About Us
Welcome
Ayres Adventures is the world's leading provider of Premium motorcycle travel. We offer motorcycle tours in Africa, Europe, North America (including Alaska and Canada), South America and New Zealand. Enjoy the convenience, service and security afforded by a stable, professionally managed company, staffed with carefully selected personnel in the global markets that we serve.
If you would like to receive a copy of our 64-page Motorcycle Tour Catalogue, or would like to download it in whole or in part, click here.
Please join us on one of our Adventures soon.
Ron Ayres - Founder and President
Ron is the chief executive officer of the company and focuses on business development. His passion is global motorcycle touring. He's lived, worked, and ridden extensively in North America, South America, Europe and Africa and he's traveled extensively throughout Asia and the Pacific Rim. While living abroad as a senior business executive, he took time to explore the world by motorcycle. In Africa, he purchased a safari-equipped Land Rover Defender and extended his travels into the bush, spending several months on safari with his wife, Barbara, in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
All of the company's tours are now led by a staff of experienced tour leaders, although Ron looks forward to hosting several tours per year.
John Jesson - General Manager
John is General Manager of Ayres Adventures and has overall responsibility for the company's operation. You'll see John's photo on the page featuring our tour leaders too, as he still manages to lead many of our tours, especially our African Adventures.
John has been with Ayres Adventures since shortly after the company was founded. During the course of his career with the company he has led tours in Africa, Europe, New Zealand, North America (both the "lower 48" as well as Alaska and Canada) and South America.
Barbara Robinson - Financial Officer
Ron's wife, Barbara Robinson, has been an enthusiastic supporter of Ron's passion to build Ayres Adventures into the world's most respected motorcycle travel company. With several advanced degrees in finance and economics, Barb is well-equipped to serve as the company's financial manager. She retired from her position teaching college level economics in order to have more time to travel and to work with Ayres Adventures.
Shirley Landis - Office Manager
Shirley Landis is responsible for managing the company's US sales office and is the primary contact for our customers as they make their plans to participate in one of our Adventures. In addition to her duties as our Office Manager, Shirley is responsible for overseeing the development and production of our support materials, including our travel booklets (The Plan Ahead) and for the distribution of our promotional brochures, DVDs and other materials.
Petra Wendl - Hotel Reservations Manager
Petra is the company's Hotel Reservations Manager and operates from her home in Tyrol, Austria. With her fluency in German and English (and her facility with Italian, French, and even a bit of Spanish) Petra is well qualified to handle the company's hotel reservations on a global basis.
Petra is a graduate of Modul University in Vienna - one of the world's leading schools in tourism and hospitality management. After graduation from Modul, she put her education to good use working in hotels throughout Austria, on cruise ships with Princess Cruises and with Hilton Hotels in Orlando, Florida. She also worked for many years as Hotel Reservations Manager for an Austrian-based motorcycle tour company.
Working from her home in Tyrol, Petra enjoys spending time with her husband and her two young children. Other interests include traveling, reading, biking, hiking and swimming.
Roberta Robinson - Operations Support
Roberta Robinson was the company's first employee and has been with Ayres Adventures since shortly after the company was founded. Roberta formulated and managed the company's back-office and operational procedures and is intimately familiar with every aspect of the company's operations. With a background in mathematics and systems development, Roberta is uniquely qualified to manage the automated systems and global database that support the company's operations. She is also responsible for the company's advertising program and assists with many other aspects of the company's back-office operations.