Touring Tips: How to Ride Long Distance Like a Pro
I ride an average of 9,000 miles per year, more than half of which is during long-distance trips. Those miles have occurred without a single get-off and took place during all types of weather and road conditions. During that time and over those miles I’ve learned a few things, some of which are included below. Most of these tips pertain to long-distance touring rather than short single-day trips or commuting. 1. Take classes and practice specific skills. Take the Basic Rider’s Course from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation to get your endorsement, then after 5-10,000 miles, take a more advanced course.
Never underestimate the V-Strom
It was a beautiful Spring weekend and I rode 330 miles (210 Saturday, 120 Sunday) to take advantage of the weather. Saturday was a convoluted route up the Clackamas River to Ripplebrook, down to Stayton for lunch, over to Silver Falls State Park, then back home to Sandy. Sunday was up the Clackamas yet again, this time past Ripplebrook up NF46 to where I got stopped by snow on the road several miles past Austin Hot Springs (at the junction with 4660 if you care). There were a lot of bikes out and a fair share of slow cars. Saturday
A snowy ride
I wanted to test my new Firstgear Kathmandu overpants in bad weather and that’s exactly what happened over the weekend. Cutting to the chase, the pants performed admirably but that’s not the interesting part of the story. Keep in mind, it’s the middle of March and Spring officially starts tomorrow. March in western Oregon can be mild and meek and pleasant, and it can also be hellish and fickle and tumultuous. So far, it’s definitely been the latter. It was sprinkling lightly when I left the house but I had honest-to-goodness rain within a few miles. My goal was to
March ride with Firstgear Kathmandu overpants
We had a rare, almost Spring-like sunny day over the weekend so I took advantage of the nice weather and gave my new Firstgear Kathmandu overpants a 130-mile test. The first pair I ordered from MotorcycleSuperstore.com were size 32, and based on reviews, they were supposed to be true to size. They were. However, they were a little snug in my belly, which wasn’t the pants’ fault, so I sent them back and exchanged them for size 34s. They fit perfectly. The Firstgear Kathmandu pants are meant for adventure-touring and have numerous features that are suited for that type of
Getting the gunk out
One of the downsides of riding a dual-sport bike is grease and dust make a mess of the working parts. During a routine oil change, I decided to pull the plastic housing away from the clutch linkage and front sprocket. An hour later I had scraped away the semi-solid layers of gunk. It was a coagulation of road dust and chain lubricant. Anytime I ride on a gravel road or ride in the rain, I clean and lube my chain. But the dust is especially nasty as it gets everywhere and it eventually needs to be removed. Adventure touring is
Silverton and Ripplebrook
I took the day off Friday. Although we had a stiff east wind, the sun was shining and it was relatively warm for this time of year. I spent the middle part of the day riding 160 miles, first south through Molalla to Silverton, where I had lunch (waffle and bacon and mocha) at the Silver Creek Cafe, then backtracked to Estacada where I headed east up the Clackamas River highway to Ripplebrook Ranger Station. I stopped for a few minutes to let my hands warm up before heading back down the river to home. There were a few bikes
Zoom, zoom!
Lately I’ve only had time for short rides on weekends, and when weather and errands allowed, the occasional commute to work. As a result, when I ride, I want to make it count. I’m fortunate that I live next to some tasty roads that remain snow-free 99% of the year. They tend to be through rural or semi-rural areas and are a diverse blend of curve types and elevation changes. This makes them excellent rides to keep my skills sharp during the off-season. The downside to these short but challenging rides is the lack of a proper warm-up period. It’s
Upper 20′s into work this morning
The street outside my house looked like white velvet under the street light. I crossed my driveway and scuffed my boots across the fuzzy white surface to see if it was slippery. Although it looked intimidating, it felt like bare pavement. I decided to give it a try. The temperature was in the upper 20′s when I rolled my bike out of the garage and started it up. Although we had a little bit of freezing fog during the night, the mist had dissipated and I could see stars overhead. My pre-dawn commute would be the first of the week;
Riding across the metro area
Saturday I rode to Beaverton on the other side of the Portland metropolitan area to visit my good friend, Keith. We used to work together at a dot-com and haven’t seen each other for nine years. He’s thinking about getting into motorcycling so in addition to the visit among friends it was also a chance to have a little Q&A about bikes, riding, safety, training, etc. The ride itself was about what you’d expect. I took expressways (Highway 26, I-84, I-405, and Highway 26 again) to get there as it was the fastest way across the city. Traffic was thick
Additional blog
As if I don’t already have enough going on in my life already, I’ve started another blog — my third. This one chronicles my journey toward writing and publishing a fantasy novel. You can check it out here: www.ruckerworks.net/writer/
