When American rider Barb Smith first started riding BMW motorcycles in the summer of 2005, she had no idea that less than four years later, she would be picking up a special 100,000 mile award (160,000 kilometres) from BMW Motorrad USA.

The great escape on a BMW R 1150 R made easy

Having passed her motorcycle test in August 2002, she spent her first two years riding a Japanese cruiser, but after realising its limitations, the rider from Texas was persuaded by a friend that she was ready for a BMW. A new BMW R 1150 R in the summer of 2005 changed her riding forever. In March 2006 she did a ‘Saddlesore 1000’ event to become a member of the Iron Butt Association (IBA) and thus began her long-distance riding career.

In just three years, she put nearly 90,000 miles on the BMW R 1550 R, criss-crossing the continent to attend motorcycling events, and to visit every National Park within easy reach of an interstate highway. However, for Barb it wasn’t really about accumulating these miles, it was all about escape…

“The BMW was an excellent conveyance to parts of the country I’d always wanted to visit and see: Mt. Rushmore; Acadia National Park; the great plains of the Midwest; Rocky Mountains; mid-Atlantic seashore. It was about satisfying my wanderlust and need to travel.”