Ride With Tank

Welcome to 2007 everyone! 

2006 was a very excellent year.  We really did reach out and see a lot of places last year.  By my count we rode in 22 different states in 2006!  We made some new friends, saw lots of great places, and not a single serious accident in the whole year on any of the rides.  In fact, we only had one tip over the whole year so we can all be thankful for that.  The only thing that can be said about 2006 that was bad was the rain.  It really did seem like we spent way too much time in the rain.

This year is not going to be as extreme for me.  I am really serious about going to Prudhoe Bay in a few years, so I need to save up some vacation time each year so I can make that trip happen.  It will be a pretty extreme trip, but it will be the trip of a lifetime.  I have reservations in at Deals Gap for Memorial Day weekend, Labor Day weekend, and the week of July 21st.  There are beds available in the room for Memorial and Labor days, if you can put up with my alleged snoring.  I am sure I will be making a few other weekend trips down throughout the season, but I am going to play them by ear.  I am going to try to hit a little more of the central and southern West Virginia roads this year and hopefully I can hook up with the guys on West Virginia Sport Touring.  I have really been wanting to ride with them, but last year was just so busy for me I just could not squeeze it in.

I would encourage anyone who has never set out on a longer distance ride to give it a shot in 2007.  There are many reasons people give for not trying a longer ride.  Rain, heat, cold, pain, and money are the main reasons people never try a longer ride and they all are valid reasons. 

These rides have plenty of times when they really are just not very fun.  These are also the reasons these rides are so special.  Some people will come home from a difficult ride and realize that this type of riding is not for them and will never do it again.  For others the sickness will set in, and it really is a sickness.  These trips become not just a vacation, but an adventure.  You still do not enjoy riding in the rain all day or freezing to death, but the payoff you get is worth any suffering you may go through.  Some of your best memories will be memories of these difficult rides.  Last year we crossed Rocky Mountain National park in the most miserable conditions you can imagine:  35 degrees,  70 mph wind,  fog, snow, rain, sleet.  Even people in cars where not crossing the mountains.  It really was not a lot of fun when we were doing it, but it has become one of the fondest memories of the trip.  Mark said it best:  “When we were coming across those mountains, I felt alive.”

These rides also don’t have to cost a lot of money.  Saving money can be part of the adventure.  Camping is available for $15 or less a night.  Motel Six charges on average $35 per night.  Two people to a room and your cost is down to $17.  McDonalds will sell you a double cheeseburger for $1.  You still have to eat even if you stay home.  Gasoline is the only expense that you really can not cut back on.  Even still, most bikes get at least 40mpg, so a 400 mile day burns 10 gallons of gasoline, $25.  So here is what a day of adventure costs on a motorcycle if you bunk up with someone:

$56.50 a day for memories that will last a lifetime.  Some of you are riding bikes you paid nearly $20,000 for!  Anyone who can afford a motorcycle can afford to travel on it.  A two day, 800 mile ride would only cost $100.00.  I’ll bet a lot of you spend more than half of that just to take the family out to dinner.