Ride When You Can
Long distance riding is a relative thing. Before cancer, I rode 9 hours one day in a meandering, unplanned sojourn to see my dad and brother. I took one of dad’s famous “short cuts” (missed a crucial turn out in the middle of nowhere) and ended up closer to Spokane, about two hours north of my intended route, and then took side roads and country highways to get back on track. It was a hundred degrees that day, and the sun was high above me so I didn’t notice I was going north instead of west, and honestly, I didn’t care. I’d ride an hour, stop, drink water and douse myself to cool off, and then ride another hour. It was glorious and I arrived at the farm at sunset, worn out, satisfied, and serene. Spent a few great days with my brother and his family and my dad, and then came home through the Columbia River Gorge in the middle of the night.
Last year, about 41 months out from my initial bone cancer diagnosis and a little less than three years from the stem cell transplant that put me into remission, I took a short, five-day trip up to Moab via Four Corners and Kayenta, AZ and then came back down through Colorado to meet up with Katie at Pagosa Springs. Even riding less than 300 miles a day wore me out. I stayed in hotels because my bones are old. The Universe has given me another year, and I’m stronger now, so it’s time for the longer trip.
This summer the stars look to be lining up for a solo trip north to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and west and then some meandering path home. Other than Jackson, I don’t have any planned destinations or even routes. I might come back along the coast, but I’d also love to see Lake Tahoe.
I think four hours, maybe five a day will be plenty. Avoiding big interstates, averaging 50 miles an hour, that’s a measly (by Iron Butt standards) 200 miles. However, I am in no hurry. I not only turned down summer classes for the first time in 11 years, but I also resigned my teaching position so I can focus on creative work.
I want to travel light. Laundromats are my friends. Hotels and motels sound like a solid option. Also, I am not setting an agenda. Ride when I can, rest when I must. I’m thinking that the first day I’ll try to make it to Pagosa Springs, but even that is up in the air. Colorado is north. What if I went west first? I don’t want to go east. Not this year. Or south, to Mexico, although that sounds appealing, too. North of me is Jackson Hole, Wyoming and the Grand Tetons, and Glacier National Park, and I can swing through Portland and see our son, and maybe down through central Oregon to see my brother, although they are both apt to move at any time. Still, the Rockies are magnificent, and east and south of me is mostly desert, although there is beauty there as well.
Jackson Hole is the main goal. Everything else is ancillary.
Last year I used a Saddlemen S3500 Deluxe slipped over the passenger backrest to hold my clothes and other gear. This spring I bought a Viking Hard Trunk. I went with the Viking because it’s $350 cheaper than the Harley branded Tour-Pak that matches the basket weave of my saddlebags, and a couple hundred cheaper than the plain Harley Tour-Pak, both of which boast 2,500 cubic inches of storage space even though the exterior dimensions are 17x18.5x13 which would seem to indicate storage space just under 4,100 cubic inches. In any case, I’m using the 4,100 number to compare to the Viking, which has published exterior dimensions of 19.5x18.5x11.5, or 4150 cubic inches. So they seem comparable. Also, the Viking locks, and I’ll only use it for trips like this, so matching is not my highest criteria, although I will say, from the perspective of a business professor, Harley does a great job of making the brand important. I’d really love to have the matching bags. It was the price-point that pushed me toward the after-market solution.
Before I leave, I’ll have the dealer mount new tires (probably stick with the blackwalls instead of going back to the original whitewalls - they’re just so much more work to keep clean) and check the front rotors and the rear engine mount. There’s something a bit jangly going on there. Last year I replaced the front and rear shocks with Legends, and the front motor mount with a high-tech aftermarket part, but the rear engine mount looked like a job to be done when the tires are changed, and I don’t want to do that myself. If the rotors are a bit warped, I’ll go with floating rotors. I want the extra stopping power, especially on that 800 pound bike, fully loaded.
Between last year and this,
I created a checklist.
Here’s my plan:
Left saddlebag = cooler (I have one shaped to fit)
Right saddlebag = rain gear, bike cover, tool kit
Trunk = camping gear
Rack on top of trunk = extra helmet and a place to lash other items such as leather chaps when I take them off during the day
Saddlemen luggage = sits on the passenger seat between me and the hard trunk for clothing and sundries
I also have a cool thigh bag that Katie bought for me to hold my phone, reading glasses, etc.
I do want to camp some along the way, but two things are making me hesitate.
First, the gear. Tent, sleeping bag, pad, coffee pot, camp stove, maybe one of the little folding chairs from the back of the Jeep. I could stuff all that in a dry bag, try to keep it down around 10 pounds total. Lash it to the top of the Tour Pak. Still, it’s that much more stuff.
Second, I think I was in my early thirties on a fishing trip with my brother, sleeping on a camping pad in a tent, when I decided that I was too old for that shit. I’m sixty one now.
Also, looking at the cost of $34 tent campsites that I probably have to reserve in advance versus 2.5✭ hotels that I can catch on the fly for less than $40, why would I want to camp when I can crash (sorry) in a real bed under a roof with heat and lights and a shower and maybe wifi and laundry facilities for about the same price?
If I take camping gear, I can put that in a dry bag and lash it to either the top of the trunk or to the rear luggage rack. I bought a two-up mount for the trunk so Katie and I can use it for picnics if we want to, and a solo mount that puts it right behind me for the long trip.
In any case, I have the Saddlemen bag, the hard luggage, the saddlebags, and I might add a windshield bag if I can find one I like at a decent price.
We got a little camp stove at REI that’ll be great for boiling water for morning coffee, and on a whim I bought dehydrated Phad Thai. That night we lit a fire in the Solo Stove in the backyard and enjoyed a campfire and used the new JetBoil Zip to prepare our dinner. I think I’ll pack one just in case, not Phad Thai though. I suspect it will come all the way around the west side of the country intact unless I get really, really hungry and there is just no other option.
So, other than the overall mechanical check, my prep is about over and I still have two or three months until I plan to leave. Time to improve stamina and mental conditioning and dream of long days on an open road with the sun on my shoulders and face, and there are tons of cool camping spots close to home where we can car camp and that will help determine the amount of gear I’m going to take. I think I’ll do some moto camping in the meantime as well.
I hope I see you out there on the wide open roads this summer! As we used to say when I was undergoing treatment, ride when you can, rest when you must.