If the name Bill Dragoo makes you think about DART - Dragoo Adventure Rider Training - and high level learning - well that makes sense. Because Bill has earned himself a top reputation in the world of adventure motorcycling as a skilled rider and top motorcycle instructor. On this episode we talk to Bill about his life, adventure and what drives him.

Bill Dragoo - Dragoo Adventure Rider Training (DART)

Bill Dragoo is a moto-journalist, a certified BMW factory-trained off-road instructor, and a certified Motorcycle Safety Foundation Rider Coach. He’s also a certified flight instructor, a sky diver and scuba diver. He’s competed and won in motocross, cross-country mountain biking, sailboat racing and adventure riding. Bill is the founder of DART (Dragoo Adventure Riding Training) in Norman, Oklahoma. At DART, Bill offers off-road riding courses at three different levels for all brands of motorcycles.  

Reflections… by Bill Dragoo

Adventure travel awakens the philosopher within. On a long, westerly solo trans-continental bicycle ride a few years back, I grew tired of the slow pace, slogging day after day into a predominately southwesterly wind. I would look far ahead, longing to reach an ever elusive horizon and an ocean a continent away. During one slogging climb, up from Lake Champlain after crossing on a tub of a ferry, I lowered my head, staring at the ground, and noticed how quickly the road passed by the churning crankshaft beneath my feet. When looking to the side, I could barely take in the barns, woodlands, fields and mountain streams before they were gone…the beauty around me had been missed before while I had been staring only at my distant goal. I had failed to enjoy the best parts of the trip. And then it occurred to me how much this ride was like life. We must have goals, we must plan, but all too often we become obsessed by those distant ambitions and lose sight of something more valuable. I realized how easy it is to miss the wonder of our surroundings. I pulled over at the crest and began to write…

Lookin’ Down
By: Bill Dragoo              

Have you ever tried a lookin’ at the world from far away
Really tried to keep your distance from the life you missed today

Have you blinded up your eyes to all the things you could have done
Or "accidentally" slept beyond the rising of the sun

And what about the rain you might have felt or smelt or heard
Could you have stood there in it or would that have seemed absurd

Who's the old one with the stories, don't you wish you had the time
Or the little one a crying and the friend who needs a dime

If we wait then it won't matter, their need will pass and we'll forget
Instead we work to show we love them, think of all that we can get

I pedaled onward seeking purpose, wishing something I could do
would leave a mark, or gather moss, and prove that I was worthy too

As I grew weary from the effort and from looking all around
I could barely hold my head up so I started looking down

To my surprise the road I traveled showed me things I hadn't seen
All the places I was going were still ahead but not so keen

And with my eyes perceiving progress in a way I’d never known
What was near became important, gifts I valued as my own

Where I am now’s what seems to matter since I stopped my lookin’ round
And the road has took to flying since I started lookin’ down

Images: Bill Dragoo

MUSIC CREDITS:

Title: Funky Folk
Title: Greasy Wheels
Title: Guitar Riffs
Title: Guitar wahs 
Artist: house

Title: Zest (ft. urmymuse)
Artist: basematic
http://ccmixter.org/files/basematic/34457

Title: Checks For Free (1:00)
Artist: Jason Shaw
audionautix.com

Title: Bedtime Blues (ft. Admiral Bob)
Artist: Down With Ben
http://ccmixter.org/files/cuajitoben/29148

Title: I Dunno (Grapes of Wrath Mix) (ft. Jlang, 4nsic, grapes)
Artist: spinningmerkaba
http://ccmixter.org/files/jlbrock44/56346