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70-Year-Old Guy Out-Rides Me In His Trike (Can Am)
- Thread starter Pegassus
- Start date
Back in 2010 I wanted to ride to Barber Museum and then head over to the Natchez Trace in Mississippi. As I crossed the border from Alabama into Mississippi the road quality difference was pretty impressive. The road was nice and smooth in Alabama and it was littered with tar snakes right up to the edge of the state line within Mississippi, to the point I thought it was sad but funny. From the Alabama side looking into Mississippi I could also see many tire carcasses from blowouts of years gone by, but that stuff had clearly been cleaned up on the Alabama side. The Natchez Trace itself was a slow meandering ride - nothing technical and so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but I did stay at a free campground in Mississippi near the Lewis Meriwether monument which was great. I found the few people I talked to in Mississippi at the campground, the gas stations and restaurants to be super nice and very helpful. I usually avoid cities so I can't speak to the crime, but you can easily feel and sense how poor the state is while riding through.
It can obviously get crazy hot down there too - in early October I was roasting at what was well over 30deg - felt closer to 40 every day.
As a counter to that I tried to make Chicago on a single tank in the Mercedes diesel back in the 80s and was running out just passing by the industrial hell that is South Chicago.
Pulled into the city and with trepidation found a diesel station.
They were are nice as could be and point me to the best way back to the highway.
I briefly met and shook the ham ....er hand of Mohammed Ali on that trip as the main hotels were full so we signed up for one of the less popular areas ...he was gracious and was already visibly suffering the shakes. Still an interesting moment. I've travelled a lot internationally including to a couple very poor regions but generally felt safe even in Sierra Leone ( pre blood diamonds ).
Chicago is really interesting. The black areas just south of chicago proper are technically "to be avoided" areas, but I found the people there to be very happy and friendly (I wasn't there at night though). Where I had problems was south of Comiskey park in a hispanic neighbourhood.
On a different trip, I came very close to running a diesel dry. I was trying to find fuel south of chicago and was already well into reserve. I knew the car was good for at least 70 km after the light came on. I was at 60 and hunting for fuel. This is pre-smartphone times. Not a whole lot of diesel stations south of chicago apparently. The first one I went to had me at 80 km on reserve and had a very friendly sign "We are at church and you should be too. Have a good day." Bollocks. By the time I found diesel I was at 115 km after the light came on. Not stumbling yet, but damn, too close for me.
C'mon really? I don't ride more than 300 km's a day, its tiresome. I ride a Kawasaki Zr-7s, looks like a SV-650. No way in hell you ride that many km's in a day with a supersports, you must have a cruiser.
I cannot ride nearly that far on a cruiser. I need my feet under me to be comfortable on a bike. Standard/adv bikes for me normally.
I suppose it all depend on your willingness. To try at least.
I remember years ago, I went on a ride that was organized by members on here. Started in Scarborough, Uxbridge, Kawarthas, 507, Haliburton, Huntsville, and back to TO.
Approx 1100 kms of all day riding. Some stops for gas, food etc.
I was on a 2000 R6. I was in less pain than doing a stretch from Cornwall ON to Toronto on my way back from the east coast trip on the same bike.
I want to try and do the same or similar trip this year.
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Riding 1,000 km and ending the trip in my own home is boring and pointless. I would love to ride that 1,000 km's to see my family members in Virginia, U.S.A...... or maybe take a summer ride to Montreal in a group ride and stay there in a hotel and the come back to Toronto.
There are some smart people who send their motorcycles ahead of them to southern California and take an airplane there, ride their bikes for a long weekend and then fly back to Toronto, their bikes are shipped back to Toronto.
I agree, out of those 1,000 km's only the first 300 are pleasurable, the rest is pure sado-masochism.
Not everyone has relatives/friends in other parts of the country to go and see. Also you can't always go for an overnight trip due to work family.
I personally would prefer to ride the bike to Cali instead of shipping. And not everyone is able to (financialy) to ship the bike there and back and fly.
WOW, thats cool in a way.
I thought me tenting with an R6 throughout the east coast (minus NL) in 11 days was crazy. I did have a better set up for luggage but still not the most touring friendly riding position.
Yes I read the entire 3 pages, including the Sea-Doos "are boring" & "are fun" posts, the south Chicago posts, the canadian mechanic who got a job at Mississipi's largest dealership with only a crayola and a pulse and the drastic change on the roads when you cross from Alabama to Mississippi.
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And yet you still insist that anyone riding more than 300km a day is a masochist?
My aforementioned long distance riding buddy tagged me earlier on a Beartooth Highway video. It was on our "want to do" list last year when we rode to Sturgis/Wyoming, but it was a last minute scratch so that we could spend more time in the Black Hills instead.
He suggested we head out there again..and hey, why not hit CA while we're out there.
We'd leave tomorrow and be there in 2.5 days if it wasn't for all this stupidity.
Keep it going, keep it going. It's a refreshing change from the 250 Covid threads we have as the alternative right now. ?
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