Two days and counting

D-day minus three.
This is an attempt to explore the state of mind that seems to precede each of my long motorcycle trips. It’s never quite the same, but there are similarities that beg for thoughtful cogitation (…is all cogitation thoughtful, by definition?)

The bike itself is pretty much tweaked…although I will be installing a set of lower engine crashbars in the next day or two. Packing is following its predictable course. That course is an anxiety about getting the list right and a reluctance to finish the job. Several lists and ever-changing piles of stuff are the result. Day by day it gets closer to done, but honestly it could be finished in an hour.

The first half of the route is pretty much set. More could be done on that, but there again there seems to be a psychological reluctance to get things too refined. Maybe it’s a way of allowing for spontaneity or maybe it all has to do with some fear about the trip.

These trips have become a major focal point of my life. They have had a variety of “raisons” but it devolves into a combination of taking on a challenge and getting out into the country and out of my usual life….retired, 67 years old.

The challenge part is not much of an issue any more. In just the last two years I’ve put about 20,000 (mostly) cross-country miles on. Much of that was done on “blue highways.” Although it’s a bit unusual for a person of my age to be making these long motorcycle trips, it’s not unheard of. I’ve really come to love the trips. My love of the trips and of motorcycling in general is based on several things.

First, riding a motorcycle calls for a level of engagement and attention that is totally unfamiliar to anyone who has traveled only by car. You really have to attend (and respond) to everything you can see…and what you can see changes second to second. Road conditions (surface, wet, oil, unevenness, debris, construction work), weather (wind, rain, fog, ice, approaching storms), other vehicles, curves, dogs, deer, birds, pedestrians, shadows, turning vehicles…the list is almost never-ending. A rider has to constantly calculate the potential impact of all of these variables, alone and in combinations, on her well being and make corrections as required. It never stops. That level of required attention is exhausting and exhilarating. Add to that the fact that riding a motorcycle is a much more physically demanding process than driving a car. On a motorcycle turns involve leaning and countersteering, not simply turning a wheel. One has to calculate lean angles, trajectories, and traction for every curve. The bike behaves differently under acceleration than it does while decelerating. One brakes separately with front and rear brakes.

Secondly, riding a motorcycle puts one IN the terrain being traveled. You have the smells, the weather and the visual aspects forced upon you. As trite as it sounds, when on a bike you are a part of the territory in which you are riding. That is totally different from an in-car transit. Most of us have had the experience of driving a car and suddenly wondering how we got where we are at that moment. We have zoned out…been on autopilot. That’s not even a possibility on a motorcycle. Zoning out is closely correlated with fatal accidents.

Beyond those two major aspects of riding, there is for me the pleasant change of reducing my engagement in the world to a very few things. Aside from the stuff discussed above I only have to consider, gas stops, food stops, where to spend the night, whether to take a photo, what route to take…. I can engage, or not, with the people I meet casually on the trip. I generally do, but for the most part I’ll never see them again. It’s like people you meet on a train or plane. Interesting conversations often occur, but the transitoriness of the experience is understood and colors the whole thing.

So it' time to go fool with the piles some more. Refining the refined.

Long time no blog

Been a while. But I haven't been idle since last entry.

There's been a Spring break-out ride to Florida to see my family down there. Highlight of the trip was giving my grandkids a ride on the bike (see photos). And of course, the ongoing effort at setting the bike up to my specs. I've rebuilt some parts (tank bag) and purchased some new things (cylinder protection bars)...and as a result of the trip to Florida, put on some barbacks (Rox Risers).

I'm up to about 7K miles on the bike now and I've done the 6K service. And here it is less than three weeks from departure on the long ride of the summer. My attitude about the trip is different this year. I don't seem to be as anxious as I have often been. Of course, seeing as how these long trips have become an annual event, it's not unreasonable that they should get easier to prepare for. On the other hand, the preparation has a large mental component...and that somehow seldom gets easier.

I'll be posting more in the coming days about the details of the trip and adding to this as the trip goes along.