Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 IRON BUTT MAGAZINE | Winter 2014 LD and rally riders. The salient points of the book — preparation is the key to success; select gear with a goal in mind; learn to manage fuel consumption,speed, and rest breaks to maintain a high aver- age mileage — are just as relevant today. Since nothing like it had been written before, the book also appealed to touring riders and less ambitious travelers alike. It’s now out of print, though, since so much has changed with the technology and riding gear since Ron wrote it. A QUESTION OF BALANCE Like a lot of us who have had to a year of retirement, Ron found that he needed to have a purpose, objectives, and goals to satisfy his ambitions. Not want- ing to go back to work for someone else, he began looking at options for starting a company of his own. He discussed a number of ideas with his wife, Barbara, and she shot most of them down. One idea was to start a bike rental company. Barb advised him against the classic mistake of trying to take something he was passionate about and turn it into the daily drudgery of renting, servicing and maintaining bikes. She likened it to a guy who likes to drink opening up a bar. Plus, he wouldn’t be happy when the inevitable happened and a bike would be returned damaged. In , Ron organized the first South American Coast-to-Coast ride from Brazil to Chile in conjunction with a group of Iron Butt iiders includ- ing Mike Kneebone, and friends from Brazil. Ron enjoyed the experience so much that he wondered if this might be the “job” he had been searching for all along. (At that time there was very little competition in the region with only one American-based motorcycle touring company doing business in South Amer- ica.) Excited with the prospect, he called Barbara to discuss the idea. She felt it played well with his interest in interna- tional travel and that it would be a good fit. Thus, Ayres Adventures Premium Motorcycle Tour Company was born. Ayres Adventures started operating in South America first, then expanded to Africa, New Zealand, and Europe. The USA came last. Since its incep- tion, Ron’s company has grown into the second largest global motorcycle tour operator in the world, and as of January , it became the only motorcycle tour company to take riders to all seven con- tinents. While Ayres Adventures runs like a well-oiled machine today, the early days didn’t come without their chal- lenges. “The best way to make a small fortune in a motorcycle tour company is to start out with a large fortune,” Ron would jokingly respond when asked about his business. Interestingly, what seemed like the easiest part of running a tour company actually turned out to be the most difficult — finding capable tour leaders. “It’s incredible how many motorcyclists think they want to be tour leaders. They believe they are qualified RON AYRES RON AYRES RON AYRES RON AYRES RON AYRES RON AYRES balance our LD riding addiction with everyday life, family, and work, Ron found success through compartmental- ization. “I always worked to keep my professional business life separate from the personal LD riding life. Initially, most of my colleagues had no idea that I was entered in the  Iron Butt Rally. Word slowly filtered out, though, and by the time I was doing the -state ride in , everyone knew I was a serious LD rider.My boss and several colleagues even came out to cheer me on during a tire change in Plano.” When Ron retired as president of Electronic Data Systems-Africa in , he vowed to not work again. He planned to ride his motorcycle wherever and whenever he wished. However, after AMONG RON’S MANY volunteers were Norm and Linda Babcock. After signing his witness form in Nebraska, they rode to Hyder to await his arrival and to help celebrate what they hoped would be a successful -state ride. The Babcocks, along with a handful of friends from both the USA and Canada were on hand to welcome Ron to Hyder.After they celebrated dinner together,Linda suggested that they make this an annual tradition and call it “Hyder Seek.” On the first anniversary of his / ride in , about a dozen riders met in Hyder. Ron was living in South Africa at the time and couldn’t make the first anniversary of his record ride, but he called. He also vowed that he would not miss another.True to his word, he not only made every one for the next  years, but he also sponsored them. “It was fun way to give many riders an excuse to undertake the  Plus! Challenge.” At its peak, Hyder Seek attracted as many as  participants from all over the world. This is the group of riders who met Ron in Hyder at the completion of his 7/49. Left to right: Norm Babcock, Linda Babcock, Ron Ayres,Tracy DesLaurier, Rick Morrison, Herb Anderson, and Vince (Moose) Kretzul, whose bike had been wrecked when he hit a moose on the way to Hyder.