The first year at a new job is often difficult. You walk in the door with no relationships, no political capital, and a lot to learn. This is exponentially more true as you move up the management ladder and I now have north of 120 people working for me in the new role I picked up in February of 2025. 2025 was my least productive riding year in the past 10 (despite adding another bike to the stable), and my least productive writing year possibly ever. I’m one of those people who makes goals (not resolutions, I mean goals) every calendar year. As I survive the Upper Midwest Winter where I can at most sit on my bike in the garage waiting on the ice to melt, here’s what I’m thinking.
Mamma Tried
I’ve gone to Mamma Tried quite a few times but not the past couple of years. After meeting some of the folks who went on to create the Motostate Podcast in Missouri (one of the Lost Adventures, see below) I’ve been following their adventures more closely and I’m headed to Flat out Friday and Mamma Tried with some of these folks in February.
“Lost Adventures” – Clear the Backlog
As of today I have 32 draft posts of short and long trips I haven’t written up yet. By short and long I mean “Went leaf peeping in my own back yard” through “5,000 mile solo trip to Idaho”. I’m going to recover all the media and remember as best I can and get caught up this year.
Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail (TWAT)
One of the Lost Adventures was my 600mi ride of the Trans Wisconsin Adventure trail in May of 2025. I’m planning to do this again in 2026.
Land in the North Woods
One of my most fundamental dreams in life is to have a cabin on a lake or river somewhere, somewhere I can do what I want and ideally not see other people. I am two years into the journey of exploring Northern Wisconsin and Especially the UP of Michigan (more Lost Adventures) to learn the area, look at land, and save money.
Late in 2025 I found the first serious contender for a purchase, but as I write this area is under 30″ of snow so the necessary diligence won’t really be possible until April. I’ll either start the slow & expensive development of this land this year or continue the hunt.
GBL 2026
An excellent human being and fellow ADV rider has a side project lifestyle brand: Get Busy Livn’. Every year he gathers like-minded individuals to do a trip that truly puts life in airplane mode, usually out West somewhere. July of 2026 will find us in Marble, CO at 8000ft with 4WD vehicles and ADV bikes.
One of the reasons I started ADV riding was to get to places that weren’t easy to get to with camping gear. I want to sit by the shore of a mountain lake, no light polution, maybe put a line in the water, maybe just sit and think.
Beach w/Mrs. RoadRunner
For a married man of a certain age, I do pretty damn close to whatever I want, as long as certain conditions are met. One of those conditions is that Mrs. Roadrunner really needs a week of white sandy beaches every year where possible. A few years ago she convinced me to join her in PADI certification and I’ve been writing about how Diving is Mindful, and we did get to a beach but didn’t get to dive in 2025. I believe we’ll try for Belize this year.
Two-up with Mrs. RoadRunner
After college and having kids, I took a long hiatus from riding. It ate me alive nearly the minute I sold the bike and it only got worse as the years went on and my career progressed and I realized I could be riding any bike I wanted.
In a supreme act of stubbornness, Mrs. RoadRunner insisted on taking the BRC and getting a Honda Shadow to do some riding of her own. One of my favorite pictures of us together is out riding some of Wisconsin’s Rustic Roads.
Damn, I used to be thin:
It’s crazy to realize the Victory Cross Country I was on that day was three motorcycles ago. Over time, Mrs. RoadRunner got less enthused about riding her own the the Shadow has sat for a bit now. In 2026 we’re going to sell it, but she has expressed interest in doing some proper 2-up touring.
Long Two-Wheel Weekend
The only problem with my new ADV bike is that it didn’t come with any extra vacation or add any weekends to the calendar so I wind up splitting my time between bikes. Since I’ve got actual people to do the TWAT with, my annual touring bike “big trip” will likely just be a long weekend to the Smokies, a bike rally, or around Lake Michigan most likely.
Bourbon Trail Weekend
A good friend is looking to finalize his divorce this year, and to celebrate we intend to hit the Kentucky Bourbon trail. Buffalo Trace is by far the best tour I’ve done personally, but they have apparently redone quite a bit of Four Roses and there are some interesting buildings at places like Green River.
Camping
I’ve got various camping setups: moto-camping, moto-glamping, hike-in, Bronco-camping, and a winter hot tent setup. Hot tent camping in 2025 was a real eye opener: during the shoulder seasons you’ve got very few bugs and very few camp neighbors. I plan to do some camping off the ADV bike this year, some hot tent camping, and one hike-in or canoe-in.
Rebuild the Crew
For a while there I had some good motorcycle traditions: do an Iron Butt here & there, camp at the Tomahawk Fall Ride, one week long trip with 3-5 guys, and some weekend pickups. As I think about 2026, though, I see that Corvus, Harley Mark, and Wingnut Dave have moved far away, and Lefty is considering getting rid of his bike. I’ve got to find a few more people to ride with!
So there’s the plan in 2026 for doing what really matters. It feels like a lot right now, but I used to do a lot more! See you out there on the road.
two wheeled thoughts 