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Diner's Club
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Northeastern Motorcycle Tours
Fred Rau
07/01/2006
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Photography by Sean Reid/Northeast Imaging
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Professionally organized motorcycle tours usually stick to the same formula,
with priorities based on the perceived likes and dislikes of the customers’
often mainstream demographic. The portion of the tour behind the handlebars
tends to take center stage, followed by preferences in lodging, food, and then
topped off with as many amenities as time allows. It’s a good system, and one
that works well for the majority of people inclined to sign up for a tour by
motorcycle.
 About a decade ago, Sean Reid had a vision for modifying this
traditional mix. Reid had noted that within almost any tour group, there were
always several riders—typically couples riding together—for whom the more
“challenging” parts of the route were of less importance. They were more
interested in the sights, scenery, lodging, and food along the way. Unlike the
majority of riders, they weren’t focused on riding just as far, or as fast, as
they could on any given day. Sometimes, the significant other would ride along
in the tour van, rather than on a bike, and the rider would opt for the shorter
daily routes, so that they could arrive at the hotel earlier in the afternoon
with time left to enjoy the spa or pool, or a shopping stroll through the local
village before dinner. Although these couples were usually a minority within
each group, Reid wondered if they didn’t constitute a large enough niche market
to support a separate, more specialized motorcycle tour designed with their
priorities in mind. They do, and thus Northeastern Motorcycle Tours (NMT) was
born. (Click image to enlarge)
Though NMT is still very much about motorcycle riding, and the center
of the tour’s attention is still on the roads to be ridden, there is
considerably more emphasis on the lodging and food than you find on other
organized motorcycle tours. With a family history stretching back through the
Acadian immigration of Nova Scotia and a personal fluency in the eccentric
French/Acadian dialect, coupled with 20-plus years of riding in the Northeast
and an abiding interest in the culinary arts, Reid set about finding the very
finest gourmet restaurants and five-star Victorian bed-and-breakfasts all around
the northeastern United States, Nova Scotia, and Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula. Once
he had completed his exhaustive search for the best of the best, he set out to
design attractive motorcycle touring routes, connecting the dots, as it were.
Over the past decade, he has refined these routes and locales into a dozen tours
of various lengths and complexity, each specifically designed to pamper the tour
participants with the very finest in gourmet dining and lodging while still
riding the finest roads available.
 Distinctive local color can be sampled on both sides of the American/ Canadian
border. (Click image to enlarge)
Though participation was initially light,
it has grown with each passing year, thanks mainly to word of mouth accolades
spreading literally throughout the world. To date, NMT has hosted more than
1,000 riders and, as Reid points out, over half of his business is from
returning riders, who often bring along friends to share the experience. Several
major corporations, such as Chrysler and Honda, have contracted with NMT to
provide tours for their dealers and corporate executives.
 Different seasons supply their own meteorologic and foliage displays on this
international tour. (Click image to enlarge)
Doubtlessly, the
food and lodging is what sets Northeastern Motorcycle Tours apart. My raw notes
from my first NMT encounter tell the story: “The inn was an old, converted
farmhouse, very large and comfy, completely furnished in Victorian-era antiques.
Our room featured a mahogany four-poster bed, complete with a canopy and a
down-filled mattress. The inn was owned and run by a couple who had met and
married while both attending the famous Cordon Bleu cooking school in France.
Reid had informed us earlier that, unlike with other motorcycle tours, there
would be no special menu, or restrictions of any kind on what we ordered for
dinner. Looking over the menu, I have to admit I didn’t recognize over half of
the items listed, so I opted to play it safe and ordered tomato bisque and filet
mignon. As fabulous as the filet turned out to be, I almost couldn’t eat it from
having first gorged myself on three helpings of the truly incredible bisque.
Later, I learned it was a personal creation of one of the owners, from a
carefully guarded, award-winning secret recipe, and not to be found anywhere
else on the planet. I have no compunctions at all in swearing that it was one of
best things I have ever tasted in my entire life.”
 Having since returned for
two more NMT tours, I realize that, of the ten best meals I have eaten in my
life, at least six of them came from one of Reid’s handpicked restaurants. The
focus is so delightfully on food that, on each of those tours, I found that at
least one of my fellow riders was a professional chef, from cities such as New
York or Boston, who came along on the tour specifically to experience the
culinary excellence for which NMT has become so famous. Entirely unlike any
other motorcycle tour, NMT allows the indulgence of freely sampling absolutely
anything the restaurant offers, in any quantity, or to custom-order anything
else you might like to try. It is all included in the tour price, with no
additional charges, except for alcohol. It truly is a gourmet’s
delight. (Click image to enlarge)
Naturally, NMT tends to attract a slightly older and more affluent
clientele—people who have come to appreciate the finer things in life, and yet
still enjoy a certain degree of adventure enhancing their luxuries. You might
find yourself viewing a herd of wild caribou on the stark and windblown plains
of the Gaspé in the morning and marveling at a pod of whales passing the rugged
cliffs of Nova Scotia in the afternoon. That evening, you will be sitting at a
table covered with embroidered linen and arrayed with antique silver and
crystal, as you dine on duck l’orange and a fine French wine. Such vivid
contrasts only serve to enhance both experiences.
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