September 2, 2021
While thoughts are still fresh in the mind I wanted to record some random ideas, memories, and reflections about the routes I took and the whole feeling about life on the road with a motorcycle.
The decision to ride backroads and to avoid highways was made very early in the planning process. Having ridden the bike on the interstates in Montana, it reminded me that the experience of doing so is intense, anxiety-producing, and dangerous. It’s like a game where all the players are vying for the best position and one must be expert on passing and being passed. That lends itself to getting somewhere quickly, that is, the quantity, but totally lacks in the quality of ride I was looking for.
The freeways are called that because they are free of intersections, signal lights, and anything else that would impede forward motion. The opportunity for commerce is only found at interchanges and usually consists of well-known national or regional chains where the products are homogenous, safe, and predictable. This may be efficient, but adds no character to the travel experience.
The non-freeway option brings the traveler down to the people. The roads are less trafficked, the speed is slower, the range of smells goes beyond vehicle exhaust, and one gets a close up view of hundreds of villages, small towns and cities, and all that the localized commerce has to offer. Add to that, the rides between those places are surrounded, for the most part, by agriculture and, without a doubt, corn dominates what is being cultivated. Unlike traveling on “the slab,” riding on these smaller roads gives one the opportunity to see that vegetation up close. I stopped many times just to look at the plants and saw the browning of the tassels on ears of corn and the pods containing soybeans.
Choices of meals along the backroads are better than what is found on freeway off ramps and interchanges. As a vegetarian, there can be challenges, but, again, it is just part of the adventure. For example, I ate a breakfast at an excellent diner, literally in the middle of nowhere, listed as North Manchester, Indiana, at the intersection of roads 15 and 114, called Omegas Family Restaurant. I should have taken a photo when parked there but grabbed this one from Google Street view:
The food was excellent and the staff was like family, the kind of place where the wait staff calls you “honey.” The others there seemed to be regulars and no one seemed to mind that I sat there for a while, writing in my blog.
Later on the ride, my son and I stopped at this place that served up a big breakfast with a friendly and very outgoing server.
And the lunch at the 2-Feet Brewery in Bangor, Maine where I had an Absinthe IPA. Where else would I find something like that?
Part of the adventure of riding these back roads is finding one’s way. When riding the interstates it’s possible to hop on one of those numbered routes and travel through 5 states without changing the route number. With the backroads, the numbers change all the time. I might ride for 20-miles on a section road, make a right or left turn, travel a few miles, make another turn, generally heading in the right direction but rarely diagonally. Of course, this adds miles but the ride is not about getting to a certain destination in the least amount of time, it’s about seeing something different, finding curvy and twisty routes, and not knowing what is going to come next.
I used Google maps to guide me and learned some tricks in getting a route that avoids city centers. While I tell it to avoid the big highways, it can, and will, bring me through a city on surface streets rather than around it. To avoid that, I learned to set “waypoints,” that is, destinations along the way that it has to route through. If I’d done that before getting to Dubuque, I’d have avoided the tour of a not so nice part of town and the traffic that went along with it. But that is also part of the whole adventure, isn’t it?
And the roads….it’s about those roads. I would usually find myself on a 2-lane road with a dashed, yellow line down the middle and a white fog line on the right, but that was not always the case. The software would route me on a shorter path and I’d find myself heading down a local road with no lines and barely enough room for two vehicles to pass one another.
The road conditions were also variable. On some they’d be bumpy, on others there were pot holes to avoid, but the roads were usually pretty good for riding. We look for the routes that have the most interesting curves because that’s what riding a sport/tour motorcycle is all about. Plus, they provide great photo opportunities.
One consideration for riders is the lack of gas stops on these less-beaten paths. It’s something to consider but my bike’s tank holds over 6-gallons and I get about 55 miles to the gallon so I can always find a stop before panic sets in. At one point, when I was with my son who is riding a BMW, he had gassed up and I, for some reason, didn’t and I later got to see my gas gauge drop to one bar and then see that bar start flashing. I think the indicator on the dash said I had something like 40-miles left when we found a fuel stop but there was still lots of gas slashing around in the tank.
One concern while riding is the danger presented by drivers who can’t see the bike or make some foolish maneuver. In the over-6,000 miles I traveled, I didn’t really encounter anything that would be considered a close call. There was one situation where I was merging into some traffic and, although I had the “Yield” sign, I thought I was ahead on the oncoming cars and a pickup disagreed and gave me the horn. OK, I’ll own that one. Overall, and part of this is due to riding backroads with little traffic, I never felt like I was in danger, or unsafe, unlike riding the streets of Billings, MT.
I only felt that my riding skill set was challenged to the extreme twice along the way. One was when crossing the Mackinac Bridge. Strong crosswinds with gusts, coupled with the additional challenge of riding over steel grating, was unnerving but a great learning experience and raised my level of confidence once I’d made it to the other side. The other challenge was not too long after that when I was in northern Minnesota and the rain became a very heavy downpour with flooding of the streets and one short burst of hydroplaning. The fun of riding had completely left the day, but as I rode, I took mental notes on what was happening and how the bike was handling to turn this into another one of those teachable moments. My confidence level, not that it’s all digested yet, is much higher and I feel ready for future experiences with inclement weather and steel grating.
Road construction is certainly one of the realities of riding in the summer. I don’t really mind the occasional stop for the flagman controlling the one-lane traffic but I am not crazy about riding through loose gravel or those grooved highways awaiting a fresh layer of asphalt. Again, experience erases anxiety and with lots of construction along the way I was afforded lots of practice.
I suppose one of the biggest fears of any rider is dropping their bike. The only thing that makes that worse is dropping it with witnesses. I only had one experience where that almost happened. It was hot out and I’d backed into a parking space where I was going to to grab a sandwich. It appeared that the parking lot had recently been seal-coated and I didn’t anticipate that the new surface would be as slippery as it was. I dropped the kickstand and put my right foot down and it immediately started sliding away from me. I instinctively tightened up every muscle and tendon to keep from going down and, while I was successful in preventing the disaster, I also knew “That’s gonna hurt.” Luckily, no damage but I did feel a twinge later in the day.
The Butt and Hands
Anyone who rides distance will tell you about issue related to the butt and hands. Hanging on to the handlebars for hours at a time and keeping the throttle grip open will take its toll. It’s like inducing a repetitive motion injury and numbness, tingling, and pain are not uncommon. For me, the presence of electronic cruise control was one of the selling features for me with this bike. I get up to speed, hit the cruise button, push the paddle switch down to set it, and it locks to that speed perfectly. To disconnect, a light tap of the brakes, or the clutch, or the cruise button, or turning the throttle all the way down will take care of that. While riding with it on, the paddle switch can be tapped up or down to increase or decrease speed as needed. Instead of keeping a tight grip on the throttle, I can just let my hand rest on it.
I also increased the diameter of my grips by adding a slip-on, foam product called the “Grip Puppy.” The increased diameter of the grip seems to reduce the amount of force needed to hang on to it. My grips are also heated which feels great when chilly out but can also just give the hands a bit of heat therapy.
The issue of the seat on the bike is probably a bigger issue among other owners. Few would say that the stock seat is a wonderful thing and from my reading on the forums, I’d say that a custom seat upgrade is the most popular add on. The seats are not inexpensive, ranging from about $500 to $700 and, in most cases, they build the custom seat on the bike’s existing “seat pan,” the plastic frame that attaches the seat to the motorcycle. Even if I wanted to do that, I am not going to ship my seat pan off for the 6-weeks or so that it would take during the season when I can ride. That would be a better project for the winter.
My experience tells me that my butt, on the stock seat, is good for about 150-180 miles and then it feels like the tailbone is suffering permanent damage. I made two versions of a custom seat pad, one with foam and one with gel, and while there was improvement, it wasn’t that great. Some riders said that they got by with an air-filled pad called the AirHawk so I decided to give it a try. At less than $100 it is certainly less than a custom seat and worth a shot. The trick is to not over-inflate them. Just blow enough air in it, get it on the bike, sit on it, and then let the air out slowly until the butt is about 1/2-inch off the seat. The company guarantees that it will double the mileage that one can do in a day and, after getting used to it, they are correct.
My last day of the trip was well-over 500-miles and my rear felt just fine. I don’t know if I’d go for a custom seat at this point.
Taking breaks are key to doing any long distance trips, whether in the car or on a bike. For me, 100-miles is a good stopping point. Get off the bike, walk around, get a drink of water, stretch, and rub the rear a bit.
Head Protection
Another aspect of riding are the bugs. Yes, I hit that plague of grasshoppers in North Dakota but aside from that, a motorcycle still collects a fair number of bugs along the way. Whether to do a daily cleaning or wait until the ride is over is a controversy I won’t delve into but I bring up the bug issue as it relates to wearing a helmet. The whole helmet issue is EXTREMELY controversial in the riding community and is probably the most divisive one there is. Some claim that laws requiring a helmet encroaches on their personal freedoms as riding without one makes them feel free. Back in the day, like 40-years ago, I’d ride without one from time to time but, now, I am a helmet wearer and, for me, it’s ATGATT (All The Gear, All The Time.)
Not only will a helmet protect my head in case I get off the bike while doing speed, it also protects me from the bugs, especially the big ones. My windshield does a pretty good job of either catching or deflecting most insects but my face shield and the helmet itself still pick up a fair number of splats. But what the helmet really protects me from are those big bugs that seem to dive straight down on me, like really big bugs the size of bumblebees or larger. I have had them hit the helmet with a loud “ping” that jerks my head back a little. Without the protection of a helmet, that’d leave a mark.
Another level of protection that the helmet provides is that it reduces the noise level that my ears are exposed to. I already have tinnitus, that constant ringing or buzzing in the ears that comes from age, rock concerts, construction noise, and other forms of abuse they have suffered and I don’t want to add to it. I wear a Shoei GT Air II helmet that had pretty good sound ratings, especially in terms of sound that the helmet itself can add. I also wear some foam earplugs that give me a little more protection and they don’t hinder my hearing the navigation commands or the music that plays over my headphones.
And, of course, with my head being follically challenged, the helmet keeps the sun off, just another way it adds protection. Getting on the bike without the helmet feels as naked as driving a car without a seatbelt.
A final thought regarding age and riding…I started riding when I was about 18 (not counting the years on mini bikes before that) and I rode for 2 years before being called up for military service. When I returned and bought another bike, I did 50,000-miles over the next 8-years which included 2 cross country road trips. Then there was a 37-year break. Now that I am back to it, what differences do I notice?
Aside from the fact that my 2021 Yamaha FJR1300ES is quite a bit more bike than my old ‘66 Honda 305 or my ‘76 Honda CB750, I am aware of being WAY more cautious than in the past. In those old days I would get on anything with two-wheels and just go. I wasn’t a crazy rider. I didn’t pop wheelies. I didn’t speed (much). I just liked to ride. When I returned to it, I was acutely aware that I was, I’ll fully admit it, scared. It took a while to get my riding legs back under me, something this trip facilitated, and I attribute much my reticence to wisdom that comes with age.
As a former high school teacher, one thing I learned about the young is their sense of invincibility, fearlessness, and impulsiveness. Luckily, I have moved beyond those feelings and approach these new challenges with respect for the fragility of the human body, knowledge of how long it takes to heal, and a healthy distrust for anyone behind the wheel of a car. Sometimes I find myself overthinking the physics of how the motorcycle is handling. I initially thought I had to reconnect with the bike, become at one with it but now I find that it is the road that I need to be at one with and the bike is just a tool that allows me to do that.
Riding while older is still fun. It’s exciting. It’s head-clearing. I’m very happy that I’ve returned to it.
No comments:
Post a Comment