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There are times when sitting on the couch in front of the TV seems infinitely preferable to rolling the motorbike out of the garage for a ride or putting the boots on to go for a hike, yet it’s rare that one regrets the effort. In this collection of motorcycling road trips, garage misadventures, bike reviews, and reminiscences, I try to convey my joy of riding, even when things don’t always work out perfectly. Life is short. The time is now. Do it while you still can.

"This is the most important book on Silicon Valley I've read in two decades. It will take us all back to our roots in the counterculture, and will remind us of the true nature of the innovation process, before we tried to tame it with slogans and buzzwords." -- Po Bronson, #1 New York Times...

The Panther M120 was the last in a line of large, single-cylinder motorcycles built by the Phelon and Moore Company in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire. As a teenager, Nick had two Panthers. His first big motorbikes. Although he enjoyed them at the time, he did not treat them well—a source of regret for over 50 years. His affection for those old, single-cylinder sloggers never left, and when the opportunity arose to acquire one later in life, he jumped at it.

Old or unsuitable motorbikes, distant places, poor weather, and gravel roads, these are the common threads in Nick’s motorcycle travels. He’d been hoping to ride out west a couple of years ago until a little heart trouble intervened. Two years later, a short "shake-down" trip morphed into a 9000 mile journey across the continent. Trouble free? Not exactly. Riding a 1972 Moto Guzzi Eldorado, a Suzuki Burgman Scooter, and a 1976 Moto Guzzi Convert (automatic), and ever optimistic, Nick heads for the Canada’s distant horizons.

My well-travelled 1972 Moto Guzzi Eldorado turned 50 in 2022, shortly after I turned 70. With more than 100,000 miles under her wheels, the old Eldorado has traversed Labrador, visited the Arctic Circle in the Yukon, and explored most of the isolated roads in northern Ontario and northern Quebec. Along the way there have been one or two roadside mishaps—some amusing, some annoying—but she has always managed to get me home. How would she fare on another epic journey? Somehow, an early season ride to photograph some of Quebec's covered bridges turned into a marathon.

We Have a No Crash Policy tells the story from a pilot’s point of view. The sometimes scary and often humorous adventures experienced in the course, gaining over 5000 hours of flying, provides a window into the amazing world of aviation.