{"id":615,"date":"2024-07-25T16:30:57","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T16:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hog.thecreativeplot.com\/?p=393"},"modified":"2025-10-31T11:27:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T10:27:42","slug":"a-comeback-after-25-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hog.thecreativeplot.com\/gb\/a-comeback-after-25-years\/","title":{"rendered":"A COMEBACK AFTER 25 YEARS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Taking part in the ABCs of Touring competition for the 12th time, German H.O.G.\u00ae member Volker Steckmeier achieved his second victory in 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Words: Dorothea and Knut Briel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volker Steckmeier and his numerous Harleys have seen a lot of the world. The 63-year-old municipal officer, from the Rhineland in Germany, is a seasoned rider who is committed to racking up the miles, making him a worthy winner of the 2023 ABCs of Touring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 2023 alone, I rode around 20,000 miles to collect points for the ABCs of Touring,” says Volker. “I’ve been riding Harley-Davidson\u00ae motorcycles since 1993 and joined H.O.G.\u00ae in the same year. Since then, I’ve covered more than 175,000 miles on Harleys \u2013 for which I received an award as part of the Mileage Recognition Programme. Over the years, I have visited almost every country in Western Europe and Scandinavia.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The list of H-D\u00ae models that Volker has owned during this time is just as impressive as the distances he has covered. It all started with a Sportster\u00ae Hugger\u2122, followed by a Fat Boy\u00ae, a Heritage Springer\u00ae, a Cross Bones\u00ae and a Dyna\u00ae Super Glide\u00ae. \u201cThe Super Glide gave way to a Sportster Forty-Eight\u00ae in 2011, and eleven years later I swapped the Cross Bones for a Freewheeler\u00ae trike,\u201d adds the proud owner. \u201cI started taking part in the 2023 ABCs of Touring with the Forty-Eight and the trike, but then I switched from the Sportster to a Road King\u00ae police model and rode it to the end of the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Volker reveals, his early plans for the competition involved an entirely different approach, until he was hit with some bad luck. \u201cI actually wanted to ride the short distances on a 1974 Harley-Davidson\u00ae X-90,\u201d he says. \u201cMy hometown is surrounded by almost a hundred villages, the first letters of which cover almost the entire alphabet. That would have been easy to do with the mini-bike. But unfortunately, the workshop where the X-90 was parked burned down, and with it the little two-stroke Harley.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Volker<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Volker's<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even if Volker had been able to proceed with this initial plan, it’s not enough to ride through just a hundred villages if you want to win the contest. Volker was not only on the road throughout Germany, but also across Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France, Poland and the Czech Republic in order to collect the 293 points he amassed for his victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mainly visited H-D\u00ae dealerships and events that could be reached in one day,\u201d he explains. He usually did these day trips at weekends so as not to overstretch his vacation quota. \u201cFor longer tours, I booked centrally located accommodation from where I could then visit several places or border points in the surrounding area. You can collect up to 300 points this way. More than 500 points, like Reinhard Herz achieved the year before, is not possible for me \u2013 I don’t have that much free time!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volker has already taken part in the ABCs for Touring an incredible twelve times. The first time was in 1995, and just three years later he won the competition. \u201cBack then, 69 points were enough for me to win,\u201d he explains. \u201cHowever, the scoring system in 1998 was not the same as it is today \u2013 I had to ride through most of Europe to win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were 25 years between Volker\u2019s first and second victory, during which he took part in the competition eight more times. He was usually narrowly beaten into second place, but this brought no frustration: \u201cI actually ride for the joy of riding,\u201d he says. \u201cI set myself goals with the ABCs to see something different. The experiences on the road and getting to know new areas are what make the whole thing so much fun for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Volker<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Volker<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Volker had a particularly unusual experience during last year\u2019s contest while visiting Amerika, a small hamlet near the town of Garrel, Germany: \u201cAt the moment I was taking my photos for the ABCs, a Google camera car came by \u2013 the result can now be seen online on Google Maps Street View!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the year of riding passed smoothly, with no major obstacles to overcome. \u201cThe biggest challenge was finding good signs to take photos on the road,\u201d says Volker. \u201cSome signs are missing, some are overgrown, some are at points where you can’t stop. That\u2019s always annoying at first, because you’ve ridden there for nothing. Or is it for nothing? Actually, it was a fun ride after all. And that’s what it’s all about. Whether it’s stormy or snowing, whether the sun is smiling on me, whether the day is scorching hot or the night is freezing cold, I ride my Harley with a happy mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was nevertheless delighted with his victory \u2013 especially because 2023 was the year in which Harley-Davidson celebrated its 120th birthday, the Harley Owners Group\u00ae its 40th anniversary and Volker his 30 years of H.O.G. membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His advice for those who want to take part in the ABCs of Touring for the first time? \u201cChoose the destinations beforehand and plan the route carefully. You shouldn’t be put off by rain or long distances. My daily tours increased over the course of the season, from 300 miles to 400 and 500, up to almost 600. Crazy? Yes, you have to be crazy to a certain extent. But you should not disregard safety, so you also have to plan breaks. My advice: just set off and have fun!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"H-D<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Volker<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Want to know how you did in the 2023 competition? Find the results here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABCs of Touring 2023 results<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"ABCs<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taking part in the ABCs of Touring competition for the 12th time, German H.O.G.\u00ae member Volker Steckmeier achieved his second victory in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":139,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hog.thecreativeplot.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hog.thecreativeplot.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hog.thecreativeplot.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hog.thecreativeplot.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hog.thecreativeplot.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hog.thecreativeplot.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8211,"href":"https:\/\/hog.thecreativeplot.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615\/revisions\/8211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hog.thecreativeplot.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hog.thecreativeplot.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hog.thecreativeplot.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hog.thecreativeplot.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}