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Your favorite ride ever and the bike and who you were with

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humanrace

humanrace

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Bryan, TX
First Name
Dennie
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Spears
I started this thread to supplement the Bucket list thread. I hope to get many ideas.

Viet Nam Veterans memorial by way of the Blue Ridge parkway and the tail-the ride was planned in 1968 and ridden more than 30 years later.
ZRX 1100.:rider:
I had to be alone for this ride.
 
Mine was also a trip to Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. I was on my trusty Strom and by my lonesome. Not much planning, just a bunch of riding, and some thinking.

Ride to Oblivion
 
My dad and I took a pretty awesome trip out to the Blue Ridge Parkway, where we also rode the Cherohala Skyway and Tail of the Dragon. It's tempting to choose that ride because it was a big undertaking, involved lots of planning and it was *my dad*, but it wasn't my favorite ride ever.

I think the best was my second trip out here to scout out home sites in New Mexico with my wife. We were both on our Guzzis, we had a lot of free time to explore wherever and it involved us planning and dreaming a lot of important stuff for our future.

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Favorite #1 is Alaska for 5 weeks in 83. On an 81 GoldWing. With my friend Bob Lake from Tulsa.
I have about a hundred favorites though. :sun:
 
Northern California PCH, no contest. 2000 miles on my K1200s with 2 long term riding buds. I will do it again.

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Mine is last year's ride through Colorado, starting at Raton, NM and returning there 6 days later. It was in mid September and the weather was incredible as was the mostly deserted roads. My first time living out of saddle bags, a trip I will always remember.
 
I've had a number of memorable rides over the years. Colorado, Montana, Swiss Alps, and others. All of them hard-wired into my memory.

But my favorite ride was with my then 13 year old son on a 2003 Concours. It was our first long father-son-only ride together and we rode up to Wisconsion for the Oshkosh Fly-In.

He now rides his own, '07 FZ1, we attended yesterday's pie run in Godley. Also rode down to the Hill Country in April for his first time to ride the 3 Twisted Sisters.
 
:tab Wow... favorite ride... :ponder: That is NOT an easy question!! There have been favorite trips, favorite days within trips, etc,... I don't think I could pick just one. Heck, even a top ten would be tough, hehe.

:tab Way back in 2002, I did a weekend run up to Arkansas to ride as many roads as I could in three days of hard riding. Each day of riding was one of those days where I hit every apex perfect, was smooth, etc,... Beth came up for the last day and we did 540 miles two up on the VFR, blasting all over Northern Arkansas. Even with her on the bike, I was just in that groove and she was there to enjoy it with me. The roads were great, the weather great, and the company great... That day is definitely up there if not the top...

:tab Then there are several big trips to North Carolina, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Mexico. All of them were incredible adventures with great folks. The VFR 800's, R1150GS, and KLR 650 have all been great bikes.
 
Last summer I trucked the Transalp to Knoxville TN. My daughter was going to spend the week at a church camp there. We drove the Natchez Trace on the way up then I left her and the truck in Knoxville and rode the tail of the Dragon, parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway, through Smokey Mountain NP, and a side trip to visit family in Columbia SC. The drive home with the daughter took us through Nashville, on parts of the Trace we skipped on the way up, and Vicksburg to see the battlefield.

All and all one of my favorite vacations. I got some fantastic riding in and got to show my daughter parts of the country she'd never seen. Plus we did it slow enough to enjoy it.

The fact that I only got to do part of the Blue Ridge is why it is on my bucket list.
 
1972. XL250. Tennessee to California to Alaska, to Quebec to Nova Scotia to New York to North Carolina to Tennessee. Just under 17,000 miles. 12 weeks.
 
Mexico trip (Big Bend, Copper Canyon, Mazatlan, Ferry, Baja, LA & Vegas) in February of 08 with a near-lifelong friend; both on KLR's. I've gone back to Mexico a few times since but that trip was the best.

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8 days, TX, NM, CO late Sept. Pictured is highway leading out of Silverton, CO to Ouray.
solo
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KenH said:
1972. XL250. Tennessee to California to Alaska, to Quebec to Nova Scotia to New York to North Carolina to Tennessee. Just under 17,000 miles. 12 weeks.
Click to expand...

Wow. I rode a 250 from coast to coast (then shipped to Hawaii) and thought that was an accomplishment. I bow down to you O king of the small bike/long trip.
 
humanrace said:
Wow. I rode a 250 from coast to coast (then shipped to Hawaii) and thought that was an accomplishment. I bow down to you O king of the small bike/long trip.
Click to expand...

Small bike touring is easier for me. Heavy bikes are too much work on back roads with lower speed limits. I like to slow down and smell the road kill. Today my weapon of choice is a TW 200, which has toted me through many 400-700 mile days, even 1024 miles in 21 hours.
 
Favorite ride was a solo one taking me from San Antonio through to Utah, then over to Nebraska. About 3700 miles in 4 days, on my 2000 ZX9R. There was plenty to see on that one, but Utah was by far the most varied and scenic segment. I also experienced my first ride through an honest to goodness sandstorm in southern Utah.
 
Mine was way back in 1973. I was headed east from San Francisco until the sun went down. I ended up east of Ely, Nevada on a two lane (little used) road so I pulled off.

Put my 73 Triumph Daytona on its side stand, rolled up my jacket for a pillow, unrolled my blanket, laid down next to the bike in the ditch. Perfectly clear night without a soul in site, I stared up at the milky way until falling asleep. I felt like the only person on earth, because there was not a sound from civilization all night.
 
It's a toss up so far - rode home from Breckenrideg, CO to Plano, TX riding 700+ miles in one day. The temps were 36 degrees in CO when I left and 100+ all the way across Texas. It was my first long ride and I proved to myself that I could do it. On this ride I was on the GoldWing which is an amazing long distance machine.

In April of this year I rode the Triumph Sprint to the Ozark Mountain Rat Raid - that was a great trip too. Below are some pictures from the Rat Raid.

In July of this year my wife went with me to Eureka Springs and we rode all over NW Arkansas for a couple of days. That was a lot of fun too.

But maybe the best is yet to come. I'm flying into SLC, UT and picking up an Electra Glide and spending a week riding through UT and CO - so looking forward to getting away from this heat. Then I'll do a mad dash from CO back home - praying this heat is over when the time comes for the trip.
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For sure, the 50 First Dates ride, 7 weeks and just shy of 7000 miles with good times in most of the western states.

Burgmans rock.
 
I know mine is puny compared to everyone else's, but I don't feel bad since my riding experience is equally puny. ;-)

In the month or two I've been riding, my absolute favorite so far was my first time getting out on highway 67 and really opening up a little bit. My little Ninja 500 isn't any kind of fearsome beast, but twisting my wrist and watching the needle climb on the big, flat, straightaways was a real thrill after sticking to 45-50 mph for the most part.

The "holy crap, I'm going this fast and it's just me, no windshield, no seat belts, no nothing..." really made me feel like I was flying low, for a while. I couldn't stop grinning.
 
Road to Lake City, CO south from HWY 50. 1992 TDM850, by myself.
Next best, Big Bend TX, 1986 Ninja 600, my buddies from San Antonio
back when you could ride the park faster than 45MPH w/o going to jail.
 
Every ride I ever took with my brother. He passed away three years ago, much too young, from an illness. He loved riding more than anyone I've ever known. I sure do miss those rides.
 
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Has to be my first trip to Big Bend, December 2007. Rode around the desert on my XR-250, with Elzi on her Sherpa. Roger led us around to the good spots. Rode nearly every day, sometimes as little as eleven miles and then walking, looking, and photographing where we were. To borrow words from an old John Denver song it was like "coming home to a place I'd never been before".
 
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