Escaping LA on a Harley

26 Mar 2021

Sarah Robertson

Sarah Robertson

After a week of intense client meetings in Los Angeles I needed a break from both work and the rat race. Wanting to feel the wind in my hair and see the countryside outside The Big Orange, I made a plan to explore by bike - but not just any bike - it had to be a classic Harley Davidson.

It’s easy to arrange motorcycle tours in LA and there are a range of options available - from guided to self-guided trips, multi-day itineraries to morning outrides - you can also choose whether you’d like to ride by yourself or take in the scenery as a passenger. Unfamiliar with the roads and nervous of the notorious LA traffic, I chose the latter. 

My driver and I spent a pleasant morning exploring the mountains above LA and the highways surrounding the city. We stopped in at roadside bars and enjoyed a lovely lunch in the tranquil gardens of a country club where a live band played pleasant rock-ballads. It was hardly the Strange and Terrible Hell’s Angel Saga that I was reading about in the Hunter S Thompson book that I’d brought along to LA with me. The famous American classic, which depicts a world of fast-living outlaws in a 1960s version of the wild west, no longer seems to be the reality of what owning a Harley is all about. In fact, I’ve heard it said that these days that the bad boy Harley image is being replaced with that of a wealthy motor-phile that enjoys the occasional escape from his 9-5 white-collar job.

Sadly, I have not had an opportunity to ride on a Harley since that wonderful Californian spring day, but I have found that the unmistakable roar of a Harley Davidson’s engine never fails to trigger memories of that unforgettable day.  

LA City

Harley-Davidson

LA Trees


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