Annette Birkmann and Señor Dakar

Permit me to introduce a riding team, 34 year old Danish rider,
Annette Vibeke Birkmann and her companion, Señor Dakar. About 2 years ago Annette decided that she had waited long enough to learn to ride a motorcycle. She quit her job as an attorney in Denmark and moved to Buenos Aires in Argentina where she found work in a motorcycle repair shop. She did not speak a word of Spanish before she arrived; she credits working in the repair shop with providing her an extraordinary cursing vocabulary. While in Buenos Aires she bought her first motorcycle - a 6 year old BMW F650GS Dakar. Eight months later she began a one year solo adventure ride through Latin America (without a GPS).

She had plans to spend Thanksgiving with friends in Los Angeles, her final destination. She was heading north from Mexico City when her journey came to a screeching, bruising halt. After four months of rehabilitation and rest, she's now at the western end of her new quest: a ride from Mexico City to New York City (via Los Angeles).

She spoke at CalMoto recently, entertaining us all with her dry sense of humor. Rather than head for Africa, Asia, or India next, she is looking forward to riding in Europe and earning a living as a motivational speaker for a while. She's going to rake it in... her presentation, "Adventure riding in Latin America, The Top 10 List of How Not to Do It", is a set self-deprecating rules for how not to succeed, all the while urging the audience to take that first seemingly insignificant step, then set goals, handle risks, overcome failures, celebrate success and achieving fulfillment.

When I arrived for her talk the dealership showroom was already full, about 60 or so riders. I found a seat where you can always find an empty chair - in the first row. As soon as she said, "I found passion in my life", the room exploded into a shared toothy ear-to-ear grin.

You can't but help but admire her determination and her faith in human kindness. You may also wonder at her luck - she was so unprepared in terms of riding skills and gear. She had only summer riding gear and was not prepared for rain. She gently mocked herself for being genuinely surprised when she encountered snow at altitudes. Still, she did it, she left her well-paying prestigious comfortable desk job and put herself on the adventurer's path. I hope to find that path too someday.

You can look at her slide show here.