Jon DelVecchio came to motorcycling later in life than many riders—as an adult and after starting a family. Yet, he’s accomplished a lot on two wheels, from becoming a Motorcycle Safety Foundation coach and the founder of the Street Skills School to the author of a popular riding technique book, “Cornering Confidence: The Formula for 100% Control in Curves.”

In his conversation with “Driven to Ride” host Mark Long, the career educator cites five previously published titles—“Total Control,” “Proficient Motorcycling,” “A Twist of the Wrist,” “Smooth Riding the Pridmore Way,” and “Sport Riding Techniques”—as the “sacred documents” he studied to develop and hone his own skills and, ultimately, introduce others to those methodologies.

Early on, DelVecchio considered two areas: traffic and corners. He decided the MSF had urban situational awareness well-covered—”Don’t take my class if you haven’t taken theirs,” he says—so he turned his attention to the twisties, and that challenging aspect of motorcycling has become his focus. DelVecchio goes so far as on this episode to share some of the best roads that he’s ridden.

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From a teenage pizza-slinging street racer to a professional National Hot Rod Association-winning Pro Stock Motorcycle drag racer, Steve Johnson understands the value of humble beginnings. He also knows exactly how it feels to reach 200 mph in less than 7 seconds. “I always tell everybody it’s like hanging on to a bullet after it's been shot out of a gun.”

“First to 500” is Johnson’s career calling card. “If you go to all the races in the year that the sanctioning body puts on,” he explains to host Mark Long on this episode of the “Driven to Ride” podcast, “and if you do it for 38 years, you’ll have 500, too.” That is a competition milestone no other NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle racer has ever reached. In fact, no one has even come close.

Rather than focus on his many racing successes, however, Johnson would rather talk about his off-track efforts. A California native who now calls Alabama home, Johnson is big on helping students achieve their goals. To that end, he founded the BAT-man Scholarship Program (“BAT” is an acronym for “Be A Technician”), awarded at high schools and technical colleges across the U.S.

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Greek philosopher Plato is credited with the expression, “Our need will be the real creator,” which, loosely translated centuries later, became, “The true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention.” Peter Dering knows this feeling all too well, having come up with a device that, in the words of his company, Peak Design, “would make carrying and using a camera an absolute joy.”

As he explains to host Mark Long in this episode of “Driven to Ride,” Dering moved to San Francisco for a construction engineering job. With his first bonus, he bought a Honda Nighthawk 750 and an SLR camera. “I used to ride with my camera slung across my chest every day,” says Dering. “Whoever designed the camera strap basically said, “Here’s a business idea for you.”

Nowadays, Peak Design offers a medley of innovative products, from unique backpacks and duffels to vibration-damping mobile-phone mounts and sturdy camera accessories. “We try to solve problems that we ourselves, the users of the product, encounter,” says Dering. “That’s what we’re known for, giving a solid rethink to products that are out there in the world.”

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