GORDON GUNNELL: 2018 Q1 Rider of the Quarter
Last Updated: March 4th, 2024
GORDON GUNNELL: 2018 Q1 Rider of the Quarter
Name is Gordon Gunnell.
I understand why dogs like to stick their head out the window.
Interest in motorcycles started a long time ago. I, when I was in the tire business in Sacramento, I had bought a used Honda Goldwing. I don’t even remember what year it was, but I remember that it was awfully big and heavy and I kept it for about a year and then I sold it. I never went back to it until a year and a half ago and I decided it was time for me to look for a way to enjoy myself and I figured I could enjoy myself on the road since I work so much. I bought my motorcycle in 2016. I put about 12,000 miles on it since then.
I actually have a client who is a motorcyclist and when I was talking to him about getting a motorcycle he said first thing you want to do is take a safety class. And so I’m all about safety and so I looked up TEAM Arizona on the internet and decided to take that Basic RiderCourse. And when I saw that there were these additional classes, courses that I could take, I opted to stay with TEAM Arizona until I finished them all. I’ve completed the Advanced Total Control 1 and I’m waiting to do Total Control 2 probably in January I think.
69 through 71 I lived in Europe, and in the back of my mind I always wanted to have a BMW boxer. (Great bike). And my opportunity came in 2016.
I decided about a month or six weeks ago that if I was going to do this Iron Butt ride I wanted to do a test ride of at least 500 miles to see how it would go. So I decided to take sort of a roundabout way over to Safford and up 191 on the Coronado Highway and over to Show Low and back down through Globe and back to the Valley. And, uh, my Dad heard that I was making this trip and he seemed somewhat interested, and I said, “Do you want to go.” And he said, “Sure.”
And my Dad is 91! And, uh, he showed up that morning in his Levi’s and plaid shirt, and uh, put on his motorcycle jacket and helmet and got on the back of the bike. And stayed on the back of that thing the whole 500 miles. It took us a little over 12 hours because we stopped a couple of times for a half hour, forty-five minutes.
My Son heard me talking about it (Iron Butt Ride), he’s a physician’s assistant at Skyline Medicine in NE Mesa, he heard me talking about it and he said, “When are you going?”
And I told him and he said, “Can I go?” And I said, “Sure.” So I’ve been prepping him for the ride and he’s going to come over and sack out on the floor tonight and we’re going to get up early and he’s going to go with me on this 1,500 mile ride.
Riders, we want to honor YOU! Do you know someone who should be TEAM Arizona’s Rider of the Quarter? Entering their name is SIMPLE.
- Email Bill (bill@motorcycletraining.com )
- In the subject line, type “Rider of the Quarter”
- In one paragraph, tell us why this rider deserves the title TEAM Arizona Rider of the Quarter!
Let’s have some serious FUN with this gang! There are some great stories out there and we don’t want to miss them, so tell us about yourselves!
