The
following is a true tale.
The
events depicted occurred during planning stages and on the roads around the world between 2012 and 2017.
As one well-respected adventure motorcycle journalist and adventure magazine senior editor proffered in late 2020: "It's a mystery how such a guy [Livermore] could have been drawn to 'adventure' motorcycling to begin with. There must have been a war going on inside his noggin as everything you guys did went against his survival considerations. But man, the real drag of the story is the adventure he missed while he was fussing about everything but the trip. He may have been physically present but somehow mentally missed it all. I've also traveled (temporarily) with a few dickheads."
Some additional follow-up and fact checking is expected in 2021, such as this April, 2020 reportage from The SOUND RIDER, where "Dr. G" is the Professor of Motorcycle Adventure:
Adventure Motorcycle & Frazier Shrugs
New
book from Dr. Gregory Frazier at a time when we sorely need a laugh
Getting tired of the headlines?
Looking for relief? Need to deviate to your two-wheeled passion? Globe rider Dr.
Gregory Frazier to the rescue.
For more than three decades Dr.
Gregory Frazier has been contributing tales culled from his six navigations
around the world on two wheels. But with the recent victims of the digital
publishing era, a number of his columns have been lost to the death of print.
And we will no longer see new columns from him printed in the pages of
Motorcycle Consumer News, City Bike, Dual Sport News, Motorcycle Tour and
Travel and others - because - they are gone.
But Frazier, being the meticulous
journalist that he is, has always held the copyright on his works, so now
seemed as good a time as any to filter through over a thousand columns and
bring together a book that shares both his wisdom from his journeys and his
left-of-center humor.
That humor first appeared when he
published one of his first books, Motorcycle
Sex. While the title put off a few non-readers, you only had to read
through a few pages to know the book wasn't going to bite anyone.
Now, several book projects and a
million miles later, Frazier has documented a number of his moments and, with
tongue-in-cheek, he recapitulates them one-by-one.
Like that time he visited with the
late BSA maniac, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Or the multiple journeys where he
provided his guide services to any number of wealthy riders, where anything can
happen… And then there was the time the motorcycle was stolen (insert country
here). The lower intestine of Manila? Right over here. Snakes? Yes. Crashing on
a remote beach in Alaska? Why not? Crossing Siberia next to a steam iron? It
can be done.
The book is broken into small tales
3-4 pages in length. The roller coaster effect causes the reader to either get
engrossed in the material, reluctant to put it down, or place it in the
bathroom for short reading sessions. The choice is yours, of course.
As moto journalists age, books like
this one are going to be few and far in between. Can you name a 40 year-old moto
journalist/humorist who has something in the works?
And yes, as much as you know what
it's like to ride in small groups, there's always a person or a situation where
you simply want to shrug your shoulders. When it comes to that, Frazier is your
new hero - a modern day moto Atlas.
SOUND RIDER/April 2020
“Motorcycle
Adventurism: The Good, The Bad and The Dirty” – 358 page Limited Print Collectors Edition,
(Not available now from AMAZON!!!)
“This publication,“…ain’t no pork
chop, this is grade A prime” (Jack Nicholson,
a.k.a. “George Hanson” in EASY RIDER, the epic adventure film).
Adventure Motorcyclist: Frazier Shrugged is available now in the Sound RIDER! store.
At the request of honorable survivors, and finishers, some names have been changed or quotes unattributed in the posts below.
Out
of regards for the deceased, the rest has been recounted as nearly as the events
occurred.