, cruising PCH. It was a blast until I realized I was done riding 2up with Jason. Don’t get me wrong, I trusted him with my life and I would do it again in a hot second, but I wanted to be in control, to tame my own llama. He showed me the basics and I got the hang of riding super fast. It was in that moment that I realized that cars are stupid.

also check out their blog with absolutely AMAZING photos at www.liketoridead.com

 

thank you both for sharing with us!

Glen