Announcing the 2028 Commemorative Zen Ride

The RPA likes to acknowledge and celebrate Pirsig milestones to maintain interest in his philosophical work, and we’ve chosen today, 24th April, the anniversary of his death in 2017, to make the following 2028 centennial announcement:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Robert Pirsig Association Announces 2028 Commemorative Zen Ride

Open-to-all, a multi-day journey in July 2028 from Minneapolis to San Francisco to commemorate the original 1968 motorcycle journey by Robert M. Pirsig that inspired the famous philosophy book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and to honor the centennial of his birth in 1928

April 24, 2026—The Robert Pirsig Association (RPA) is organizing a special commemorative motorcycle ride in 2028 celebrating the centennial of Robert M. Pirsig’s birth in 1928 and the 60th anniversary of his original 1968 motorcycle journey that inspired his ground-breaking philosophical work, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZMM). The ride will begin on July 8, 2028, departing from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and conclude in San Francisco, California on July 22, 2028.

This historic two-week journey will follow the route Pirsig traveled in 1968 with his son Chris, a transformative trip that became the foundation for his beloved 1974 book. The route will take riders through the Northern Great Plains, into Montana’s mountain ranges, through Yellowstone National Park, and across the Pacific Northwest before reaching the California coast.

Event Details

• Dates: July 8-22, 2028
• Starting Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Ending Location: San Francisco, California
• Key Stops: Red Lodge, Montana; Yellowstone National Park; Bozeman, Montana; Crater Lake, Oregon
• Format:
  • Open Ride: Participants arrange their own logistics, the RPA will provide advice and information.
  • Full-or-Partial Ride: Participation by motorcycle or car, with whole/partial/section co-rides welcome.
  • Participants: Pirsig readers, Motorcycle enthusiasts, and the wider RPA/MOQ community.

“In 1968, Robert Pirsig embarked on a motorcycle journey that would change philosophical discourse forever,” said Ian Glendinning, RPA spokesperson. “This centennial ride honors not just the book that emerged from that journey, but the original experience itself—sixty years later, in Pirsig’s centennial year, we retrace those roads to live the ideas that continue to shape how we understand quality, meaning and reality in the existential crises of the 21st century.”

Rider Information

Interested riders can get information and updates through the official Instagram account @zenride2028, follow the hashtag #zenride2028, and subscribe to the email newsletter from the Robert Pirsig Association website at www.robertpirsig.org.

Sponsor Information

Potential sponsors and supporters are encouraged to reach out directly to ride organizer Felix Tarantik (zenride2028@gmail.com) to discuss partnership opportunities.

Past Zen Ride

The RPA organized a similar ride to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in 2024. Materials about this past ride can be found online at www.robertpirsig.org/zmm50th/. Packages for daily route navigation are in preparation for #zenride2028.

About Pirsig and the RPA

Robert M. Pirsig (September 6, 1928–April 24, 2017) was most famously the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (ZMM, 1974), generally considered the best-selling philosophy book of all time. His follow-up work, Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (Lila, 1991), further developed his philosophical framework leading to “Metaphysics of Quality” (MoQ). Wendy K. Pirsig, his widow and archivist, later edited a selection of his writings in On Quality: An Inquiry into Excellence (OQ, 2022), which includes previously unpublished letters and selected materials from his wider body of work.

The Robert Pirsig Association (RPA) exists to support the promotion of, and engagement in, the life, literary and philosophical works of Robert Pirsig. In particular, their Quality in relation to wider schools of thought and action, applicable to life, the universe and everything, including the academy or “Church of Reason” itself. The RPA was founded in 2023 as an unincorporated non-profit association run by volunteers at their own cost, in advance of the 50th anniversary of publication of ZMM in 2024.

Contact

Ride information: Felix Tarantik (RPA) at zenride2028@gmail.com

General RPA inquiries: admin@robertpirsig.org

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