Taylor Lawson

Taylor was born in Washington, DC in 1968. Like many kids, he was interested in motorcycles if not for the look, for the sound; he was no different. His interest in motorcycles was solidified at the age of seven when he visited a family friend’s farm. What would have been an uneventful trip turned into a memorable one when the owner rolled a Yamaha YZ50 out of the barn. After a ride on that, he was hooked! Since then, he has had a interest in all things with two wheels and a motor.

During one visit to his aunt’s place in Richmond, Virginia, Taylor noticed the neighbors across the street had mini-bikes. The adults in the household were quite lenient, allowing the kids to ride mini-bikes in the front yard, where they had set up a track. While other neighbors maintained manicured lawns with meticulously shaped bushes bordered by flower beds, these kids had a mini-bike track, which Taylor found extremely interesting. Although he wasn't allowed to spend time with them often due to their "wild nature” he always thought that having a front yard with jumps, mud pits, and burns was simply good parenting at its best.

At the age of nine, his father took him to the Capital Center in Washington, DC for a motorcycle event, an early version of the X-games, to watch the telecast of Evel Knievel’s Chicago, IL jump over 13 sharks in an Olympic-sized pool. Sadly, Knievel crashed and fractured his collarbone and arm during practice earlier that day and did not perform but the event was memorial nonetheless. That Christmas, Taylor got a wind-up Evel Knievel shock-absorbing stunt cycle which was his favorite toy, now a collector’s item.

When Taylor was attending Annapolis Junior High School, he had a friend named Ernie who lived on a nearby farm. On Ernie's farm, and they had all things motorized including a Yamaha YZ80. His fondest memory from riding with Ernie was trying to get the bike up a muddy, single-track incline with a completely slick, back tire. When he got home, he remembered his mother being less than pleased when the only way he could explain how he had gotten oil splatter up the back left-hand side of his new winter jacket was to admit that he had been on a motorcycle.

As a teenager in Annapolis, Maryland, Taylor’s parents were very open about the dangers of riding motorcycles and did not want him to ride or own one. The rule was simple, as long as he lived under their roof, he could not own a motorcycle. A friend from high school had parents with the same sensibilities, but that did not stop him from buying a Honda Interceptor 500. Once his parents discovered his purchase, he had to find a new home for it. To Taylor’s surprise, his parents were okay with the bike living undercover in their driveway tucked nicely into the corner. To this day, Taylor swears he did not ride that machine!

Later, after graduating from University of Maryland, College Park, he came to the realization that with a job and his own place to live, he was now in a position to buy his first motorcycle. He settled on a new 1990 Suzuki DR 250s. Although 30 seconds after the purchase was complete and Taylor rode it for the first time, he sadly realized he should have splurged for the 350 as it was underpowered for his desires. He enjoyed it for several years, even moving it to Key West, Florida, Houston, TX, and then to Monterey, CA, where he eventually sold it. In California, years later, he bought a Suzuki DR 650s, which he loved riding off-road on the “Old Coast Highway”, a sharp left before the Bixby Bridge south on A1A towards Big Sur out of Monterey.

Around 2005-2008, Taylor made annual trips out to ride bikes at his friend Derek's ranch in Chama, New Mexico where they would ride the passes around the Rockies. Some of his favorites were the passes between and around Telluride, Ouray, Silverton, and Aspen—Highland Mary Mine Pass, California Pass, and the famous Imogene Pass. They tackled challenging terrains with various bikes, including a Honda XR 600 and a Yamaha WR250. Later, Taylor shipped his DR650 out there when Derek sold the Honda XR600.

In 2013, Taylor and the family moved to Stockholm, Sweden from Fort Lauderdale, FL. Non-European Union driver licenses are only valid for one year, so he had to start again from zero to obtain a Swedish automobile driving license. On average, the failure rate for the automobile theory is 70%, 50% & 30% for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd time through. When he learned that he would have to do the same and more to get the additional MC license with a higher failure rate, in Swedish the Swedish language, and at an expense of over $3,000.00, he said, “Thanks, but no thanks!”. As such, he participated in events which were primarily off-road, and riding experience trumped a license.

In 2015, he went to Gotland and took part in a 4-day tour with Sweden’s famous Berra Marcusson, a two-time motorcycle contestant in the Paris-Dakar (when it was in Africa) and a one-time support vehicle driver. Inspired by this trip and the very memorable trip to Aspen for Aaron’s curated tour in 2021, he decided to bite the bullet and spend the summer training for the Swedish license in time for the Aspen trip in October 2023. Since he had a license, there was no reason not to buy another motorcycle.

His most recent bike is a 2022 Yamaha Ténéré 700, named after the Ténéré desert stage of the Dakar Rally in the Sahara. This mid-sized adventure bike is perfect for the over 150,000 miles of gravel roads in Sweden.