A Twist of the Wrist

In 2005, motorcycle journalist Dan Walsh rode out of London on a Yamaha XT Desert Rat, headed for Africa. From Dakar to Ghana to South Africa, then on to North and South America, he kept his readers posted about his travels, along the way earning the label “the savior of motorcycle writing.” Whether he’s delivering judgments ("Chile will always be South America’s supermodel sister--very beautiful but too long, too skinny, and too expensive to ride, and despite the groovy exterior, unpleasantly right-wing underneath.") or just describing another day on the road ("I get my bum pinched by a tranny, my pocket picked by a grifter and get a gun pulled on me by a one-eyed, one-armed midget who’s upset cause I winked at him.”), these reports from the gonzo frontier of motorcycle travel are never less than Technicolor, adrenaline-soaked, and coruscatingly funny. Lyrical, edgy, fraught with danger, despair and surreal highs and lows--this is a travelogue like no other. Walsh’s postings take readers to Buenos Aires (where “revolutionary” means the angry poor invading the presidential palace, not a really small phone that’s also a camera) and across the sub-Saharan savannah (like riding across a piece of toast with a mouthful of crackers); they feature Walsh being mistaken for a bum in New York, bashed by deadly tequila in Mexico, contracting typhoid in a dilapidated Bolivian hotel, biking “The Most Beautiful Road in the World” in Peru, being kidnapped in Kenya and finding downtown Soweto about as threatening as Stockport. And again and again they reveal Dan Walsh as the rightful heir to Ted Simon as the pre-eminent biker-rebel of our generation.

Riding motorcycles is fun but Ken Condon maintains there is a state of being beyond the simple pleasure of rolling down the road, this book was written to help other riders find that state of being. It's the experience of being physically and mentally present in the moment, where every sense is sharply attuned to the ride. Your mind becomes silent to the chatter of daily life and everyday problems seem to dissolve, you feel a deeper appreciation for life. Your body responds to this state of being with precise, fluid movements, you feel in balance, your muscles are relaxed, and it seems as though every input you make is an expression of mastery. This is "the Zone." Condon has identified all the factors that affect entering the Zone and addresses each one individually, from the development of awareness and mental skills to mastering physical control of the motorcycle. At the end of each chapter are drills designed to transform the book's ideas into solid riding skills. A companion DVD is included to demonstrate each concept and technique.