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FALL 2019 ISSUE 02 / VOL . 04
Editor ’ s Letter
In the Blood
MOTORCYCLING IS IN NEIL REYNOLDS ’ BLOOD , and it has been since he was young . He got his first motorcycle — a used moped made by Puch and badged as a Sears Allstate — in 1958 , on his 14th birthday . The $ 85 he spent cleaned him out , and he had to borrow a quarter from his mother to buy a gallon of gas so he could ride down to the police station to get his license .
Speed is also in Neil ’ s blood . He got pulled over by the police on his ride home from the station , putting his new license in jeopardy .
Over the years , Neil has ridden all sorts of motorcycles in all sorts of places . For years a motorcycle was his only form of transportation , and he toured on a 500cc Triumph using a Boy Scout pack for luggage . He developed his off-road chops on a Czechoslovakian CZ twostroke . And he did some roadracing , winning his class at Daytona in 1975 .
Neil and I met a decade ago on one of the monthly adventure rides hosted by our local BMW dealership . Those were long , challenging rides that started early and ended late . At the time Neil was in his mid-60s , and he ’ s not a big guy , but he rode his tall , heavy R 1200 GS with more confidence and grace than most riders 20 to 30 years his junior . A few years before I met Neil , he survived a battle with cancer , and he made a promise to himself to buy a GS and to get training at RawHyde Adventures . Since then he ’ s competed in RawHyde ’ s Adventure Challenge multiple times , most recently in 2017 , and he proudly carries in his tank bag the special coin given to him when he was selected as one of BMW ’ s Ride Ambassadors .
This past summer , to celebrate his 75th birthday , Neil participated in a 58-day , 8,000-mile Silk Road tour led by Helge Pedersen , the well-known photographer and author of “ 10 Years on Two Wheels .” Neil ’ s trusty GS was shipped to Istanbul , Turkey , and he rode it through Georgia , Azerbaijan , Iran , Turkmenistan , Uzbekistan , Tajikistan , Kyrgyzstan and China .