My career in journalism hasn’t quite ended up where I expected. When I got started in the biz, everything was pretty simple. We had monthly deadlines, and we met them. Then, a couple of months later, the printing company shipped us a finished product. We were finishing one issue before seeing the previous one in print.
Now, I have two sets of deadlines. One is for this issue of Ultimate Motorcycling. However, instead of waiting two months to see the results, Design + Production Directors Raz and Bri Cumbre have the magazine ready to go the day after the deadline. Now, Ultimate Motorcycling is a digital app rather than a printed magazine, so the turnaround is nearly instantaneous. Depending on how the Thursdays fall, I get four or five weeks to accumulate the magazine’s content for Raz and Bri. It’s not easy, but it’s certainly doable, and we have been creating a new digital issue monthly for over seven years now—not bad.
The more oppressive deadline is our friendly neighborhood World Wide Web. That’s a daily deadline that we have been meeting for over 15 years. As a result, we have nearly 30,000 stories—over 1000 of them motorcycle reviews—on UltimateMotorcycling.com to meet your never-satiated appetite for motorcycle-related content. I publish stories on our website on a daily basis, and have for years. People ask me when I get a day off, and the answer is, “When they shut off the Internet.” That’s my way of saying “Never.”
Fortunately, we have an amazing staff and contributors who make it possible for us to meet your Recommended Daily Requirement of motorcycle content. Sometimes, they write reviews—bikes, apparel, or parts. Other times, it’s travel, how-to, or simply interesting musings. I edit everything because, well, that’s my job. Sometimes, it gets in the way of my writing stories, which is frustrating for someone who likes creating content, but that’s okay. You don’t want every story on UltimateMotorcycling.com and in Ultimate Motorcycling to be mine any more than I do.
None of this would be possible, of course, if I didn’t love motorcycles. Not only do I enjoy riding and writing about them, but I also get great pleasure from reading the stories of other staffers and contributors, as they’re usually more interesting than whatever I have to offer. When one of them compliments something I’ve cooked up outside of a review, I am both surprised and humbled. I consider myself the meat-and-potatoes guy, with everyone else providing the spice and depth.
So, as we continue our 20th anniversary celebration, I again have the opportunity to thank our readers. Without you, we don’t exist, and we intend to hang around as long as possible. Every day, we will continue to work to earn the interest that you show in what we’re doing and what we have to say. We’re already riding 2025s, so strap on your helmet and prepare for another exciting year on two wheels.
