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| The left book we got in 1972, probably from my folks. The right book I probably scammed from our rummage sale a couple of years ago. |
Want
to take a ride? Want to make it epic, something to tell your grandkids about?
Plan it, or fuhgeddaboudit.
I’ve
been in the doldrums* as a rider and writer for so long I am embarrassed. And
yes, riding and writing can certainly be connected though not inevitably. I’ve
used riding to prime the pump for my writing, this might be an attempt to reverse
things.
*Doldrums,
as defined by my friend Webster is a spell of listlessness or despondency or a
state or period of inactivity, stagnation, or slump.
It
seems that if I don’t plan it, it won’t happen, even taking the bike to church.
If a ride is going to be epic or otherwise memorable, the plan needs to be well
put together but allow for some spontaneity.
Some
considerations for a good ride plan might include:
- Destination and/or route. Do you have one or the other, or both? I’ll list some of my ideas below.
- Riding alone or with others?
- The motorcycle.
- Capability of the rider.
- The Calendar, including weather patterns therein.
- Money.
Destination
and/or route: It might make
a fine ride to simply through your leg over the bike and take off but reaching the
epic status will take filling in some of the items in a solid plan on the fly.
Pick a place, pick a route, then plan. I’ve had a couple of routes and destinations
wafting by at the back of my mind. I suggest writing them down and having a tried
and true list:
- Route 66, end-to-end.
- Pacific Coast route, Canada to Mexico
- Reno Street Vibrations
- Ride To The Flags (a charity ride I’ll be taking)
- Make one up to fit all the other plan considerations.
- I would like to hear your dreams…
Riding
alone or with others?”: For
me, this could be a case of “Plan it and they will come”. Often a group of
friends and riding-mates create a synergy and an epic ride emerges. Even so,
this is no guarantee you’ll take the epic ride. I was on the verge of taking
one and then regrettably dropped out toward the end of the planning phase. It
would have been epic and would have completed the ride I did as a kid but which
had to be cut short.
Start
the planning and talk about it (or write about as I am doing) with your rider
community and maybe it will turn into a group ride. Or start talking and see
what develops.
Or
maybe, a solo ride is one of your primary objectives. Fine then, be that way.
The
motorcycle: Speaking from
experience, this may be the most critical piece of a well-executed ride plan. My
best friend, Jim McClelland, and I planned and executed an epic ride in the summer
of 1972, we were 18 and 19, respectively. I think we had the orange book
pictured above in hand, probably provided by one of our parents. We violated
one of the key components found in the Table of Contents, pictured below – Selecting
a Touring Machine. We were indestructible, or at that age, felt like we
were. Heck, we took the bikes we had; Jim’s Honda 350 Scrambler and my Honda
CB500. The 350 had a sissy bar and I had a passenger backrest and rack. No wind
management, no saddle bags, not even a tank mounted map case or gear case.
We
left in August following my summer basketball league and practice schedule. We
had rain nearly every other day and snow once on the Million Dollar Highway in
Colorado. By the time we made our exit out of the Western end of Yellowstone
National Park, Jim was burnt toast on his two-cylinder machine and I was nearly
done in myself on my four-cylinder, but small, bike.
Our
plan had been to ride up into Canada to Banff National Park then across to
Washington State and down the coast to home. Canada had not been kind to us in
sending all that rain and we had talked about alternatives. Jim opted to go straight
home. I was chasing a dream of walking onto the Division II basketball team at
Humbolt State College in Arata, California and needed to get there, see the
campus, and pick up paperwork to start that phase of my dream. Had we had
touring bikes, we could have, and certainly would have, braved the weather, and
kept to our plan.
The
facing page of “Two Wheel Travel. Motorcycle Camping and Touring” simply says: “retreat
gracefully”.
Plan
a trip with your bike in mind or get a bike with your trip in mind. Make sure
it is a sound machine from the rubber on the road up through and including the mirrors.
Capability
of the rider: How’s your
health? Plan a ride you are physically, mentally, and emotionally capable of
completing. Keep the Dirty Harry quote in mind, “Man’s got to know his
limitations.” The lowest common denominator for this will be the most limited
rider in your group.
The
Calendar: This is likely
the most limiting factor for my riding. When I got back onto a motorcycle, I
made a personal commitment of my own volition to myself as well as my wife that
I would not ride when it precluded doing something that could be done with the
family. We now have seven grandchildren, a strain on any calendar.
Pick
a ride that fits with your calendar, plan your calendar to fit with your ride.
Do it early so that you can plan your other commitments around your ride. Had I
done that, I’d be heading to Reno Street Vibrations this year. By the time it
did come to my attention, I’d already made a commitment to others on a big event
at church. C’est la vie, as I always say.
Money: This will determine how long you can ride,
if you need to camp even if you’d rather stay in resorts, how you feed
yourself, and what gear you pick up along the way.
Path
forward: It is too late in
this season to plan and execute my Route 66 ride but not too early to start planning
it for next season. So, I’ll start that and see how it goes. I’ll need to get
from Chicago back home so a route back across the country to the start of the
Pacific Coast Route is a possibility.
However,
it is not too late to put together a ride that fits my current calendar. It
might not be epic in the bottom-line sense of the word, but it could be
something special and inspiring. Now, if I can only get the weather to cooperate.
Writing this during the dregs of Hurricane Hilary doesn’t inspire all that much
confidence. But no plan – no ride, and plans can be altered to fit changing
conditions.
Don’t fuhgeddaboudit, plan it. Keep the iron side up while you do.
Jerry
‘Shakespeare’ White
