FLIPSIDE MOTO
JASON AND ALENNA
We grew up on opposite sides of the US. Jason, a child of the San Francisco Bay Area, road tripped around the west during his teen years, from San Diego to Seattle to the Sierras. Alenna spent her youth in the Northeastern US, exploring the eastern seaboard and Midwest before moving to the West Coast.
Our first meeting was in the boardroom of a Silicon Valley high-tech B2B startup. Alenna was a product manager and Jason the public relations guru who would generate positive media attention for her product. Dinner and a movie ensued, but neither of us remember what we saw -- it was the motorcycle ride to the top of Twin Peaks in San Francisco on that clear, windy night that remains unforgettable.
Motorcycle adventures around the Bay Area became our go-to date plan. Maps, leather, curvy coast roads and meals at remote destinations were the gravity that drew us together. Then Alenna took her first long solo ride, from Berkeley to Telluride, Colorado, to intercept Jason in a stinky, rain-drenched tent at the Bluegrass Music Festival. Now that's love. And the rest is history as they say.
JASON
After a preliminary introduction to motorcycling from boyhood friend and daredevil Dan Shafner (thanks Dan!), I cut my riding teeth -- literally and figuratively -- as a jackaroo in Victoria, Australia, chasing cattle, sheep and kangaroo across the paddocks of Coolana (thank you Jenny, John, Mark and Anna). I suppose it's not surprising that I came to love motorcycles. I seek out the unexpected, the open road and uncharted waters. After finishing a degree in journalism and photography, I spent time in the Dominican Republic as a Peace Corps volunteer, working on my Spanish while harvesting coffee and providing public health, water and soil conservation classes in a small, off-the-grid community of 500 people.
The rest of my professional life has largely been a dual existence as a corporate communications executive and an outdoor travel guide. Currently I am part of Autodesk's public relations team, and prior to that I spent quite a few years providing public relations support to Microsoft and the journalists who cover today's cutting edge technologies. I've also had the pleasure of working with Roku, Konami and PowerBar. The open road, mountains and rivers have consistently found a way to intertwine themselves in my life, including stints as a whitewater river company manager in Colorado and a river, rock, mountain biking and backpacking guide in California, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Hampshire and Maine.
Regardless of where I am or who I am with, motorcycles have woven their way through my entire life, but it wasn't until Alenna started talking about sidecars that I would have even thought about adding that ride to our stable. And so we keep riding and adventuring and creeping toward the dream -- going around the world on motorcycles.
ALENNA
I found my way to riding -- the two-wheeled motorized variety -- while living in Japan after college. My coworkers wanted me to get a scooter, but I thought a bit sportier ride was in order. Since I didn't have a motorcycle license, I ended up with a small 90cc bike, but a bike it was nonetheless. After some quick and dirty riding practice in the parking lot down by the docks and fish market, I was officially hooked. When I returned to the US, I promptly got a proper motorcycle license but didn't end up buying a bike for another 10 years. What was I thinking?! And that is when fate intervened, and I met Jason who suggested a Honda Hawk. On a mission to ride, I bought my first bike, and it is still in my garage today.
Now a Leadership Consultant and Executive Coach, I spent much of my career as a Strategic Planning and Operations leader driving business improvements for Fortune 500 companies, including over a decade at Nike. I love my work and the opportunity to support others in achieving their dreams. Still, it is the anticipation of exploring new places that really fuels me. I've travelled all over the world, but standout adventures include hiking to Macchu Picchu, sailing on a tall ship in the Carribean, climbing the Grand Teton in Wyoming and motorcycling New Zealand's south island.
I am not sure when I hatched this sidecar family expedition idea, but some time in the last few years I realized that motos and a family shouldn't have to be mutually exclusive. Once we actually set our minds to it, we found a beautiful rig that would fit us all and that is when this moto love became a family affair.