Motorcycling and politics don’t mix, right? They do for Nick Haris. In college, the Washington state native was an economics major and worked at a motorcycle shop. Degree in hand, he applied for his dream job: a government-relations role at the American Motorcyclist Association. “It was just kind of a natural combination of that interest in politics and that love for motorcycling,” he says.

In 2023, after more than 20 years on the job, Haris was made director of the AMA’s Government Relations department. In the first of two interviews with “Driven to Ride” host Mark Long, Haris reiterates something we all know, that motorcyclists are a relatively small portion of the U.S. population. “If we look for reasons to divide ourselves,” he says, “we’re not going to have a lot of success.”

Spending long, memorable days in the saddle gives Haris time to think about the future of our country. “Reality is,” he says, “it’s the city council that makes the decision or the board of supervisors that sets the zoning rule that really probably affects you more on a daily basis than anything that Congress is going to do. Day to day, it’s the locals that you really need to get to know.” Good advice.

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Larry Fletcher grew up in Wisconsin in the late 1960s and early ’70s, like a lot of people his age, doing “silly stuff” on minibikes with his buddies. He took a break from motorcycling until he moved to Chicago as a 20-something. “I figured out, what a great way to commute,” he says. “Bikes were an easier way to get around, and I loved getting back in the saddle again. It was great.”

Fletcher worked the Chicagoland bar and club circuit. Motorcycles, especially the vintage British iron he favored, were part of the street scene. That eventually led in the mid-1990s to establishing an official chapter of the U.K.-based “59 Club,” which was famously founded by the late Rev. Bill Shergold, known in two-wheel circles as the “ton-up vicar.”

Fast forward to the present day. Fletcher, Martin Cimek, and Sean McKeough have grown the annual MOTOBLOT hot-rod culture celebration into an event so big it needed its own dedicated venue. “Whatever you’re into,” he says about the biker blowout of the summer, “internal combustion or even now with electric, anything on two wheels, we embrace it.” Invitation accepted!

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Thalassa Van Beek fell in love with motorcycling as a teenager working as a hostess and model in her native Netherlands. She was handing out brochures at a trade show when a blue Yamaha YZF-R6 caught her eye. “Right then and there,” she recounts to “Driven to Ride” host Mark Long, “I decided to get my license because I needed to ride that bike.”

Van Beek earned her license at age 19, and she has been riding pretty much ever since. She bought a Honda VTR250, which was followed by a CBR600F and then her dream R6. Today, living in motorcycle-crazy Spain, she owns a handful of machines—all Yamahas. “Every time I’m on the bike, it just makes me happy and excited, like I can conquer the world.”

Van Beek eventually formed her own agency, “Motorcycle Marketing.” She surrounded herself with experts specializing in copywriting, graphic design, SEO, and social media. She has one hard-and-fast rule: Everyone has to ride motorcycles. “It’s a specific language,” she says. “You can just tell when a campaign is written by someone who isn’t a biker. It shows.” Indeed, it does.

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Moms are the best advice-givers. Wyoming native Brady McLean once dated a woman from a multi-generational motorcycle family. “Her mom is the first one that I can ever remember saying, ‘Go fast, don’t die,’” he recalls. McLean took that message to heart and ultimately founded a lifestyle apparel brand by the same name dedicated to “the culture and community that inspired our existence.”

Emboldened by the roads he and his friends call home, McLean helps spearhead the “DevilStone Run,” an annual motorcycle ride through the Equality State. The four-day trip begins at Devil's Tower, in the northeast corner of Wyoming, passes through Yellowstone—the world’s first national park—and concludes in Jackson Hole at the base of the Grand Tetons.

Asked to name the most rewarding aspect of building “Go Fast, Don’t Die,” or any of his other businesses, McLean doesn’t hesitate or mince words. “It’s a million percent—no question, no close second—the people,” he says. “Whatever industry you’re in, whatever business you run, you should be saying, ‘How can I make my community’s life better?’”

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Vanessa Ruck is a self-proclaimed “go-getter, a chase-your-dreams kind of girl.” Her path to motorcycling came in a roundabout way: on the heels of a devastating bicycle accident that required seven surgeries and put the adventure-lover out of action for most of a decade. During her recovery, Ruck decided that life-changing event would not dictate her future.

In the eight years since Ruck began riding motorcycles, she has completed some of the most challenging off-road races in the world. “A lot of people see the sort of riding and racing that I’ve been doing and think I’ve been riding since I was a teeny tot,” she says. That late start aside, motorcycling has unlocked an all-new and often-unexpected world for “the girl on a bike.”

When she isn’t riding one of her several motorcycles, Ruck is a passionate and engaging motivational speaker, focusing on mental health and helping others make empowered decisions. “Life is really short,” she says, “and it’s absolutely incredible what we can achieve if we put our minds to it.” Want to know how to turn doom and gloom into drive and inspiration? Just ask Vanessa Ruck.

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Daniel Ritz stumbled upon motorcycling a dozen years ago while working as a newspaper editor in Southern California. “There was a small shop up the street from where I was living,” he tells “Driven to Ride” host Mark Long. “I started looking at Triumphs, and I saw the Scrambler as a good mix: heavy enough for big trips but light enough to still move around a bit.”

For three years, a Matte Khaki Green Scrambler (“To this day, it’s still the most beautiful bike I’ve ever seen”) was Ritz’s sole transportation. “I just really committed to being as light-footed as I could, to being mobile,” he says, noting that he interacted with more people commuting and running errands on his motorcycle than when driving his pickup truck.

Now living in Idaho, the conservation editor for “Swing The Fly” and founder of “Jack’s Experience Trading Co.” has traded Pacific Coast Highway for Forest Service roads. “Wild people enjoy wild places and wildlife,” says Ritz. “I feel very lucky to have access to a pretty remarkable landscape that is well-built, and sort of curated, for motorcycling.”

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Some might say Aussie Alana Baratto was destined to work in the motorcycle industry. Her father was a rider, both on- and off-road, and he shared that cherished pastime with his daughters. Alana was gifted a Yamaha PW50 at age four and attended her first Grand Prix a year later. “It was something that I grew to love,” she explains, “and then decided to make into a career.”

After a stint as a service advisor in a Sydney dealership, Baratto took a role with Aprilia. She went back to school and earned a marketing degree, ultimately leaving powersports for five years. “That passion doesn’t go away, I discovered, so I came back,” she says. Four years with KTM led to her current position, head of marketing for Ducati Australia and New Zealand.

“Having that understanding of the dealership floor is invaluable,” Baratto tells Mark Long on this episode of the “Driven to Ride” podcast, “so there’s nothing about my career that I would change.” While she admits it can take a concerted effort to keep that passion burning, it’s definitely easier to get out of bed every morning when you do what you love.

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There are few better examples of a relationship coming full circle than British expatriates Teejay Adams and Arthur Coldwells. The pair knew each other as teenagers, and even dated, but they didn’t marry until some 40 years later, well into adulthood, on the heels of other relationships, and, in Teejay’s case, raising three children. Another common theme between Teejay and Arthur? A deep and lasting passion for motorcycling.

Teejay’s earliest memories of two wheels are of riding pillion in London with her boyfriend at the time. “I just loved it,” she says. “We were on 1970s Japanese motorcycles, and they were just chrome and colorful and gorgeous, and I was completely swept up by that whole rugged, manly thing. That was my introduction. From there, I moved on to riding myself.”

Coldwells got his start in boarding school, secretly forming a motorcycle club with a fellow student. “I had been reading Motor Cycle News and was completely caught up in the whole racing and motorcycle thing,” he recalls. Arthur founded Ultimate Motorcycling magazine 20-plus years ago. More recently, he and Teejay started their own podcast, “Motos and Friends,” which focuses on bike reviews and culture.

Ultimate Motorcycling Website

Motos & Friends Podcast

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