| Home | Motorcycle Touring | Long-Distance
Riding and Rallies |
By way of
background, I’ve been riding motorcycles since 15 years old (in
Honda 305 Scrambler; Honda CB 750; Honda CB 350; Honda CX500; Honda V45 Magna; Honda GL500 Silverwing; Honda GL1200; and my long-time favorite, a beautiful GL1800. Unfortunately, though, the Wing was just too big, too heavy, and too much bike for my aging body (and mind), so I've switched over to a smaller bike: a Triumph Tiger 1050. I've got a lot of work to get it all accessorized, modified, and farkled up just the way I like it, but hey! that's the fun of owning a bike! To check on the progress of the job, see here: Tiger Upgrade page.
I’m also a member of the American Motorcyclist Association. I formerly belonged to the Gold Wing Road Rider Association, and an article I wrote reviewing the “StayinSafe” motorcycle training program recently appeared in the GWRRA magazine, Wing World. (Click this link for the 4-meg Acrobat .pdf file: "Stayin' Safe Motorcycle Training: Beyond the Parking Lot") Actually, I've done TWO Stayin'Safe training programs now and I highly recommend that program for advanced motorcycle training. In fact, I recommend it as a brush-up every so often, even after the initial training program ... sort of like a "biennual flight review" for pilots.
On the pages here I've added some personal information and resources for motorcycle touring (particularly in the Southeast) and for the long-distance riding and rallies portion of the motorcycle community.
Enjoy,
Skip
Since I spend a fair amount of time on the bike travelling around, I've developed a pretty comprehensive checklist. Here it is, in Word format (so you can modify it to your own needs): Motorcycle Packing Checklist.
For
those looking for information about the motorcycle touring community,
the best source, by far, is the Motorcycle
Tourers Forum. MTF has a number of helpful resources, an
believably informative "forum" where tourers can provide information,
ask questions, and post answers, and it also sponsors a number of rides
throughout the year, ranging from challenging long-distance rides, to
what they call "flower sniffin'" (as in, "stop and sniff the flowers")
alternatives, which are leisurely rides through particularly scenic or
historic areas of the country. MTF also hosts a number of "ride to eat"
(RTE") lunch gatherings, an annual meeting (the "Founder's Feast"), a
pre-Bike Week supper near Daytona Beach, and other events.
Speaking of Bike Week, while that is not my favorite way to spend time on a motorcycle, it is something worth seeing, at least once. Imagine a gathering with you and 400,000 of your closest party-crazy motorcycle buddies. All of whom are riding motorcycles that seem to lost their mufflers. Anyway, I went in 2007, and a video of the experience can be found here: Bike Week 2007 (be careful ... it's a HUGE (24-meg) .wmv file, which could take a L-O-N-G time to download on less than T-1 speeds).
At least twice a year, a long-time motorcycle buddy and I head up into the mountains of North Georgia, Western North Carolina, and Central Tennessee to tour what is some of the best motorcycle country in the entire United States. In North Georgia, a good home base used to be the "Two Wheels Only" (TWO) motorcycle resort, located in Suches, just a short ways north of Dahlonega. Unfortunately, TWO has closed (<sniff> <sniff> <sob> <sob>), although their website still has some good links, including one for a nearby campsite for those who are interested in such things. (As of May 2011, there's a rumor floating around that TWO might reopen at a nearby location ... oh please, oh please, oh please. I'll post something here as soon as it's official.)
In Western North Carolina, we used to stay at the Tapoco Lodge just north of Robbinsville, NC, which is a wonderfully quaint conversion of an old Alcoa executive retreat. Unfortunately, the Tapoco Lodge did not open for the 2009 season; it has been repurchased and is supposed to re-open in Spring 2011. On occasion, we've also stayed at the Fontana Village resort. Although they are not my preferred style of accomodations, there are also numerous motorcycle campgrounds throughout the area.
Fontana
Village and the Tapoco Lodge are
just a short way from the base of the granddaddy of
all twisty
roads … the “Tail
of the Dragon,”
US Highway 129 through
Most of us who live in the Southeast get used to the excellent riding areas that are within a couple hours of our front doors, but for others it can be difficult to find the right time and place to ride. There are lots of websites and other resources that offer ideas for touring in the Southeast, but a few that are worth checking out are:
- Motorcycle Roads U.S.
- AMA "Great Roads" database (requires AMA membership)
- Not an on-line site, but these books on motorcycle touring in the Southern Appalachians are very useful (links are to amazon.com): Volume 1 (North Georgia, Western NC, East TN), Volume 2 (Asheville, Blue Ridge Parkway, and NC High Country), and Volume 3 (VA, Shenandoah Valley, and WV Highlands).
One
recent bit of "touring" lunacy I've embarked upon is trying to
visit all of Georgia's court houses, snapping a photo of my bike in
front of each one. For some weird reason, Georgia has 159 counties,
more than any other state except Texas. (According to legend, county
boundaries were established so that a man could ride his mule to the
county seat, conduct his business, and ride back in one day.) In any
event, the map here shows the locations of all 159 county court houses.
I'm looking forward to it. I've never been to many areas of the state
where some of the more remote counties are located, even though I'm
fond of rural Georgia. In any event, here are the files to each
location, in both Streets & Trips and MapSource
formats. And, in case anyone shares this odd desire to pursue this
elusive (and pointless) objective, here is a checklist of all 159
counties to track your progress: County Checklist (Microsoft Word format).A project that I'm embarking upon is to put some of my favorite riding routes on this page. It will take me a while, but here are a few:
- Deal's Gap, up through rural Tennessee, across the Cherohala Skyway (one of the most beautiful roads in the U.S.), and back to Deal's Gap: 122 miles, approx. 3 to 4 hours. Streets & Trips and MapSource.
- Deal's Gap to Wayah Road (a remarkable combination of hairpin twisties, long sweepers, and stunning scenery), to NC-28 (one of the best twisties in the area), and back to Deal's Gap: 126 miles, 3 hours. Streets & Trips and MapSource.
- A
Georgia "6-Gaps" tour: Starting in Dahlonega and ending up in Helen,
the "long way," through Stone Pile Gap, Wolfpen Gap, Neels Gap, Hogpen
Gap, Jack's Gap and Unicoi Gap.: 87 miles, 3 hours. MapSource.
The
motorcycle
community has its own set of "subcultures." The Harley-Davidson crowd
that frequents Bike Week is one.
The sport-bike riders on their "crotch rockets" are another. There's
also the BMW group, the Honda Gold Wing group with their matching satin
jackets and trailers, the off-road riders, and countless others. One
particularly curious subculture, though, is the long-distance
community, guys who think nothing of riding thousands of miles,
essentially non-stop.
In that regard, I’m a certified member of the “Iron Butt Association” (a group of long-distance motorcycle riders). My "initiation" to the IBA came through a 2006 "Saddle Sore 1000," 1000 miles in less than 24 hours, which, believe it or not, is basically a pretty easy ride. Here is the ride report. Since then, I've done several other SS1000s, a few SS200s (2000 miles in less than 48 hours), but the most challenging ride I've done so far is the "Coast to Coast Quest," riding from Santa Monica CA to Jacksonville FL in less than 45 hours! The ride was a surprisingly enjoyable experience, and I learned a lot about long-distance riding. The CC50 Ride Report (2.5 megs) is also posted here.
Due to a variety of personal issues (one of the most important being I'm too old for such silliness), I've pretty much gotten out of the long-distance riding hobby. Too bad. It is fun.
Page
Last Updated: 18 June 2011