Motorcycling lessons learned: #10 Explore

March 31, 10:55 AMMotorcycle ExaminerKen Bingenheimer

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The green route was an exploration. The yellow route would have just been getting there.

Choosing the road less traveled can make all the difference, and that definitely applies to your own established routes. What I mean is that even if you have favorite routes that avoid the traffic and are really sweet rides, you need to shake things up on occasion. Who knows, you may find something even better.

You know, the longer you live somewhere the more often you ride the same roads just to get out of town. They can be roads other people come from thousands of miles away to ride, but if you've ridden them 500 times you're probably a bit jaded.

Let me give you an example. As the OFMC headed out on our summer trip one year we were headed north and west. Right off the bat, John decided he would lead us out of the Denver metro area and on up to Loveland on a lesser road we had never taken. I don't even remember what road it was, and I ought to ask him because it was really nice. And I never knew it was there.

Then, after John got us to Loveland, I took over the lead and showed the guys another road I knew about that they had never seen. This was the Buckhorn Canyon/Stove Prairie route that gets you into the Poudre Canyon without having to come anywhere near the congestion of Fort Collins. And this time it was John's turn to say "Wow, I never knew this road existed."

Heading out another year, this time going to the Sturgis rally, we were figuring to just jump on I-25 and blast. But no. John suggested we go up U.S. 85 through Brighton and Greeley and reach Cheyenne that way. Again, this was a sweet little ride, and I had never been on 85 north of Greeley. And practically anything is preferable to blasting on the superslab anyway.

Maps and spontaneity are your best friends when it comes to keeping it fresh. In our group, John is Mr. Maps. John has a map of the western United States on which he highlights in yellow all the roads we ride. The map is a mass of yellow. He looks very closely at any area that is not yellow.

I tend to be Mr. Spontaneity, but spontaneity is easier when you're by yourself. I once delivered a buddy's bike to him in St. Louis and I had no plan at all for getting there, other than "go to St. Louis." The map shows in green how I started the trip. The yellow would have just been blasting to St. Louis, and not a lot of fun.

I took any road that looked interesting, covered a lot more miles than I had to, and had a terrific three days. I'd do a trip like that again in a heartbeat.

According to one source I checked, there are 4 million miles of paved highway in the U.S. Why ride the same roads over and over again? You'll never ride all 4 million miles, but you can try.

Motorcycling lessons learned

#1 - Have riding buddies
#2 - Signal your intentions
#3 - Ride your own ride
#4 - Don't hesitate to ride alone
#5 - Carry proper gear
#6 - Know your bike
#7 - Get training
#8 - Assume you're invisible
#9 - Take your time
#10 - Explore
#11 - Be opportunistic
#12 - Know how to pick up your motorcycle

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