 | Women Riders Now MOTORCYCLE REVIEW: The 2009 Suzuki Boulevard M90 Cruiser 1/26/2009 V-Twin rumble with sportbike tumble By Carla King, Photos by Brian J. Nelson The Suzuki Boulevard M90 is a sportbike disguised as a cruiser, rumbling up like a Harley-Davidson and zipping away like a Ninja. With accessories it could function nicely as a light touring motorcycle, too. For $9,999, you might find it almost irresistible. | |
 | Women Riders Now MOTORCYCLE REVIEW: Kawasaki Concours 14 Sport Touring Motorcycle Comfortable Touring to Excite Your Inner Teenager By Carla King, photos by Jacques Achsen 11/7/2008 Kawasaki Headquarters, Orange County, California: The press office steers me toward its Concours 14 supersport touring model instead of the smaller bike I had asked for. "It's the most comfortable bike you'll ever ride," I'm told, and an hour later I'm cruising Highway 5 wondering how 1352cc and 650 pounds could feel so . . . well, so darn light and nimble. | |
 | Women Riders Now MOTORCYCLE APPAREL REVIEW: Firstgear TPG Monarch Jacket and Escape Pants The workhorse of motorcycling apparel By Carla King, Photos by Jacques Achsen 11/7/2008 Who cares what the weather is when this riding gear creates its own micro climate? A former fair weather rider reviews this riding gear while convincing friends and neighbors how tough she really is. Click here to read the review of what we consider the workhorse of riding apparel. | |
 | Women Riders Now MOTORCYCLE CLOTHING REVIEW: Olympia Moto Sports Mustang Suit Technical Riding Gear that Looks Great! By Carla King 12/27/2005 I couldn't bear the thought of wearing leathers on a six-week journey around the Adriatic Sea but wasn't convinced that a mesh suit would stand up if I fell down. I finally chose the Olympia Moto Sports Mustang jacket and pants made of a tough Cordura fabric that turned out to be exactly the right compromise between safety and comfort. | |
 | Wild Writing Women Magazine: Taking Flight TRAVEL ARTICLE: Heading Towards the Sun By Carla King Trading a husband for freedom in the South of France 4/20/2004 I spent the first two weeks of the trip suffering in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I wanted to go home but my pride wouldn’t let me, nor would it let me hunker down in a first-class hotel on the Riviera looking like a bimbo waiting out a divorce. So I got on the motorcycle each day and rode to the places I’d planned to visit with my husband – the casinos of Monte Carlo, the Roman ruins of Arles, the medieval village of Carcassone. | |
 | Wild Writing Women Magazine Ireland: The Sacred and the Profane PERSONAL ESSAY: The Cleansing Flames of Moderated Debauchery (pdf) Carla King on sex, drugs, and radical self-expression By Carla King 08/03/2008 I take a swig from the whiskey bottle and pass it to the man next to me, reflecting that the last time I stood in front of a bonfire in the middle of the night sharing mind-altering substances with strangers I stood in a cold, dusty desert in the American West surrounded by hundreds of fluorescently-clothed humans over-excited by drugs and alcohol and the shared experience of burning down a very large neon-encrusted wooden man the size of a small skyscraper that exploded with fireworks and tumbled in flames to the dry, cracked earth. | |
 | TravelLady TRAVEL ARTICLE: Secrets of the French Riveria By Carla King 01/07/2003 On the Riviera you can don your diamonds and head to Monaco by night, and by day, languor on the rocky beaches on a padded blue lounge chair and have the garcon bring you cold rose wine ‘til your head spins. But you can also mountain bike to crumbling hilltop castles, explore World War II forts, tour a perfumerie, wander a restored castle with a dungeon, gaze at the works of Matisse and Picasso, Chagall and Jean Cocteau, learn to play petanque and maybe, just maybe, acquire a taste for Pernod. The French have known about Nice and the backcountry for years. Here's their secret. | |
 | Wild Writing Women Magazine Ireland: The Sacred and the Profane GEAR REVIEW: Geek out on sound with the iTalk (pdf) By Carla King 09/10/2008 Sight, smell, touch, taste, and . . . SOUND! This trip my favorite gadget was the iTalk microphone. It plugged into my iPod to create a recording device of decent quality at a decent price: just $20 at most discount retailers. I hadn’t realized how integral sound is a part of a journey until I came home and listened to what I’d recorded while I was in Ireland. |
 | Wild Writing Women Magazine: Taking Flight TRAVEL TIPS: 10 Tips for Staying Safe on the Road By Carla King and Lisa Alpine 04/20/2004 Most people are proud to show travelers the beautiful side of their country, but we all know there are exceptions. Here are our ten best tips for avoiding or diffusing potentially dangerous situations. Armed with this knowledge and some simple, inexpensive tools, you'll have a wonderful trip! |
 | Rough Guides Travel TRAVEL ARTICLE: Cycling the French Riviera By Carla King Oct 1999 I stood on the edge of the cliff and surveyed the terrain I'd covered that April morning. The Mediterranean sparkled blue only 15km away as the crow flies, but I'd cycled 40km along smooth, curving black-paved, lonely roads to get from sea-level to my 1000-metre-high perch. Behind me, in the distance, were the snow-capped Alps. The guys who passed me on their racing bikes had told me they often go there on weekends, after the snow has melted. Unlike these kilometre-counting, colour-clad fanatics, I was happy to stop in the field of grass and wild flowers atop this protruding, round-faced cliff the Niçoises call a baou, and call it a day... | |