Hairy Biker Dave Myers loves to explore new places, but this uniquely American landscape really took his breath away
Claire Webb - 14 September 2019
Dave Myers credits a TV programme with igniting his wanderlust. “When I was a kid, there was this wonderful BBC documentary series called The World about Us [1967–87], which we watched every Sunday night,” he recalls. “Sometimes we were with indigenous people in the Amazon, or the Inuit people near the North Pole. For a goggle-eyed little boy in a two-up, two-down in Barrow-in-Furness, it was eye-opening.”
When he was eight, Myers’s mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and he and his father became her carers. Within a year she was in a wheelchair and family holidays became impossible. “Basically, we were a bit stuck,” he says. “Once a year we’d go away with the National MS Society to Blackpool or Morecambe, and Dad would sometimes take me off for the day.” At 18, he moved to London to study fine art and the Indian, Chinese and Italian food on offer in the capital reawakened his boyhood desire to see the world. “I got a passport and a motorbike, and that was it for me.”
Myers, 62, met his buddy and co-presenter Si King while working in TV production, when they discovered a shared love of eating, drinking and motorcycling. In 2004, their first TV series, The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook, was inspired by rides they took around the west of Scotland.
Fifteen years on, they show no signs of slowing down: they’ve just motored through eight US states on Route 66, the 2,400-mile highway that winds from Chicago to California. “It’s something we wanted to do for years,” says Myers. “It’s such an iconic road and the history of modern America is all there for the telling on Route 66. It’s what brought people to the west during the Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s. If you’re interested in America and Americana, it’s a must.”
They also made detours to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and – the highlight for Myers – Monument Valley on the Arizona-Utah border, its towering, brick-red buttes instantly recognisable from countless movies and ads. “It should be on everybody’s bucket list,” he says. “It’s the most amazing landscape; you can’t quite believe what you’re seeing. It’s at the heart of the Navajo reservation and we cooked a sheep with a Navajo family. The mother adopted Si and me as her Navajo sons, so we’re officially brothers now. We were very touched. She was happy to meet two blokes who mucked in and were interested in their lives.”
When he’s not filming, Myers divides his time between homes in Kent and the Loire Valley, but never stays put for long. “I love touring in Europe and the beauty of living in mainland Europe is I can get in the car and be in Lyon in five hours, or cross into Switzerland. I use my filming trips as a recce. When Si and I did the Mediterranean, the first thing I did afterwards was pick up my wife and my car in France, drive to Marseille, catch a ferry to Sardinia, and then over to Calabria and Puglia. I redid a lot of the stuff we did when filming. Some of those little trattorias were so good, but you never get a chance to really enjoy the food.”
Myers’s wife, Lili, who he met while filming in Romania, shares his love of the open road but prefers to take a back seat. For the past few years, their summer holiday has been a charity motorcycle ride in North America. This year will take him back to California, a 218-mile ride from San Diego to Santa Barbara. “It’s a bit of a busman’s holiday, but we raise a few quid and have a great time,” he explains. “My wife’s the only one who’s done every mile on the back of the bike. A lot of the passengers tend to bail out and go in the luggage truck, but she loves it. Last year Si came as well, so I’d go out for dinner with Si and my wife, which was strange.”
He’s also off on a meditation cruise this autumn. “My wife thinks I need to slow down; I think she’s trying to force me to meditate.” Once a year, he and King take a little trip without a film crew for old times’ sake. “We call it ‘our firm’s outing’ and we just do tourist stuff. Last year we went to Stockholm, and before that we had a long weekend in Amsterdam. We’re talking about going to Rome this year.” As for their next gastronomic adventure, King is gunning for Australia, but Myers fancies riding across Russia. “What’s in between Moscow and China? That would be a wonderful trip to do. But the title might not be a good omen: The Hairy Bikers Get Sent to Siberia…”
Dave Myers credits a TV programme with igniting his wanderlust. “When I was a kid, there was this wonderful BBC documentary series called The World about Us [1967–87], which we watched every Sunday night,” he recalls. “Sometimes we were with indigenous people in the Amazon, or the Inuit people near the North Pole. For a goggle-eyed little boy in a two-up, two-down in Barrow-in-Furness, it was eye-opening.”
When he was eight, Myers’s mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and he and his father became her carers. Within a year she was in a wheelchair and family holidays became impossible. “Basically, we were a bit stuck,” he says. “Once a year we’d go away with the National MS Society to Blackpool or Morecambe, and Dad would sometimes take me off for the day.” At 18, he moved to London to study fine art and the Indian, Chinese and Italian food on offer in the capital reawakened his boyhood desire to see the world. “I got a passport and a motorbike, and that was it for me.”
Myers, 62, met his buddy and co-presenter Si King while working in TV production, when they discovered a shared love of eating, drinking and motorcycling. In 2004, their first TV series, The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook, was inspired by rides they took around the west of Scotland.
Fifteen years on, they show no signs of slowing down: they’ve just motored through eight US states on Route 66, the 2,400-mile highway that winds from Chicago to California. “It’s something we wanted to do for years,” says Myers. “It’s such an iconic road and the history of modern America is all there for the telling on Route 66. It’s what brought people to the west during the Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s. If you’re interested in America and Americana, it’s a must.”
They also made detours to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and – the highlight for Myers – Monument Valley on the Arizona-Utah border, its towering, brick-red buttes instantly recognisable from countless movies and ads. “It should be on everybody’s bucket list,” he says. “It’s the most amazing landscape; you can’t quite believe what you’re seeing. It’s at the heart of the Navajo reservation and we cooked a sheep with a Navajo family. The mother adopted Si and me as her Navajo sons, so we’re officially brothers now. We were very touched. She was happy to meet two blokes who mucked in and were interested in their lives.”
When he’s not filming, Myers divides his time between homes in Kent and the Loire Valley, but never stays put for long. “I love touring in Europe and the beauty of living in mainland Europe is I can get in the car and be in Lyon in five hours, or cross into Switzerland. I use my filming trips as a recce. When Si and I did the Mediterranean, the first thing I did afterwards was pick up my wife and my car in France, drive to Marseille, catch a ferry to Sardinia, and then over to Calabria and Puglia. I redid a lot of the stuff we did when filming. Some of those little trattorias were so good, but you never get a chance to really enjoy the food.”
Myers’s wife, Lili, who he met while filming in Romania, shares his love of the open road but prefers to take a back seat. For the past few years, their summer holiday has been a charity motorcycle ride in North America. This year will take him back to California, a 218-mile ride from San Diego to Santa Barbara. “It’s a bit of a busman’s holiday, but we raise a few quid and have a great time,” he explains. “My wife’s the only one who’s done every mile on the back of the bike. A lot of the passengers tend to bail out and go in the luggage truck, but she loves it. Last year Si came as well, so I’d go out for dinner with Si and my wife, which was strange.”
He’s also off on a meditation cruise this autumn. “My wife thinks I need to slow down; I think she’s trying to force me to meditate.” Once a year, he and King take a little trip without a film crew for old times’ sake. “We call it ‘our firm’s outing’ and we just do tourist stuff. Last year we went to Stockholm, and before that we had a long weekend in Amsterdam. We’re talking about going to Rome this year.” As for their next gastronomic adventure, King is gunning for Australia, but Myers fancies riding across Russia. “What’s in between Moscow and China? That would be a wonderful trip to do. But the title might not be a good omen: The Hairy Bikers Get Sent to Siberia…”