How it all started
Just a little background: We were approached for kit advice for an upcoming ride - something that happens often here at Roadskin. The call came from a chap called Guy; he asked what he and his father might need to stay protected yet comfortable during a cross-country USA trip. He outlined his travel plans, and we thought the Roadskin community would like to come along for the ride. In exchange for some jeans, jackets, gloves and boots, he agreed to share the journey with us - and, being a professional journalist, he should make a great series of interesting articles. Therefore, over to Guy...
Meet the man who refuses to slow down
"I don't like old people" has always been my father's refrain - a conviction that remains as strong as ever in this, his 80th year. While his friends and contemporaries moan about the inevitable aches and pains of old age, he is in the gym most days and still defiantly attacks garden hedges with a petrol hedge trimmer.
As a younger man, my father was a biker. Starting on Vespas, he graduated to a bone-shaking Harley Fat Boy in his middle years and rode it well into retirement. When he decided his balance was no longer good enough to be safe, he gave it to me. It's a machine you ride with instinct; the mirrors tremble so much they might as well not be there.
A life of adventure and a shared bond of music
We've always been an adventurous pair. We've done long-distance biking, canoeing, cycling and hiking trips all over the world. But despite an indomitably youthful spirit, an 80-year-old must admit his limitations.
Another shared passion is music. My father is a veritable professor of pop, and he instilled in me his love of 20th-century jazz, blues and all the genres that derive from those core styles from a young age.
The inspiration behind the trip
When I began thinking about a final big adventure for the two of us, my mind wandered to the American South, the birthplace of modern music. And surely the only real way to explore that cultural powerhouse amid those enormous landscapes is on a Harley, the iconic American road machine.
Telling the stories that don't make the headlines
My father worked as a journalist for most of his life, and he passed that profession on to me, too. But it doesn't take a journalist to notice that most of the views and insights we get from the States here in the UK are either slickly curated headlines from Washington or glitz and glamour from Hollywood.
Who ever hears about the South? Over nine weeks, riding through 13 states in a broadly clockwise direction from Nashville, we are setting out to address this information gap in the Harley Conversations. The idea is that the people we meet along the way will determine the precise route, and the recommendations they give us for where to go next.
Everyday America, everyday Americans
This project is about everyday Americans in everyday America. The kind of material that the broadcaster Alistair Cooke included in Letter from America, his decades-long weekly BBC radio feature – though even he rarely ventured far from New England.
Join the ride
Everyone has a story to tell, and through short films, articles, photographs and audio features, the Harley Conversations will reveal something of the people and places in those American lands that, despite their global social and cultural significance, are so little understood.
You can join us for the ride on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok via the handle @harleyconversations2026
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