On 12/8/2022 4:34 PM, sticks wrote:
I like most of you, probably, love riding in the places most people
aren't at. I would be happy if I never had to go to another city again.
Anyway, I recently have read a few books describing touring on a bike.
The first was the classic "Zen and the Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance,"
by Robert Pirsig. Though fiction, this one takes place in 1968, and
speaks of places he actually was in his life. The book does have a lot
more to say than just riding motorcycles, and I found his philosophical writing very interesting (though his next book "Lila" I liked more), but riding along on his journey was very enjoyable.
I then found "Ghost Rider" (1998), followed up by "Roadshow" (2004).
These two were written by Neil Peart, who is the drummer for the
Canadian rock group Rush. Now this guy was something. He rode all over the world. And he really put on the miles. He had many 500 over more
mile days, and then performed in the evening the same day. The first
book detailed I think about 55,000 miles ridden. He just never stopped.
His wife and daughter had died and riding was all he knew to do, just
keep moving as he put it. In Roadshow, he accumulated 21,000 miles
riding to and from venues for the R30 concert tour in North America and Europe.
I wish I could do what he did, but I ain't worth $40million either. But
to end here, a few interesting stats from the second ride:
19 different countries
21,000 miles
12 oil changes
5 sets of Tires
34 Bottles of The Macallan
Speaking of which, I'll have one. Plastics on the bar.
Oh, forgot to mention the other thing I admired. His willingness and
ability to ride in the rain. I know we're kind of spoiled here in the
Midwest where I live, compared to other areas as far as rain goes. If
it's supposed to rain, we usually try to route our way way around it, or
wait it out. That said, I did do a lot more heavy rain riding this year
than I usually do. I had about 5 days where I had to ride 60-70 miles
in heavy rain, with a passenger. I will admit, the more you do it, the
easier it becomes, though still can be unnerving at times.
I did lower the windshield this year, and though it greatly enhanced my
usual rides being able to look completely over the plastic, it also
meant there was nothing to duck down behind when the rains came. I did, however, start keeping a helmet with me this year. That worked really
good in medium to light rain, but with the heavy stuff, once it got
under the visor and got the glasses wet, it too was hard to see. I
don't think I've got it figured out yet how to safely ride long
distances in the rain. I never told my passenger how bad it was trying
to see in those conditions. She would have shit.
Back to Neil Peart, he seemed to ride in the rain all the time. Now he
was on a much lighter and probably better handling bike, a BMW R1100GS,
but still, man he rode in the rain a lot. Definitely admirable.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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