About

The art of motorcycle sport-touring…

In 1986, a small group of Colorado motorcyclists tried to ride as many mountain passes as they could squeeze into a long weekend. Since then, “compressing as many passes and twisty roads into the classic four-day motorcycle sport-touring getaway became an obsession,” said Motomarathon Founder John Metzger, who began designing annual "Pass Rides" that evolved into a nationally sanctioned series of Motomarathons.

The Motomarathon is not a competition, but a vacation. It's riding the highest quality roads, during daylight hours, avoiding Interstates and urban areas as much as possible, and stringing together the premium twisties and backroads within the nation's premier riding ares. The rides emphasize sightseeing, leisurely lunches and camaraderie after a long day's ride at a nice hotel/restaurant and a cozy bed. The philosophy, however, is individualist, and minimalist, so each rider is free to make their own accommodations (camp if you want!), ride alone, ride only one day or one checkpoint -- as open and flexible as possible. The criteria is about lifestyle: how often can you take the time out of your busy life to take a vacation like this? And when you make that effort, the Motomarathon Association, in return, is committed to finding and developing the highest quality routes possible. We remain on the cutting edge of the sport-touring experience -- finding the best rides through the art of Routemastering.

Founded in 2009, the Motomarathon Association, LLC has established a criteria based around riders accumulating checkpoints, and maintaining event, annual and lifetime standings on this website. The state-of-the-art machines for this kind of technical, mountain riding (paved roads but with the occassional optional dirt road thrown in) are typically BMW GSs, Ducati Multistradas, and other "adventure touring" bikes, but all bikes are welcome -- there have been plenty of Harleys, cruisers and even a few CanAm Spyders participating. The Motomarathon has become the "state-of-the-art" in long-distance motorcycling, capturing the roads, the regions, the lifestyles and the riders that define the essence of endurance sport-touring.

In the Spring of 2020, Motomarathon moved east to the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. After an eleven year run, Metzger turned over the reins to Motor Officer John Bossolt. Bossolt, who has helped with multiple past Motomarathons, is continuing the theme that is Motomarathon.