2. What I Like About Riding

What is it about riding a motorcycle that I enjoy so much that I am willing to put up with both the physical and financial hardships of a trip like this?  To be honest, I don’t really know.  “Happiness,” in the emotional sense, seems to be correlated with the physical presence of endorphins in the brain. Something about riding causes my brain to release endorphins.  Something about being outside (even in a helmet and protective suit) and moving rapidly through “real” (as opposed to “virtual”) reality puts a smile on my face.  Even if the weather is hot, or cold, or raining. Maybe because of it.  I love air conditioning most of the time, but being exposed to the outside world is definitely part of the appeal. 

Not all riding situations produce the same effect.  Two lane roads seem to produce more endorphins than four-laners, and four-laners more than Interstates.  (If I’m driving a car, I will take the Interstate every time; but on a motorcycle, where it’s more about the journey than the destination, smaller roads are better.  Well, except in cities, where stop lights and heavy traffic rebalance the equation.  Stop-and go traffic on a motorcycle produces whatever the opposite of endorphins are.)  Sunny days are better than cloudy days.  I don’t mind riding in rain or in the dark, but it doesn’t produce the same degree of joy.  Riding in the dark and the rain simultaneously is no fun at all.  Saddle bliss is inversely proportional to traffic; empty roads are easily the best.

I like both straightaways and “twisties,” for different reasons.  Strait roads allow you to get into a sort of zone where your mind can wander to a time and a place, or the mysteries of life, or to nothing at all.  Part of the mind is tied up with keeping the bike upright and in the lane, and that seems to allow another part to explore on its own. For some reason this doesn’t work (for me at least) in a car.  It also doesn’t seem to work as well when I’m traveling with others; company is great, but to get into that zone you need solitude.  Below is a photo of a favorite straightaway in Virginia, from 2014.

 

Route 231, looking north, in Piedmont, Virginia

Twisties – up and down, sharp turns – require all of your attention, and this can be relaxing in a different way.  No thinking here, just trying to be one with the road.  I like the sensation of banking to turn, with all the force driving you straight through the bike rather than shoving you from side to side.  There is also something cool, viscerally, about balancing the centripetal forces of turning against the gravitational forces of leaning, with your well-being literally as well as figuratively in the balance.

If you are going to ride a motorcycle, you have to find a place to ride to.  I guess I could just ride endless loops around the Washington DC beltway, and I do have certain trips that I like to take every year, but there is an attraction to drive down roads you have never been down before.  So, you might as well pick some place that you would like to see, right?  I’ve never been to Alaska or either of the Dakotas, so why not.  While I’m at it, I have never been to Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, or the Arctic Ocean.  So those should be on the itinerary.  Of course, I have never been to South America at all; but hey, I don’t want to get carried away here. 

From my own experience, supported by what I’ve read, 250 miles is a good amount of distance to travel in a day while touring on a motorcycle.  This gives you a lot of hours in the saddle, and also gives you time to dismount and explore interesting things along the way.  In addition to interesting scenery, I am a big fan of museums.  I like big museums, but I’m especially fond of those small ones that tell the story of the local region and are usually manned by volunteers.  I have yet to find one that I did not enjoy.  A great deal of the planning of this trip has gone into finding interesting things to see and explore in between saddle sessions.