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Motorcycling Destinations
BIKES: Trading A Playboy Centerfold For BMW Instructors
How I traded a Playboy Centerfold for two BMW Riding Instructors and rode through Peru to make an adventure television show.
How I traded a Playboy Centerfold for two BMW Riding Instructors and rode through Peru to make an adventure television show.
As the rear wheel of my F800GS buried itself so deep in the soft sand that any forward motion came to a halt, I reached over, killed the engine, and slumped over the bars. Up ahead, the last of our two support vehicles with the camera crew on board lurched violently, spitting sand as it finally slid out of view. Bathed in sweat and exhausted from the last few miles of pushing, riding, bouncing, and muscling my bike through the deep Peruvian sand of the Paracas Peninsula, I wondered if anyone would realize I was missing—or if they’d be able to find me when they did. Gazing around at the endless expanse of sand, I saw at least there were tire tracks to follow if I could manage to dig the bike out and get going again.
There was a brief time of anxiety as I played out the movie version of how, years later, my bleached bones were found picked clean, with no sign of the motorcycle. This was soon replaced by a sense of peace and calm as I became aware of my breath, the wind, and the occasional tick and ping from the cooling engine. With no signs of life as far as the eye could see, the beauty of this vast Peruvian national park finally hit me squarely between the eyes. The soft, undulating layers of sand now looked as if they were painted by deliberate artist’s brush strokes. The sky, devoid of a single cloud, looked cool, refreshing, and inviting as I pulled deeply on the mouthpiece of my hydration system. Lying for a time on the sand, I could sense myself relaxing in increments, as if the tight bands of my wound-up Western existence were being forcibly cut. Minutes passed as my breathing slowed, my strength returned. Leaping to my feet, I fired the trusty GS to life. Shoving, pushing, and encouraging the back wheel out of the hole it had dug, I jumped on the saddle like a cowboy mounting a galloping horse and powered my way forward. Following the wavy four-wheeled tracks, I slewed, bucked, and spun my way forward, eventually re-uniting with the crew, who had made it onto a roughly graded road, which at this point looked like heaven.
Riding now without stress, my mind flew across the vast, open desert, along the towering cliff tops, and out above the boiling, churning Pacific Ocean. With sea birds circling lazily above, my thoughts began to soar, and from 30,000 feet I looked back to earth to see myself as a broken young man with a shattered dream, a failed marriage, and a pinned and bolted spine with matching eight-inch scars on my stomach and back. I dreamed I was sitting by the wreck of an old R80GS, stolen and recovered, uncanny in its resemblance to the motorcycle I had once been ready to ride to South America. The dream was about to gain substance.
The BMW had been purchased in 1988 and was equipped with luggage and spares as my wife and I prepared to ride from Bradenton, Florida, to Brazil. Working two jobs, we had saved over $20,000 for the trip, and having already ridden from Florida to Alaska and around Australia on motorcycles, we were confident of our abilities. An industrial accident put a sudden end to the planned journey and, by 1992, our marriage as well. With rods, bolts, and bone implants in place of a lower spinal disc, it was unclear if I would ever ride again, let alone make an arduous journey to South America. You can take many things from a man, but not his dreams, and by 1995 I was rattling through Peru on an old $300 GPZ550 Kawasaki. The journey began five weeks earlier in Guatemala, with a total of nine countries and six thousand miles proving the success of the surgery. It also led me to a chance meeting that would change my life forever.
At 12,500 feet up in the Andes Mountains on a lonely dirt road, I met a crazy Canadian priest called Father Giovanni Battaglini and formed a fast and lasting friendship. Over the next days, we exchanged our life stories, before parting never to meet again. The effect of this meeting was profound, and within the year I had quit my job, straightened out my affairs, and was riding solo to the four corners of Europe on an old KLR650 while figuring out what the next chapter of my life would bring.
It brought a new career as a moto journalist. Writing, photography, and, more importantly, television became my life. As I spent the next decade traveling all over the world reviewing the latest motorcycles, the unfinished dream of riding a BMW GS around the world began to surface once more. A successful stint on the Speed Channel, as co-host of a motorcycle travel show, “Trippin’ on Two Wheels,” with “My Classic Car” celebrity Dennis Gage, sparked an idea. At this time I was beginning to focus on Peru, and in particular the orphanage that Father Gio had supported before his untimely death. As much as I loved making television programs, they only seemed to scratch the surface of what motorcycling meant to me, so I once more returned to Peru via motorcycle. Traveling with a group of friends, we rode 1,800 miles around Peru, ending up in the town of Moquegua. It was a fantastic trip, and it resulted in numerous magazine articles and a lot of donations for the lady who now runs the orphanage, Sister Loretta, and the children.
It was also the perfect scouting trip to learn what was required to take a film crew into Peru, and it allowed me to complete my thoughts on the nature of the new show. Now I just needed to raise the money to make the pilot and a way to get it in front of the relevant television networks. Well, like my chance meeting with Father Gio, another chance meeting with a neighbor opened a big door. Brandon came to me a very disillusioned young man, working a dead-end job, mired in debt, and frustrated with the direction of his life. He began stopping by my apartment for a cup of tea and a chat. Learning of my travels and my work in Peru, he underwent his own transformation, focusing on clearing his debt, working out, and planning how he could travel. As a chef with a focus on nutrition, he began contributing to a fitness magazine and asked if he could write about my goals for the orphanage in Peru.
By chance, a media professional named Linda Midgett received a copy of the magazine. Her husband picked it up at a local store in my hometown and brought it home for her to read. Linda’s an award-winning television producer with a desire to make a motorcycle show, so Linda and I were quickly immersed in passionate discussions about the nature of the show we planned to make together. The pieces were coming together. And then, like clockwork, BMW USA’s Motorcycle Communications Manager Roy Oliemuler invited me to Yosemite to test the new R1200GS.
As we sat in the press briefing learning about the new GS, while being reminded of the long history of this model and that fifty per cent of BMW’s motorcycle sales come from this segment, any fog remaining about my future cleared quickly. In 1988, as a young man attempting to ride around the world, there was only one motorcycle to consider. Here, more than 20 years later with a plan to ride around the world making philanthropic adventure television in the Third World, there is still only one motorcycle to use. An animated conversation with BMW’s marketing honcho Todd Andersen saw me leaving Yosemite with the promise of BMW GS machines awaiting us in Peru. I then went looking for my cameraman and support crew.
Enter the guys at BMW again, and, with an invitation to spend World Superbike at Miller Motorsports Park focusing on their racing efforts, I flew west to Utah. This was a career highlight to be so close to Troy Corser and the team, and it also opened a strange and unexpected door. By some miracle, Reuben Xaus managed to leave the team with enough un-scratched bodywork to use one of his S1000RRs for a photo shoot with Playboy centerfold Jaime Faith Edmondson and her double-issue playmate Heather Rae Young. As tough as my job can be at times, I soldiered through the shoot. I left Utah with a date set to bring Jaime to the BMW Performance Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina, for some riding instruction so she could join me in Peru as my co-host on the show. Much more than just a pretty face, Jaime has competed in The Great Race and is a real tomboy underneath all her glamour—not to mention having a real heart for children in need.
On arrival in Charlotte, we spent a day on the basics using Honda XR100s at a friend’s training facility before heading to Spartanburg. At the BMW Performance Center, ride instructors Ross McKinney and Jim Millard were a little skeptical, as Jamie had such limited experience on two wheels. She’s a really quick study though, and by the end of the day had far exceeded the two experienced instructors’ expectations. Despite Jaime’s talent, the reality of Peru loomed like a dark storm cloud in my consciousness that night as everyone else slept. Since hitchhiking from Scotland to England at the age of 15, I’ve gone on to travel in some 65 countries around the world, 45 of them in the saddle of a motorcycle. And in lots of ways I feel I owe my life to my instincts, which during breakfast were still sending me alarm signals. So I threw out the question to Ross and Jim, and within minutes they had agreed to join me in Peru, immediately calming my nerves, as I no longer had to worry about Jamie’s safety.
The decision couldn’t have been a better one, as both guys are expert riders, and once in Peru we pushed to achieve what we needed on camera. Long, hard days in ever-changing environments from deserts to manic, congested city streets saw both of them challenged, but never close to the breaking point as we rode and filmed. With tour operator Flavio and Brandon driving two support trucks, we blasted across Peru, and the trip went like clockwork. We spent a fantastic couple of days with the abandoned children in Moquegua, as we learned of the incessant difficulties Sister Loretta faces to feed and house all these poor unwanted young souls. And then we made our way back to Lima and the USA.
Since our return, Linda has been extremely busy producing the television pilot and talking with various networks. I am working on a web-ready video of the whole adventure that will run soon at www.speed.com, and, as regular readers will know, I have recently ridden in Namibia with Hendrik von Kuenheim, head of BMW Motorrad worldwide, further cementing my decision to use the BMW GS as the bike of choice for the show. As we go to print, I’m not at liberty to discuss our progress, but I hope to make an exciting announcement on these pages soon. I am training regularly at the Performance Center to keep my GS skills sharp, and I find myself more impressed with these big, rugged adventure bikes every time I ride them. In my quieter reflective moments, I think back to that young man and his R80GS and feel eternally grateful that I never let go of the dream. Thanks to BMW for their permanent commitment to the GS lifestyle and for providing the best off-road vehicles available for this adventure. Stay tuned.
There was a brief time of anxiety as I played out the movie version of how, years later, my bleached bones were found picked clean, with no sign of the motorcycle. This was soon replaced by a sense of peace and calm as I became aware of my breath, the wind, and the occasional tick and ping from the cooling engine. With no signs of life as far as the eye could see, the beauty of this vast Peruvian national park finally hit me squarely between the eyes. The soft, undulating layers of sand now looked as if they were painted by deliberate artist’s brush strokes. The sky, devoid of a single cloud, looked cool, refreshing, and inviting as I pulled deeply on the mouthpiece of my hydration system. Lying for a time on the sand, I could sense myself relaxing in increments, as if the tight bands of my wound-up Western existence were being forcibly cut. Minutes passed as my breathing slowed, my strength returned. Leaping to my feet, I fired the trusty GS to life. Shoving, pushing, and encouraging the back wheel out of the hole it had dug, I jumped on the saddle like a cowboy mounting a galloping horse and powered my way forward. Following the wavy four-wheeled tracks, I slewed, bucked, and spun my way forward, eventually re-uniting with the crew, who had made it onto a roughly graded road, which at this point looked like heaven.
Riding now without stress, my mind flew across the vast, open desert, along the towering cliff tops, and out above the boiling, churning Pacific Ocean. With sea birds circling lazily above, my thoughts began to soar, and from 30,000 feet I looked back to earth to see myself as a broken young man with a shattered dream, a failed marriage, and a pinned and bolted spine with matching eight-inch scars on my stomach and back. I dreamed I was sitting by the wreck of an old R80GS, stolen and recovered, uncanny in its resemblance to the motorcycle I had once been ready to ride to South America. The dream was about to gain substance.
The BMW had been purchased in 1988 and was equipped with luggage and spares as my wife and I prepared to ride from Bradenton, Florida, to Brazil. Working two jobs, we had saved over $20,000 for the trip, and having already ridden from Florida to Alaska and around Australia on motorcycles, we were confident of our abilities. An industrial accident put a sudden end to the planned journey and, by 1992, our marriage as well. With rods, bolts, and bone implants in place of a lower spinal disc, it was unclear if I would ever ride again, let alone make an arduous journey to South America. You can take many things from a man, but not his dreams, and by 1995 I was rattling through Peru on an old $300 GPZ550 Kawasaki. The journey began five weeks earlier in Guatemala, with a total of nine countries and six thousand miles proving the success of the surgery. It also led me to a chance meeting that would change my life forever.
At 12,500 feet up in the Andes Mountains on a lonely dirt road, I met a crazy Canadian priest called Father Giovanni Battaglini and formed a fast and lasting friendship. Over the next days, we exchanged our life stories, before parting never to meet again. The effect of this meeting was profound, and within the year I had quit my job, straightened out my affairs, and was riding solo to the four corners of Europe on an old KLR650 while figuring out what the next chapter of my life would bring.
It brought a new career as a moto journalist. Writing, photography, and, more importantly, television became my life. As I spent the next decade traveling all over the world reviewing the latest motorcycles, the unfinished dream of riding a BMW GS around the world began to surface once more. A successful stint on the Speed Channel, as co-host of a motorcycle travel show, “Trippin’ on Two Wheels,” with “My Classic Car” celebrity Dennis Gage, sparked an idea. At this time I was beginning to focus on Peru, and in particular the orphanage that Father Gio had supported before his untimely death. As much as I loved making television programs, they only seemed to scratch the surface of what motorcycling meant to me, so I once more returned to Peru via motorcycle. Traveling with a group of friends, we rode 1,800 miles around Peru, ending up in the town of Moquegua. It was a fantastic trip, and it resulted in numerous magazine articles and a lot of donations for the lady who now runs the orphanage, Sister Loretta, and the children.
It was also the perfect scouting trip to learn what was required to take a film crew into Peru, and it allowed me to complete my thoughts on the nature of the new show. Now I just needed to raise the money to make the pilot and a way to get it in front of the relevant television networks. Well, like my chance meeting with Father Gio, another chance meeting with a neighbor opened a big door. Brandon came to me a very disillusioned young man, working a dead-end job, mired in debt, and frustrated with the direction of his life. He began stopping by my apartment for a cup of tea and a chat. Learning of my travels and my work in Peru, he underwent his own transformation, focusing on clearing his debt, working out, and planning how he could travel. As a chef with a focus on nutrition, he began contributing to a fitness magazine and asked if he could write about my goals for the orphanage in Peru.
By chance, a media professional named Linda Midgett received a copy of the magazine. Her husband picked it up at a local store in my hometown and brought it home for her to read. Linda’s an award-winning television producer with a desire to make a motorcycle show, so Linda and I were quickly immersed in passionate discussions about the nature of the show we planned to make together. The pieces were coming together. And then, like clockwork, BMW USA’s Motorcycle Communications Manager Roy Oliemuler invited me to Yosemite to test the new R1200GS.
As we sat in the press briefing learning about the new GS, while being reminded of the long history of this model and that fifty per cent of BMW’s motorcycle sales come from this segment, any fog remaining about my future cleared quickly. In 1988, as a young man attempting to ride around the world, there was only one motorcycle to consider. Here, more than 20 years later with a plan to ride around the world making philanthropic adventure television in the Third World, there is still only one motorcycle to use. An animated conversation with BMW’s marketing honcho Todd Andersen saw me leaving Yosemite with the promise of BMW GS machines awaiting us in Peru. I then went looking for my cameraman and support crew.
Enter the guys at BMW again, and, with an invitation to spend World Superbike at Miller Motorsports Park focusing on their racing efforts, I flew west to Utah. This was a career highlight to be so close to Troy Corser and the team, and it also opened a strange and unexpected door. By some miracle, Reuben Xaus managed to leave the team with enough un-scratched bodywork to use one of his S1000RRs for a photo shoot with Playboy centerfold Jaime Faith Edmondson and her double-issue playmate Heather Rae Young. As tough as my job can be at times, I soldiered through the shoot. I left Utah with a date set to bring Jaime to the BMW Performance Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina, for some riding instruction so she could join me in Peru as my co-host on the show. Much more than just a pretty face, Jaime has competed in The Great Race and is a real tomboy underneath all her glamour—not to mention having a real heart for children in need.
On arrival in Charlotte, we spent a day on the basics using Honda XR100s at a friend’s training facility before heading to Spartanburg. At the BMW Performance Center, ride instructors Ross McKinney and Jim Millard were a little skeptical, as Jamie had such limited experience on two wheels. She’s a really quick study though, and by the end of the day had far exceeded the two experienced instructors’ expectations. Despite Jaime’s talent, the reality of Peru loomed like a dark storm cloud in my consciousness that night as everyone else slept. Since hitchhiking from Scotland to England at the age of 15, I’ve gone on to travel in some 65 countries around the world, 45 of them in the saddle of a motorcycle. And in lots of ways I feel I owe my life to my instincts, which during breakfast were still sending me alarm signals. So I threw out the question to Ross and Jim, and within minutes they had agreed to join me in Peru, immediately calming my nerves, as I no longer had to worry about Jamie’s safety.
The decision couldn’t have been a better one, as both guys are expert riders, and once in Peru we pushed to achieve what we needed on camera. Long, hard days in ever-changing environments from deserts to manic, congested city streets saw both of them challenged, but never close to the breaking point as we rode and filmed. With tour operator Flavio and Brandon driving two support trucks, we blasted across Peru, and the trip went like clockwork. We spent a fantastic couple of days with the abandoned children in Moquegua, as we learned of the incessant difficulties Sister Loretta faces to feed and house all these poor unwanted young souls. And then we made our way back to Lima and the USA.
Since our return, Linda has been extremely busy producing the television pilot and talking with various networks. I am working on a web-ready video of the whole adventure that will run soon at www.speed.com, and, as regular readers will know, I have recently ridden in Namibia with Hendrik von Kuenheim, head of BMW Motorrad worldwide, further cementing my decision to use the BMW GS as the bike of choice for the show. As we go to print, I’m not at liberty to discuss our progress, but I hope to make an exciting announcement on these pages soon. I am training regularly at the Performance Center to keep my GS skills sharp, and I find myself more impressed with these big, rugged adventure bikes every time I ride them. In my quieter reflective moments, I think back to that young man and his R80GS and feel eternally grateful that I never let go of the dream. Thanks to BMW for their permanent commitment to the GS lifestyle and for providing the best off-road vehicles available for this adventure. Stay tuned.
Neale Bayly Rides Peru - Dirt Course Training
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