It’s fair to say that those who function in the motorcycle sector do so out of their enjoy for bikes and our two-wheeled sport/hobby. It doesn’t really matter if you’re a PR agent, a journalist or a factory representative, a particular person could earn far more money if their job was alternatively in the automotive field. Meanwhile, there are thousands of moto-loving men and women who function tirelessly behind the scenes to market and support boost the world of motorcycling, routinely without any fanfare whatsoever.
That is why we’ve decided to shine a tiny light on some of the folks who have devoted considerable portions of their lives to nurturing and advancing how we use and appreciate motorcycles in a multi-portion series about these who help develop motorcycling and boost its exposure. —Kevin Duke, Editor-in-Chief
Paul Pepe has been a few items, like truck driver, landscaper and government official, but now his title is Manager of Tourism for the City of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada – a city of 109,000 on the north shore of Lake Superior. In truth it’s the second biggest city on the lake (the largest one becoming Duluth, Minnesota, on the western tip of the big lake they contact Gichiegumee). It’s sort of all the exact same to Paul, who thinks of the whole lake as actually having no border even although of course it does split its time amongst the U.S. and Canada.
Technically, it is Paul’s job to get people to check out Thunder Bay, but the complete lake has often been his playground given that he was a kid. When he was 40 years old, he discovered a complete new way to open it up to folks: motorcycles.
“We started operating on “Ride Lake Superior” as a tourism improvement project with my chums Carol Caputo and Chris Hughes,” explains Pepe, adding he got help creating it out from a rider’s point of view from Harley Owner’s Group member John Trevisanutto and Larry Lasge, owner of Excalibur Motorcycle Performs.
“Meeting these enthusiastic folks, and by extension other riders I met working bike shows, gave me the bug to just jump in. Every person I met in the riding neighborhood were just all good men and women, and that was was uplifting for me. I wrote my newbies license, purchased myself a new KLR650 as a birthday gift, took a instruction course and the rest is history.
“Riding is my therapy,” Pepe continues. “I’m usually satisfied on the bike, I usually forget about the factors that annoy or tension me out, and I enjoy meeting men and women who want to talk and ride bikes. I commit a lot of time encouraging other 40-year-olds to take up riding and talking to their spouses about why it is okay to let them.
“Since then, lots of folks have told me they want they’d taken up riding when they were younger, and I usually inform them you can begin anytime! I did! I constantly talk about breaking down the geopolitical boundaries, and motorcycles seem to be the excellent cars for doing that.
All the way about the world’s most significant lake is about a 1300-mile ride.
“One evening we have been sitting around and Thunder Bay was on a bar napkin. Somebody wrote Duluth on it, then Sault Ste. Marie, and the thought just sort of hit me that we need to do anything to get individuals to come get pleasure from the complete Lake Superior encounter, rather of each town pulling against the others, we require to form a collective, make the pie bigger for everyone: We need to have businesses, dealerships, provincial governments, functioning collectively to create a rider-centric experience… and that is what Ride Lake Superior is all about there’s a 1300-mile ribbon of asphalt that goes completely around the world’s greatest lake, filled with curves, elevation adjustments, non-quit views, secluded beaches – not to mention the thousands of miles of logging roads that make the area paradise for dual-sport and adventure riders, also. Higher-mileage guys do it in three or four days cruisers take their time, and lots of people come back once again and once again.”
The Wonderful Lakes Shipwreck Museum is in Whitefish Point, about 1000 miles east of Thunder Bay.
There’s an interactive map on the web site with all the hotels, restaurants and bike shops along the route that are especially motorcycle friendly (though everybody in Canada is friendly, probably simply because of all the beer). Hotels, for instance, have to meet specific needs to get the RLS stamp of approval, like supplying items like cleaning towels and covered parking. Not to mention rider discounts and being within walking distance to meals and drink…
Out-of-towners have several motorcycle-rental possibilities in Chicago and Minneapolis. Numerous Brits ship their personal bikes into New York, although lots of Germans ship theirs to Nova Scotia or Halifax. There are all kinds of possibilities. June by means of September is the time to go, says Paul, when “the sun’s up at 6 and stays up till 11.”
Paul says there’s tons of bakeries and great fish-and-chips all the way about the lake, all of it in small towns with between 1000 and 15,000 inhabitants. Exactly where do we sign up?
https://www.ontariotravel.net/en/play/powersports-touring/motorcycles https://www.ontariotravel.net/en/property
Unsung Motorcycle Heroes III: Paul Pepe of Ride Lake Superior
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