Born to ride: Veterinary behaviorist John Ciribassi launches a motorcycle tour company

When it comes to work-life balance, our Fetch dvm360 conference speakers walk the walk, not just talk the talk. They are busy people, just like you-striving to have fulfilling professional lives while nurturing their personal lives. There's veterinary behaviorist Dr. Lisa Radosta, who runs hours at a time to keep centered. There's practice management speaker Dr. Sarah Wooten, who trains for races. There's veterinary endocrinologist Dr. David Bruyette, who takes on adventures big and small.

And then there's veterinary behaviorist Dr. John Ciribassi, who loves riding motorcycles so much that he has created a motorcycle touring company to share his passion with experienced riders. Dr. Ciribassi and his business partner, Clecio Sousa, recently launched MotoRide Tours.

Dr. Ciribassi says their goal is for riders to experience the same rewards that they do every time they ride-“the sense of exploration, seeing new sights and, most of all, meeting new people and developing friendships.”

Dr. Ciribassi began riding in seventh grade on a pull-start mini-bike and has been riding motorcycles ever since, except for a break in college and veterinary school. He currently rides either a KTM 1090 Adventure R or a KTM EXC 350F-adventure bikes that can handle both highway and off-road travel. “Most MotoRide trips will be mainly off road,” he says.

Dr. Ciribassi says that riding motorcycles, especially off road, “takes you to places you would ordinarily not get to see-remote areas of Colorado and Utah, the Mojave Desert outside Las Vegas, Death Valley, the forests up the eastern seaboard from Virginia to New York, the Maritime Provinces of Canada and the Alps.”

Dr. Ciribassi will tour around Fetch

Veterinary behaviorist Dr. John Ciribassi will be presenting behavior sessions at the Fetch dvm360 conference in Baltimore and San Diego in 2019.

To learn more details about his motorcycle tours, visit MotoRide Tour's website or Facebook page. The tours during Fetch are for intermediate riders, and you don't have to bring your bike (unless you want to); rentals will be available.

Dr. Ciribassi's favorite rides have included one through the Alps (Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and France), which he took with his wife and some friends, riding double. His other favorite: the Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route, a ride he, Clecio and two other friends did last July. “It was mostly an off-road ride through Colorado, starting at the Colorado-Wyoming border and finishing at the Four Corners area in southwestern Colorado,” On this week-long trip, he says, “We had a few bumps in the road, in terms of some bike issues-broken foot pegs, a stuck starter switch and flat tires.” On one of the bikes, a bolt securing the axle came loose. They also came upon a mountain pass that was a challenge to navigate with their larger adventure-style motorcycles; they had to maneuver the bikes down a steep rocky section without going over the side. Dr. Ciribassi concludes, “The coolest thing was the way the four of us pulled together at every turn to support each other so that we could continue the journey and get to the end of the ride together.” True, the tours that Dr. Ciribassi guides won't be as difficult as that ride wound up being, but this is where the real adventure lies: getting the most out of what is inside you and sharing the experience with friends.

Dr. Ciribassi says, “There used to be an old Honda commercial with the tagline, ‘You meet the nicest people on a Honda.' I would generalize that line by saying that you meet the nicest people on motorcycles.”

John J. Ciribassi, DVM, DACVB, earned his DVM degree from the University of Illinois in 1984. He received his board specialization from the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists in 2006. He sees behavior cases at Chicagoland Veterinary Behavior Consultants (CVBC) and is co-editor of Decoding Your Dog: Explaining Common Dog Behaviors and How to Prevent or Change Unwanted Ones. Dr. Ciribassi lives in Carol Stream, Ill., with his wife and daughters. He (obviously) enjoys motorcycling in his spare time.