Motorcycle Travel: Is there anything better than loading up your bike and hitting the road for the weekend, or month, or year? We say it's one of the best ways to spend time on a motorcycle, but it's not all sunshine and selfies. In this episode we talk about why you should travel on your bike and how to make it as enjoyable as possible. We also share our favorite voyages along with a few horror stories.
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SportsTranscript
00:00:00Welcome back to the Motorcyclist Podcast.
00:00:02This is where we talk about motorcycles
00:00:04and what makes them great.
00:00:06As always, topics on the show are constantly changing,
00:00:09but the one thing that remains is motorcycling fun.
00:00:13In this episode, we're gonna talk about motorcycle travel,
00:00:16the good, the bad, the ugly,
00:00:18plus some of our favorite stories that we've had
00:00:21in our times riding motorcycles for quite a while.
00:00:25And then we're gonna talk about how to set yourself up
00:00:26for a successful trip.
00:00:29So before we get started,
00:00:30we gotta make some introductions.
00:00:33We've got editor, Adam Wahid,
00:00:35in-market editor, Bradley Adams,
00:00:37and myself, executive editor, Justin Dawes.
00:00:39What's up, guys?
00:00:40What's up? Hey, what's up?
00:00:41Good morning.
00:00:42Morning. Cold morning here in SoCal.
00:00:45Oh, yeah.
00:00:47Chilly, so cold.
00:00:48You just, you just, yeah.
00:00:50You just upset like half of the United States,
00:00:53if not half the world, so.
00:00:55Yeah.
00:00:56Dad, you wearing shorts on your motorcycle
00:00:58this morning, Bradley?
00:00:59Yeah, yeah.
00:01:00Yeah.
00:01:01Oh, I had to put on actual shoes instead of flip-flops.
00:01:07So anyway, we always talk about what we're riding
00:01:10before we get started on our subject.
00:01:12So let's start off with what everyone's been riding.
00:01:15Adam, what have you been riding?
00:01:18Oh, I've been riding Honda's trusty CRF450RX enduro bike.
00:01:23And wow, I love that thing.
00:01:25Bradley, what about you?
00:01:26The RX is like a, does it have a headlight
00:01:30or is it like the, is it like a cross-country race bike?
00:01:33Yeah, it's cross-country enduro competition bike.
00:01:36So, you know, 18-inch rear wheel, no headlight,
00:01:40little bit softer suspension, you know,
00:01:42designed for open desert racing and that kind of stuff.
00:01:45So a little bit more mellow than the CRF450R, correct.
00:01:50Okay.
00:01:51And you did more than just ride it, right?
00:01:55I've been riding this thing.
00:01:57I mean, we did the Day in the Dirt Grand Prix
00:01:59this past weekend.
00:02:00And this summer, I mean, I've ridden that bike all over.
00:02:03I've done single track on it.
00:02:06I've done, you know, desert.
00:02:08I've done, you know, everything.
00:02:09And that's why I love that bike.
00:02:11Maybe it's not the very best at anything,
00:02:13but it literally does everything very capably.
00:02:17If I had to buy a dirt bike,
00:02:18that would be the dirt bike I'd buy.
00:02:20So Phil, fill everyone in on what Day in the Dirt is.
00:02:23Just a quick synopsis, because it's a pretty rad event.
00:02:27Yeah, it's just this big event that takes place
00:02:29every Thanksgiving weekend in Southern California.
00:02:32It's kind of like, basically it's if Burning Man people
00:02:36rode dirt bikes, that's what Day in the Dirt would be.
00:02:38So you basically go to this racetrack,
00:02:40Glen Helen Raceway, you camp,
00:02:42you hang out with your friends, you barbecue,
00:02:44and then you race and ride your dirt bikes
00:02:46during the day on this crazy epic course
00:02:48that meanders through, you know,
00:02:51the mountains of San Bernardino.
00:02:52It's really fun, and it's a really unique event.
00:02:55You know, real family-friendly,
00:02:56and it's just all about having fun.
00:02:59And the 450RX shines there.
00:03:01Nice, so it started as like a thing with stuntmen,
00:03:05movie industry people, along with moto people, right?
00:03:07Like, it was kind of like a meeting place for that.
00:03:12Yeah, totally.
00:03:13Like, back in the day, you know,
00:03:14I think more stunt people rode and raced motorcycles
00:03:17back in the day, so they wanted, you know,
00:03:19a fun thing to do on the weekend during Thanksgiving.
00:03:22So that's kind of how that event was born,
00:03:24I think, 26 or 27 years ago.
00:03:27You know, things have changed a little bit,
00:03:28and I think the Hollywood stunt community
00:03:30is a little bit less into dirt biking.
00:03:33I know probably some stuntmen out there are gonna be like,
00:03:35what are you talking about?
00:03:36But generally a little bit less, but still a fun event,
00:03:39still real grassroots feeling-wise, you know,
00:03:42kind of a nod to the bygone era of Steve McQueen
00:03:46and Mert Lawwell and Eddie Mulder.
00:03:50It's really cool and fun, you know?
00:03:52It's all about just having fun on your dirt bike.
00:03:54Right on.
00:03:55That's cool, I didn't realize that.
00:03:57Yeah, what about you, Bradley?
00:03:59Man, I've just been commuting, honestly.
00:04:01I haven't been doing any of the fun stuff like Adam,
00:04:03but riding the M209SP right now.
00:04:07And yeah, it's been interesting to ride that thing.
00:04:10It's just like, I don't know,
00:04:11anytime you get on a Yamaha with that CP3 engine,
00:04:14it's just like, you immediately fall in love again.
00:04:17In this morning, actually.
00:04:21And like the thing that stands out to me on that bike
00:04:23is just the sounds it makes.
00:04:25Like the exhaust note,
00:04:28they've got those like acoustic grills on the tank.
00:04:31And yeah, and then like, it's got the auto blip downshifter
00:04:35and every time you downshift, it has that little pop to it.
00:04:37And it's just so good.
00:04:40The only thing I will say about that bike
00:04:42is we always talk about like naked bikes
00:04:44and going to the track.
00:04:45And I know you talk about that, Justin,
00:04:48but I did ride that bike on the track last week.
00:04:51I don't love it as a track bike.
00:04:53I still fight naked bikes on the track
00:04:55just because like the handlebars,
00:04:57they always give me like a little bit of arm pump
00:04:58for some reason, like the one piece handlebar,
00:05:01just like, I don't know.
00:05:02I don't love it as much on a track as I thought I would.
00:05:05But yeah, I don't know.
00:05:07That's obviously because I'm just a track guy.
00:05:09I like sport bikes, but as a street bike,
00:05:12that M209SP is a good street bike.
00:05:15Really good street bike.
00:05:16I would say like as a big Lebowski would say,
00:05:18well, man, that's like your opinion, man.
00:05:22Totally fair.
00:05:24No.
00:05:25Pull me up on a sport bike all day, man.
00:05:26I'm happy.
00:05:27Yeah, I mean, that's what you grew up doing too, right?
00:05:28You grew up racing sport bikes
00:05:30and your dad is, you know, Curtis Adams,
00:05:33like a legend of the SoCal street bike racing world,
00:05:38if not, you know, the nation.
00:05:40And so of course he likes sport bikes.
00:05:42Me, I hate being folded up for that long.
00:05:46Even if they're purpose-built
00:05:47and they do do everything better on a track,
00:05:49I just want to be comfortable
00:05:51and just spend some fast laps and enjoy myself.
00:05:54I'm not going for the fast lap time.
00:05:55Yeah, no, that's fair.
00:05:56Yeah, it's kind of where's your mentality at
00:05:59when you get on the bike?
00:06:00Yeah, no.
00:06:01As a street bike though, that 09SP,
00:06:04and then for the price jump over a standard 09,
00:06:07like that thing is, it does feel pretty premium and special.
00:06:10So yeah, I've been enjoying that thing for sure.
00:06:12Awesome.
00:06:13What about you, man?
00:06:14Did you actually get to ride recently or?
00:06:16Yeah, I've been riding a CRF300L Rally.
00:06:22Yeah.
00:06:23Kind of a, not for a magazine test or anything.
00:06:28My neighbor, he just bought one a little while ago.
00:06:31He's never ridden a motorcycle before.
00:06:34I took him dirt bike riding a couple of times here
00:06:37and got him on like a CRF125 just to like,
00:06:41see if he liked it.
00:06:42And he fell in love.
00:06:43He's 65 years old.
00:06:44He's a retired theoretical astrophysicist.
00:06:48Like he is, like his brain is massive.
00:06:51Like he worked on like finding like these weird little
00:06:55particles called WIMPs,
00:06:56weak interactive something particles.
00:07:00I want to meet this guy. Molecular particles.
00:07:01Yeah, so he and his wife was always like,
00:07:05no, no motorcycles, you know.
00:07:07And then they met me and we became friends.
00:07:10And so anyway, I took him riding
00:07:13and he wants to do motorcycle travel.
00:07:14So I helped him pick out a bike, CRF300L Rally.
00:07:22You know, it's got the bigger windscreen.
00:07:23It's got more room.
00:07:25It looks like a rally bike.
00:07:26It's cool looking.
00:07:27And then we set it up for travel.
00:07:31So he's a tall guy.
00:07:32So we changed the bars.
00:07:33We did a bunch of stuff.
00:07:34And then, so I just took it for like a good shakedown ride
00:07:37to make sure that we had everything dialed in
00:07:40and it's all good.
00:07:41And now he's ready to go.
00:07:43But man, I really liked that bike,
00:07:45like the seating position and the comfort of that bike.
00:07:48Like, I don't know why anyone would just buy the regular L.
00:07:51I mean, even if you're going dirt bike riding,
00:07:53it's basically the same bike,
00:07:55but with better wind protection.
00:07:56So just get the L.
00:07:58Just added versatility.
00:07:59We always go back to that, right?
00:08:00Just versatility.
00:08:01Yeah.
00:08:02And you know, I am an adventure bike advocate too.
00:08:05So, and I think it's one of the coolest
00:08:07little adventure bikes you can get.
00:08:09So it's not particularly fast, man.
00:08:11It is, it is pretty sluggish,
00:08:14but other than that, it's pretty good, man.
00:08:17It's pretty good.
00:08:17So.
00:08:18Speaking of travel.
00:08:20Yeah.
00:08:22Yeah.
00:08:23That's a good segue, Adam.
00:08:24Did you do that on purpose?
00:08:26No, I didn't actually.
00:08:27I didn't even think of it.
00:08:30Yeah.
00:08:31We're talking travel today, huh?
00:08:33We are.
00:08:33The joys.
00:08:34The joys.
00:08:35Let's get into it.
00:08:36Not so fun parts of travel.
00:08:37Yep.
00:08:39I'm gonna start with the stuff we like.
00:08:41How about that?
00:08:42Yeah, let's do that.
00:08:43Yeah, cause that's the fun part of it.
00:08:47Yeah, the fun part.
00:08:48The good parts of motorcycle travel.
00:08:50And there are a lot.
00:08:51It's funny because, I don't know,
00:08:52we were talking about this before and making notes.
00:08:55And it's funny because the things that we love
00:08:58about riding a motorcycle long distance
00:09:02and traveling on one, I think are some of the things
00:09:04we love about riding a motorcycle in general.
00:09:06It's just now for a longer period of time,
00:09:10which is the fact that you're so immersed
00:09:13in your environment, right?
00:09:15You're experiencing everything, all the sights,
00:09:19the smells, the wind, the debris, everything, right?
00:09:24Is so much more vivid.
00:09:27Yeah.
00:09:28And it's so much better.
00:09:30It ramps everything up in terms of your experience
00:09:33of seeing a place.
00:09:35You're seeing it while you're moving,
00:09:37but you're so much more immersive than you are in a car.
00:09:41Right, not shielded by a car
00:09:46and you have your air conditioning running
00:09:48and your radio going and your snacks
00:09:51and your soda and all that, right?
00:09:54And again, we love that.
00:09:55That's one of the reasons why I love riding a motorcycle.
00:09:58And now to get to experience traveling on a motorcycle
00:10:03is to experience more of that
00:10:05and more locations and new locations.
00:10:09And I think your trip is, everything is amplified,
00:10:13like I said, when you're on a motorcycle.
00:10:16There's a factor of feeling, this feeling of adventuring,
00:10:21of doing something that a lot of people
00:10:24don't necessarily do.
00:10:26And it's like you're blazing a trail,
00:10:30even though you may be doing the same trip
00:10:32that 1,000 or 10,000 or a million people have done.
00:10:36When you're doing it, it feels like
00:10:38you're the one that's doing it
00:10:39and you're putting your stamp on something pretty amazing.
00:10:43It's always amazing to me.
00:10:44I feel like when I'm traveling,
00:10:46I could be doing the same section of road
00:10:49and if I'm on a motorcycle,
00:10:50I feel like I notice so much more.
00:10:52I see more things because on a motorcycle,
00:10:55if you're riding a motorcycle correctly, in my opinion,
00:10:58you're always looking out for things, right?
00:11:00You're being more observant than you are in a car.
00:11:02And I think when you're now experiencing new areas,
00:11:05you're traveling on a motorcycle,
00:11:07you're always looking around and you're seeing things
00:11:09that you just don't in a car, right?
00:11:11You're getting to experience all these places
00:11:13and you're noticing so much more, it feels like to me.
00:11:16And I think that's a big part of traveling
00:11:18is getting to see things that you haven't before.
00:11:22Yeah, absolutely.
00:11:26It's also a pared down traveling experience.
00:11:29Like you are minimizing the things that you can take,
00:11:32you're held to a certain footprint, right?
00:11:37On your motorcycle, depending on what type of bike that is.
00:11:40And that's one of the fun parts too,
00:11:41is to really simplify,
00:11:44but think carefully about what you're bringing.
00:11:47Yeah, yeah, it's just to the essentials.
00:11:51Another joy of motorcycling is everything is pared down,
00:11:57in the simplest form.
00:12:00Sure, it might be great to be traveling in a truck,
00:12:02big sedan, you just start throwing stuff in the trunk,
00:12:05but the next thing you know, you've got 20 outfits
00:12:09when you need five or something like that.
00:12:11Like, oh, I'll just throw this in and I'll bring this.
00:12:13And all of a sudden you're just overwhelmed
00:12:15by all this stuff you've got with you.
00:12:16And on a motorcycle, you don't have that.
00:12:19And in so many ways, I think it just,
00:12:22it creates so much simplicity and it's just you,
00:12:25the motorcycle and the couple of things
00:12:27that you're bringing with you, right?
00:12:29And there is something to that.
00:12:31You get to refine and evolve how you travel,
00:12:37in terms of like, if you do a bunch of motorcycle travel.
00:12:39So like, I have a shelf that's got everything in my garage
00:12:43that has everything I need for motorcycle travel.
00:12:45My super small sleeping bag, my little pillow,
00:12:48my jet boil, my, you know, camping chair,
00:12:53all these things so that like, I can fit it all
00:12:56in like one, you know, one small sack or in two saddlebags.
00:13:02And I've got everything I need.
00:13:04And I've honed that over, you know,
00:13:0615, 20 years of riding motorcycles.
00:13:09There's such a beauty in that, in simplicity.
00:13:11We live in a world now where we just,
00:13:13we live in abundance and overcomplicated things.
00:13:17And we overcomplicate things as humans, right?
00:13:20So when you don't have that luxury of space,
00:13:24there's beauty in the simplicity and the essentials, yeah.
00:13:27What about you, Adam?
00:13:28You have like a kit for traveling or do you just wing it?
00:13:33Yeah, I mean, it's funny you said that,
00:13:35because yeah, you know, I have my certain things,
00:13:37you know, that I like to bring with me, you know,
00:13:40that I've pared down over the years.
00:13:42And, you know, it's funny when you start traveling
00:13:46by motorcycle, you know, quite often,
00:13:48you know exactly what to bring
00:13:50and exactly what not to bring.
00:13:52So yeah, you know, I have like a little setup
00:13:55that I usually bring.
00:13:56And like Bradley said, it's actually fun to, you know,
00:13:59pare everything down and just bring one cell phone charger,
00:14:03you know, one thing, like not two things.
00:14:06Wait, how do you bring one cell phone charger
00:14:08when you have like six cell phones?
00:14:10I meant-
00:14:11I love that that was a thing.
00:14:12Yeah, I love that that was a thing.
00:14:13Adam has more phones than any person
00:14:15I've ever met in my life.
00:14:16Like he'll have two open at the same time sometimes, so.
00:14:19I've met cell phone charging cable, sorry.
00:14:22Okay, okay.
00:14:22Cell phone charging cable.
00:14:24So yeah, this is cool.
00:14:25Just, this is cool, you know,
00:14:27and then when you're traveling on motorcycle too,
00:14:30it's cool having to, you know, do anticipate the weather.
00:14:33What's the weather gonna bring?
00:14:35Do, what's the weather gonna be?
00:14:37Do I need to bring a pair of tennis shoes
00:14:40that have vents in them?
00:14:41Do I need ones that are, you know, have Gore-Tex
00:14:43so my feet don't get cold?
00:14:45You know, it's fun to kind of get ready
00:14:47for the different place you're going.
00:14:49Yeah, you know, it's just a cool experience.
00:14:51I love traveling by motorcycle.
00:14:54I think you mentioned it earlier, Justin.
00:14:56I think that other thing too is that sense of exploration.
00:14:59I think that's one of the beauties
00:15:02of motorcycle travel for me.
00:15:06My kind of thing is if ever I see a road
00:15:09that piques my interest, you know,
00:15:11whether it's a dirt road,
00:15:12whether I see a little canyon road
00:15:14off the side of the freeway,
00:15:15or whether I'm looking at a map at lunch
00:15:18and I'm like, where does that go?
00:15:20On a motorcycle, I'm gonna go check it out.
00:15:24Whereas if you're traveling in a car,
00:15:26for me, there's always that concern of,
00:15:28wow, this might get a little bit rough
00:15:30and the car might not, you know,
00:15:31the car might struggle or I might get back there
00:15:34and I might not be able to turn around
00:15:37or, you know, if I'm going, you know,
00:15:39a small little town or something,
00:15:40oh, there might not be parking,
00:15:43all those things like that.
00:15:45And I think it kind of limits you in some ways.
00:15:48A car does, where on a motorcycle,
00:15:50there's just so much freedom to it.
00:15:52You're like, oh, I'll just zip up there real quick.
00:15:54You know, and obviously, of course,
00:15:56if you're on an adventure bike or something like that,
00:15:58there's just almost nothing holding you back
00:16:00in terms of where you're going.
00:16:02It's like, yeah, I'll just venture down
00:16:03this dirt road a little bit
00:16:04or I'll go up that mountain pass real quick.
00:16:06And you see so much more, in my opinion,
00:16:10than you're ever gonna see in a car,
00:16:12unless you're super adventurous
00:16:14or, you know, you got a pretty cool rig,
00:16:16but that's, you know, that's something different.
00:16:17I think generally speaking, generalized travel,
00:16:20you know, people, you know, in a Toyota Camry
00:16:23or something like that,
00:16:24you're just not seeing
00:16:26what you're gonna see in a motorcycle.
00:16:27So those are the things for me.
00:16:29I think it's being immersed in the environment
00:16:33and getting to that kind of heightened experience
00:16:35of everything that you're seeing and riding through.
00:16:38And then that added sense of exploration and adventure.
00:16:41And I think you're seeing so much more on a motorcycle
00:16:46than you are in a car when you're traveling.
00:16:48That for me is the two highlights of motorcycle travel.
00:16:50Yeah, I would agree with that.
00:16:53There's a lot of good things
00:16:54about riding a motorcycle and traveling,
00:16:56but, you know, let's talk a little bit
00:16:58about some of the challenges.
00:17:00You know, obviously when you're riding,
00:17:02you're, you know, generally using a lot of brain power,
00:17:04just searching the road,
00:17:06making sure there's nothing around you.
00:17:08And it can be a more, you know, physically taxing thing.
00:17:12You drive your automobile, you plug in the GPS,
00:17:14and you're there four hours later.
00:17:17On a bike, it's much more active.
00:17:20Yeah, it is mentally demanding,
00:17:23and it's also physically demanding, right?
00:17:24Because you're, one, you're dealing with weather.
00:17:27So it could be really cold, it could be really hot.
00:17:30You're dealing with being, sitting on a motorcycle, right?
00:17:35So you don't have this big cushy seat of a car
00:17:39to kind of move yourself around on.
00:17:41You're more placed, I mean, you can move around
00:17:45on your seat and you have some options,
00:17:47but it's not quite the same, right?
00:17:49Your legs are a little bit in a more crouched type position.
00:17:55You've got your arms up higher.
00:17:57You know, you're doing stuff the whole time.
00:18:00And so that, you know, that does definitely wear you out
00:18:05more than in a car.
00:18:06Wind blast, nothing worse than getting stuck
00:18:08in a windstorm and you're constantly trying
00:18:10to manage body position and weight balance
00:18:13a little bit like that.
00:18:14But yeah, no, you're right, Adam, for sure.
00:18:17There are sacrifices that come with it, for sure.
00:18:20I think we all willingly accept those.
00:18:22There are worse days, the days where it's freezing cold
00:18:26or exceptionally windy, and you're just like,
00:18:28those are brutal days on a motorcycle.
00:18:31You know, I think we've all experienced those.
00:18:33We've all definitely had days where you've been freezing
00:18:38and you're like, man, am I really, why am I doing this?
00:18:41Like, I know I've had days on a bike traveling
00:18:45and I've just gotten like, this is so dumb.
00:18:48Why did I choose to do this this weekend?
00:18:51I should have drove.
00:18:52I'm an idiot.
00:18:53I should have drove.
00:18:53Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:18:54I could have put my bike in the van
00:18:56and then got there and unloaded it.
00:18:58That's your stuff.
00:18:59We would have judged you.
00:19:00So as much as we are proponents of,
00:19:05you should get out and travel on your motorcycle,
00:19:08we do recognize sometimes it does suck, right?
00:19:11I got two other downsides.
00:19:15Two other downsides.
00:19:16They're small, you get through them.
00:19:17But the one is, if you're not on the right bike,
00:19:21the fuel stops, man.
00:19:22Oh yeah.
00:19:23And there's just no way to get around it, right?
00:19:26Unless you're on, I was gonna say a Goldwing,
00:19:28but even now the Goldwing with the smaller tank,
00:19:30you're still stopping relatively frequently,
00:19:34compared to a car, for sure.
00:19:35For sure.
00:19:37Yeah, it seems like you're at a gas station a lot.
00:19:42Well, and with those fuel stops comes a longer travel time.
00:19:45That's one thing that you really learn
00:19:48in motorcycle traveling is that in a car,
00:19:50it's like point A to point B.
00:19:53You could eat in the car.
00:19:54You can stop real quick, get gas.
00:19:56You don't have to stop as often.
00:19:59You get there quicker.
00:20:01Where the same journey on a bike,
00:20:04if it's a, we'll just say a 400 mile ride,
00:20:07it's gonna take you two to three hours longer sometimes,
00:20:11just because you're getting off the bike
00:20:12and you're stretching when you're getting gas
00:20:14and you're gonna go get something to drink
00:20:15and you might get something to eat
00:20:17and you have to do all those things.
00:20:18So you definitely, it's more time intensive, absolutely.
00:20:22Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:20:24I mean, hopefully always makes for a better story
00:20:27and more experiences, right?
00:20:28Because those are the ones like rather than
00:20:30getting off and pulling into a fast food restaurant
00:20:33or something and eating on the road,
00:20:35you're like, oh, there's this little mom and pop cafe
00:20:38right over here.
00:20:39I'm gonna go do that, right?
00:20:40So yeah, you are right though.
00:20:43The time, you think, we always think motorcycles
00:20:45are a little bit of a cheat code in terms of
00:20:48getting somewhere quicker and things like that.
00:20:50And it's not necessarily true
00:20:52when you're traveling on a motorcycle.
00:20:54Very true, yeah.
00:20:55The only other thing that gets me there is wildlife.
00:20:59You know, deer, all these things that,
00:21:03especially you're somewhere that you don't know,
00:21:05unfamiliar roads, you know,
00:21:08motorcycle travel, we've all done it.
00:21:09You're late at night, early in the morning,
00:21:12all these things.
00:21:13And you gotta be careful.
00:21:15You definitely gotta be mindful of that stuff.
00:21:18Yeah, very much so.
00:21:19I've got, actually, you know,
00:21:20we're gonna talk about some stories here
00:21:22and I'm actually probably gonna kick it off,
00:21:23but I have two stories
00:21:28and both of them include,
00:21:30one of them includes wildlife
00:21:31and one includes just the elements
00:21:35causing some lapse in concentration.
00:21:37So let's start off with traveling stories
00:21:40and my good traveling stories.
00:21:41Let's talk about the good first, just like we did.
00:21:44Let's tell some of the bad stories.
00:21:45We love good, we love, yeah,
00:21:45always positive, no, yeah.
00:21:47But when you're talking about wildlife,
00:21:49on this travel I did,
00:21:52I almost clobbered a deer at 75 miles an hour in the dirt.
00:21:56I mean, he jumped, or she, it was a doe.
00:21:59She jumped out in front of me, out of some bushes.
00:22:03I never saw the deer.
00:22:05And the next thing I knew,
00:22:08it went by in front of me like a flash
00:22:11and I never even hit the brakes.
00:22:12That's how close it was.
00:22:14But the trip itself was epic
00:22:16and that was only one little hiccup
00:22:18and was probably my favorite trip ever,
00:22:20which was I rode KTM Adventure bikes,
00:22:241190 Adventure R's in like 2016, maybe,
00:22:27from Deadwood, South Dakota to Temecula, California
00:22:32with Lel Pavey from Brake Magazine.
00:22:35He's a editor in the UK for Adventure Bike stuff.
00:22:40Lel does rad stuff.
00:22:42If you're not subscribed to Brake,
00:22:44he's probably one of the only ones that I will recommend
00:22:46you need to subscribe to Brake.
00:22:48He's rad.
00:22:49He's doing some really cool stuff on Adventure Bikes.
00:22:51But anyway, Lel and I decided we were gonna ride
00:22:552,400 miles or so,
00:22:57and we were gonna try to stay off the street
00:22:59as much as possible.
00:23:00So we went-
00:23:01Much dirt, just riding dirt.
00:23:03Dirt roads, gravel roads.
00:23:04Gravel roads, even some full on desert trails and stuff.
00:23:09So it was 2,400 miles.
00:23:11We went less than 500 miles on the street in six days.
00:23:17We started off, we went through Wyoming,
00:23:19which was all right.
00:23:20There was a lot of farmland and dirt roads.
00:23:23We were doing like 115 miles an hour
00:23:25on these dirt roads where you could see forever.
00:23:29If a deer came out there, I guess it would have been
00:23:31all over, but super rad to just open it up and pin it.
00:23:38We camped along the way,
00:23:40so we each had one small bag on the tail.
00:23:43We didn't have saddlebags, just like a duffel,
00:23:46waterproof duffel set up in a backpack.
00:23:50We stopped in Colorado for a night,
00:23:53and then we went through Moab, Utah,
00:23:56and we rode like slick rock and rode some of the trails,
00:23:59which was super rad.
00:24:00And then we made our way through Zion,
00:24:03and then eventually across the desert
00:24:06into Southern California.
00:24:07And the amount of fun that we had on that trip,
00:24:15man, I just can't even describe how good it was.
00:24:18Just camping every night, so we would be riding,
00:24:22and we were riding at a good pace.
00:24:25We weren't just like do-do-do.
00:24:26We were pinning it through the desert,
00:24:28but any time we saw something really cool,
00:24:30we would stop, we'd take photos, do some video.
00:24:33Then we'd get to our spot, unpack all our stuff, camp out.
00:24:36We had little tiny one-person tents,
00:24:38and it was just like there were days
00:24:42where we didn't see hardly anybody.
00:24:44It was like we had the Western United States to ourself,
00:24:48and that was really, really fun on that one.
00:24:50That's a perfect example, again, not to repeat myself,
00:24:54but of some experiences you just don't really have in a car.
00:24:59You're just not, you're not doing that.
00:25:01You're definitely not doing that many miles on dirt.
00:25:06I mean, not in today's world, at least.
00:25:10You really can only experience that on motorcycle.
00:25:15That's the cool thing about motorcycle
00:25:16and motorcycle travel.
00:25:17It just opens up so much of the world
00:25:19and puts it at your fingertips, right?
00:25:21Yep, yep.
00:25:22It really does.
00:25:24What about you, Adam?
00:25:25What's your favorite travel stories?
00:25:30I really enjoyed, I mean, like Justin was talking about,
00:25:32I mean, it's hard to go wrong anywhere near Moab, Utah.
00:25:37That whole region is just, it's so beautiful.
00:25:40I remember, Justin, when you, I, and Mark
00:25:43went on our three-bike deal.
00:25:46Oh, yeah.
00:25:46And just, you know, just the diversity of the terrain.
00:25:49Like, you know, we started in, you know,
00:25:52was it Sand Hollow kind of the area
00:25:54where the sand dunes are and stuff?
00:25:55Yep.
00:25:56St. George, I'm sorry.
00:25:57Began in St. George where, you know,
00:25:59it's crazy desert-like sand dunes, you know?
00:26:03And there's even a lake there.
00:26:04It's really beautiful.
00:26:05And then, you know, we meandered north
00:26:07and into the mountains where, you know,
00:26:10now the desert landscape goes away
00:26:12and now it's replaced by, you know,
00:26:13mountain landscape with trees and ponds.
00:26:17And, you know, we're climbing so it gets a little cool.
00:26:20And this, that Duck Creek area is just,
00:26:23it's kind of uninhabited.
00:26:25There's not a lot of people there, you know?
00:26:27So it's just, you're in the middle of nowhere.
00:26:29And it's just, just the diversity of terrain
00:26:32on that trip was awesome.
00:26:33And being able to try all three
00:26:36of those really nice adventure touring bikes is just,
00:26:39I mean, that's why, that's why going somewhere,
00:26:42you know, it's fun to use motorcycles
00:26:44as commuters and tools,
00:26:45but when you actually have a destination
00:26:47you want to get somewhere, you know,
00:26:49it's, it's really fun to go by bike
00:26:51just because you get to see so many things.
00:26:53And, you know, we kind of had that route plan,
00:26:56but, you know, like Bradley had mentioned, you know,
00:26:59we could have zigzagged and gone anywhere we wanted.
00:27:01You know, that's the beauty of bikes.
00:27:03You know, you're not limited.
00:27:04We did have, we did have some, some zigging and zagging
00:27:07at one very, very late night.
00:27:09Very, very late night.
00:27:11Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:27:13That was wild.
00:27:14Our photographer, staff photographer, Jeff Allen
00:27:18completely wiped out on an Africa Twin,
00:27:22you know, with like 50 pounds of camera equipment
00:27:24on his back.
00:27:25There was this corner.
00:27:26It was a really weird corner.
00:27:28It was kind of over a rise.
00:27:29It was off camber, in the dirt.
00:27:32And it had like-
00:27:33Remember the ditch?
00:27:33Yeah.
00:27:35It looked really like a really wide corner.
00:27:37Like it looked like the width of the whole road
00:27:39we'd been riding on,
00:27:40but then suddenly it went down to like a lane and a half
00:27:43wide and there was just this gigantic like rain rut
00:27:47ditch full of rocks.
00:27:49And I think I was first, I went through there
00:27:52and I was like, oh, watch the corner, watch the corner.
00:27:54We had headsets on and Adam made the corner.
00:27:56He was like, oh, that was tight.
00:27:57Well, Jeff's headset had run out of battery
00:28:01and he came around that corner and just clobbered a rock
00:28:04the size of a Volkswagen and flipped over the bars.
00:28:07And yeah, it was gnarly.
00:28:09He took a helicopter ride.
00:28:11We're gonna, that's for our tips
00:28:13when we get into our travel tips later.
00:28:15It's make sure you ride at a speed
00:28:17where you're getting there.
00:28:18You're getting to your destination.
00:28:20Yeah.
00:28:20Yeah, it's one of the big things
00:28:21I've learned over the years too.
00:28:23Yeah.
00:28:24He ended up being all right.
00:28:25He had a fractured vertebrae in his back,
00:28:27but he showed up at our condo later that night.
00:28:30He took an Uber from the hospital on his own
00:28:33instead of like calling us to come get him.
00:28:35All of a sudden the front door opens
00:28:36at like two o'clock in the morning
00:28:38and here comes in Jeff in like a paper t-shirt,
00:28:41you know, like a hospital gown
00:28:43with his clothes in a paper bag.
00:28:44And he's like, oh, I'm back.
00:28:46And we're like, you're crazy, dude.
00:28:47It's a Jeff thing.
00:28:49He walked out of there if I,
00:28:50I think they just, he's left,
00:28:51if I remember correctly.
00:28:53Yeah, I think so.
00:28:54He's like, oh, I'm just gonna leave.
00:28:55Yeah, he's like, oh, I'm good.
00:28:56I'm gonna, I'm out.
00:28:57You know, it's not life-threatening.
00:28:59So what about you, Bradley?
00:29:00Hopefully no crash bikes.
00:29:02No, no crash bikes.
00:29:05Although I feel like I'm copying you guys now
00:29:07because my favorite story is adventure bikes
00:29:12up through, basically through Vegas,
00:29:15up into St. George, cutting over to Zion.
00:29:19And then through Duck Creek.
00:29:21You gotta be kidding me.
00:29:22No, I swear, through Duck Creek,
00:29:25the only difference is that,
00:29:27well, there's more to this story,
00:29:28but yeah, the route, the bikes,
00:29:29all of that's basically the same.
00:29:30So it's kind of funny.
00:29:31It says a lot about us.
00:29:34This episode brought to you by the state of Utah.
00:29:38Yeah, exactly.
00:29:41And then, yeah, we cut over through the Grand Canyon
00:29:44and then down through, I think it's like Williams, Arizona,
00:29:47and then all the way back.
00:29:49So big, big loop, you know, like that on adventure bikes.
00:29:52But the reason it's my favorite
00:29:55is because I did it with my dad and grandpa.
00:29:58Super rad.
00:29:59I mean, I get chills just talking about it
00:30:01and thinking about it.
00:30:03Some of the best memories I've ever had.
00:30:06I think if you ever have a chance
00:30:07to do something like that,
00:30:08if you're fortunate to have a motorcycling family,
00:30:14it's like we said earlier about when you're traveling,
00:30:16you stop off at these little cafes and these diners
00:30:19or these random little hotels,
00:30:21and you're doing that with your family.
00:30:23And so it's these shared experiences
00:30:25that you almost just don't get anywhere else.
00:30:27So, I mean, obviously I was really close,
00:30:30grew up really close to my dad and grandpa,
00:30:33but having those experiences together,
00:30:35you just feel like you understand them so much more
00:30:38and you make a bond that you almost just,
00:30:40you can't not on doing anything else, right?
00:30:42That when you're sharing that passion together
00:30:45and all these new experiences,
00:30:47it was, you know, each of us,
00:30:48it was our first time going through Zion.
00:30:50So you're just taking it all in together.
00:30:54Yeah, just such an incredible experience.
00:30:57It was my first time to the Grand Canyon.
00:31:00So getting to experience that together,
00:31:02and my dad and grandpa had obviously been there together,
00:31:05but getting to experience it through me for the first time.
00:31:10And then, yeah, all the trials and tribulations,
00:31:12like we didn't have, we had plans for the first night,
00:31:16but like the second night,
00:31:17we didn't really know exactly what direction,
00:31:19or the second, I guess it was the third day at that point,
00:31:21we didn't know exactly what direction we were heading.
00:31:22So we didn't have hotel rooms
00:31:24and cruise through, you know, Lake Powell area.
00:31:29And like, oh, we don't have a hotel.
00:31:30And we're just like riding around for,
00:31:32cause I didn't realize
00:31:33there's not a lot of hotels in that area, right?
00:31:35So yeah, we're riding around for a couple hours
00:31:39and the best we can manage
00:31:40is like some little motel six, you know?
00:31:42And it's just like, you're just doing these things together
00:31:44and you're problem solving together
00:31:46and you're kind of enjoying the chaos of it.
00:31:49And for sure, I will absolutely never forget that, you know?
00:31:54Like I said, just getting to the time that you spend,
00:31:56you know, with, and we're all in headsets, right?
00:31:58So, you know, you're kind of talking as you're riding
00:32:01and man, just absolutely one of the best weeks of my life
00:32:05for sure, getting to do that, so.
00:32:07The headsets are a game changer.
00:32:10That's, yeah, for traveling especially.
00:32:12I mean, yeah, absolutely, absolutely, yeah.
00:32:15It's so funny, cause I always thought like,
00:32:17when you, especially you've got a long day
00:32:18on the bike or something,
00:32:19like I really don't want to sit
00:32:20and have someone in my ear for that long, you know?
00:32:24But when you're out there, it really does make a difference
00:32:27and it helps the time just fly by.
00:32:30Most of the time, yeah, most of the time.
00:32:33Yeah, yeah.
00:32:36Yeah, so yeah, I guess adventure bikes in Utah,
00:32:39if you can do it, I guess that's our big takeaway here.
00:32:43There's a common thread there that we didn't even,
00:32:45you know, we didn't plan that, yeah.
00:32:48Utah in that area is heaven for motorcycling.
00:32:53If you haven't been there, there you go.
00:32:55There's your next trip.
00:32:56You should go.
00:32:57Yeah, exactly.
00:32:58What about the bad?
00:33:01Cause we've all had, we've got probably just as many
00:33:03bad travel stories as we have good, I'm sure.
00:33:07My bad is actually still one of my favorites.
00:33:10So it was probably 2019, I think,
00:33:18and is when the Husqvarna Svartpilen 701 came out.
00:33:23And so there was a press launch in Lisbon, Portugal.
00:33:27So went to Lisbon, did the press launch.
00:33:30And at that time, Chris Cantle was the editor
00:33:34of Motorcyclist and he was there on the trip too.
00:33:37And we had this screwy idea to do a story
00:33:41for Motorcyclist as well afterwards.
00:33:43Like, hey, let's take those bikes and see if we can get them
00:33:47and ride to Morocco and ride around Morocco
00:33:50for a couple of days.
00:33:52Then we had a tire test in Spain
00:33:57at Jerez after that trip.
00:33:59So we were like, then we'll ride back up to Seville, Spain.
00:34:02We'll drop them off and then we'll go to the tire test.
00:34:04It was like, oh, this is cool.
00:34:05And then, and then, and then.
00:34:08We just kept like adding on to the days and the miles.
00:34:12And then so, okay, cool.
00:34:13So we get the bikes and the weather was beautiful
00:34:18the whole time we were at the press launch.
00:34:19The morning we get up and it's freezing in Lisbon.
00:34:23I mean, freezing.
00:34:24And we're packed for warm Portugal,
00:34:28Spanish weather and Morocco.
00:34:30So we're not like, I had an aero stitch,
00:34:32but I didn't bring like a lot of under layers.
00:34:35So I'm like, okay, well, we'll grid it out in the morning
00:34:38and we take off and I'm freezing and I'm freezing
00:34:40and the sun's coming up and we're heading
00:34:43onto this toll road and we're going
00:34:45and the light is green above the toll booth.
00:34:48And my brain was so frozen that I thought green meant go,
00:34:52not that it is open for you to pay your toll.
00:34:56And I'm going and the gate, the bar,
00:34:59had perfectly aligned with the horizon.
00:35:02So it looked like the gate was open.
00:35:03And I just was like, 70 miles an hour,
00:35:06straight at this gate.
00:35:07And the last minute I was like,
00:35:09oh my God, the gate is closed.
00:35:11And there's no way I'm stopping.
00:35:13And so I like kind of hack the thing to the right.
00:35:16So it's like, and I'm like,
00:35:19I'm gonna try to squeeze between the barrier and the bar.
00:35:22And I hit the bar with like my chest,
00:35:25the thing flies open like I'm the Kool-Aid man
00:35:27coming through a wall, you know?
00:35:29And all I hear is Chris Cantle screaming,
00:35:33oh my God, oh my God, like in terrors I'm doing it.
00:35:37And then in the headset and then going,
00:35:39that was the greatest thing I've ever seen.
00:35:43So that's how we started the trip, you know?
00:35:46So I don't get a ticket
00:35:47because I've already blown through.
00:35:48He gets his ticket and we take off down the road.
00:35:51And then it was great except for super tiny tanks,
00:35:54like Bradley had talked about.
00:35:57We stopped for gas, it seemed like less than every hour.
00:36:02And we had miles and miles and miles and miles to cover
00:36:05to get to Morocco in one day from Portugal.
00:36:08And we stopped for gas and we stopped for gas.
00:36:10And then we discovered how uncomfortable
00:36:12the bikes were for long distances.
00:36:14They got this like little scrambler supermoto seat,
00:36:18no wind protection.
00:36:19And there was a point where I unzipped
00:36:22the legs of my AeroStitch so they became like a wingsuit.
00:36:27And I hung my legs off the back of the bike at like 80
00:36:30and the wind would hold my legs up.
00:36:32And then I was just laying on the tank
00:36:34because it was so uncomfortable.
00:36:35Whatever we could do to be comfortable, yeah.
00:36:36Whatever we could do to be comfortable.
00:36:37Not comfortable, but like 2% more comfortable than you were.
00:36:40Yeah, you know, and so anyway, we get to the ferry
00:36:49and we were hoping to get one before the sun went down.
00:36:52And we ended up getting one just before,
00:36:55as the sun was setting, we were on the ferry.
00:36:57So we took off and the weather is terrible
00:37:00and the seas are high and I got seasick.
00:37:06And so I got, and I was good on the boat.
00:37:09I was watching the horizon all the time
00:37:11and MotoGP was on the TV in the ferry.
00:37:14And so Cantal's watching MotoGP and he's like,
00:37:17Dawes, look.
00:37:18And I'm like, nope.
00:37:19Just keep looking out the window, keep looking out the window,
00:37:21keep looking out the window.
00:37:22The minute we rolled in the harbor, motion stopped.
00:37:25I'm like, oh, I made it without getting sick.
00:37:27I stood up, instant sick, instantly sick.
00:37:32So I got sick and then we had to ride in the rain
00:37:35to our hotel.
00:37:38So we go through that.
00:37:40And then we had two great days in Morocco,
00:37:42two or three great days in Morocco.
00:37:43We went to Chefchouhan,
00:37:44which is like the city that everything is painted blue.
00:37:46It's super picturesque.
00:37:48The people were awesome.
00:37:49We had a good time.
00:37:50We ate really good food.
00:37:51But while we were in Morocco,
00:37:55Cantal got a cold from riding in the rain.
00:37:58And he coughed into the headset every 90 seconds.
00:38:02When headsets go wrong.
00:38:04For three days, I heard.
00:38:06He'd riding in here every 90 seconds
00:38:10and it didn't stop for three days.
00:38:13And so, like I said, headsets are cool until they're not.
00:38:17And that was when they were not.
00:38:18And then on the way home, we went to Spain
00:38:21and I got food poisoning on the last day, leaving Morocco.
00:38:25And then we went to the tire test
00:38:27and I spent more time in the restroom
00:38:29at the tire test than I did on bikes.
00:38:31So this is one of those trips
00:38:32where you're just happy to be home.
00:38:34When it's done, you're just like,
00:38:37yep, I'm glad that's over with.
00:38:39I don't want to do that again.
00:38:40But even so, there was just so many amazing stories from it.
00:38:43So even when it sucked and it really sucked at the time,
00:38:46like it was like, why did we choose to do this?
00:38:49Like, you know, we're freezing.
00:38:52We got no wind protection.
00:38:52We're uncomfortable.
00:38:55We got sick.
00:38:56Both of us got sick.
00:38:57Like there were so many things that went wrong.
00:38:59But still, I think I might do it again.
00:39:03Different bike though, but I would do it again.
00:39:06What about you, Adam?
00:39:08Give us some bad news.
00:39:09After hearing that story again, my gosh,
00:39:12I don't think my roughing it story is even that.
00:39:15I was having a good time, I think, now.
00:39:20Yeah, well, I guess we do have some similarities.
00:39:22Again, cold and wet.
00:39:23This was, my story is maybe from 2000,
00:39:27oh, probably two years ago.
00:39:29So two years, actually three years ago
00:39:31from right around now.
00:39:33Ducati North America was having
00:39:34their official press introduction in SoCal
00:39:38for their 2022 Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak.
00:39:42So that's when the Pikes Peak was returning
00:39:45in the V4 configuration to North America.
00:39:48So they had their press introduction, you know,
00:39:50in Palm Springs, you know, at a swanky place,
00:39:52everything was going good.
00:39:54Sunny, beautiful Palm Springs.
00:39:56Yep, sunny, beautiful Palm Springs.
00:39:59We were gonna do our usual, you know, Idlewild run.
00:40:02And for the folks that don't know, you know,
00:40:05in Southern California,
00:40:07when the motorcycle manufacturers
00:40:09have their official press events,
00:40:10a lot of times they take place in Palm Springs.
00:40:13And we do a very, very familiar loop, you know,
00:40:16through the mountains of Idlewild.
00:40:18And we do this all the time.
00:40:19It's really fun and usually an enjoyable experience.
00:40:22It's a beautiful ride.
00:40:23It's really is.
00:40:24It's got a great road going up to Idlewild
00:40:26and it's a really pretty ride.
00:40:28It sure is.
00:40:29And then, you know, there's like little off-road loops
00:40:31that you can tackle if, you know,
00:40:32the vehicle's capable of that.
00:40:35So there's a lot of, you know, diversity out there.
00:40:37It's a good place to do stuff, you know,
00:40:39and we're really lucky to have this road in SoCal.
00:40:42Anyways, so the timeframe is, you know, December, 2021.
00:40:48And in this time of year in Southern California,
00:40:50we're in our winter rainy season.
00:40:52So it's not uncommon to have, you know,
00:40:55a rainstorm this time of year.
00:40:57Well, it just so happened that this particular day,
00:41:00we were gonna have the storm of the decade.
00:41:03So, you know, an atmospheric river
00:41:05was rolling through SoCal,
00:41:07bringing a lot of moisture and bad weather from,
00:41:09you know, presumably the Pacific Northwest.
00:41:12And this was gonna occur during our ride.
00:41:15So, you know, we are all wearing, you know,
00:41:17rain clothes and rain gear, you know,
00:41:20which is a good topic for another episode.
00:41:22If you don't have the right gear, you're not doing it right.
00:41:24But we had the right, you know, Revit full rain gear.
00:41:27I knew it was gonna rain.
00:41:28Soon as we leave the hotel, we start climbing the 74 grade.
00:41:32And, you know, within a matter of minutes,
00:41:33it starts raining, you know, within minutes.
00:41:36So it's raining and, you know, it's 9 a.m. raining.
00:41:40I'm like, oh, this is gonna be a long day.
00:41:42And we just keep trucking up the 74.
00:41:45And, you know, the weather is just getting progressively
00:41:47worse and worse and worse.
00:41:49And as you climb this grade, you know,
00:41:52while it's relatively nice at the bottom,
00:41:54you know, 60, 65 degrees,
00:41:57you know, in very short order,
00:41:58you're at elevation, you know, five, 6,000 feet,
00:42:00and it's not warm at all.
00:42:02Now it's cold, you know, now it's sleeting.
00:42:05So we're riding and, you know, it's cold and it's sleeting,
00:42:08but we're not on a particularly crazy curvy stretch of road.
00:42:12I mean, there's definitely curves, but it's not crazy yet.
00:42:16So we keep climbing the road,
00:42:18the temperature keeps getting cold.
00:42:20And, you know, there's a point where I'm like,
00:42:23we should probably like turn back or go somewhere else.
00:42:26Like the weather is just going to decrease.
00:42:28We're only going to go higher in elevation.
00:42:30It's only going to rain more.
00:42:31I mean, keep in mind, this was a,
00:42:33this was a day where the national weather service
00:42:35had issued like, like, like, like stay at home.
00:42:38Like, don't go crazy because it's going to rain a lot.
00:42:40Not the day for riding a motorcycle.
00:42:43Yeah.
00:42:44So, you know, heated grips are on, you know,
00:42:47I'm just like, God, when are we going to go back?
00:42:49You know, the visibility is starting to get kind of poor.
00:42:51And, you know, I just keep following the ride lead
00:42:54who happened to be, you know,
00:42:56Formula Extreme champ, Jake Zemke.
00:42:59So we keep climbing and now we're like,
00:43:01now we're in Idlewild, we're in the mountains.
00:43:04And now it's like raining cats and dogs
00:43:06and it's raining so much and the temperature's so cold
00:43:10that the Multistrada V4, you know,
00:43:12in typical Volkswagen, Audi fashion, it has a light.
00:43:16So when it's like 32 degrees,
00:43:18this light flashes to let you know
00:43:19that there might be ice on the road.
00:43:21And now the lights are flashing.
00:43:23It's flashing, it's 32 degrees.
00:43:25You know, it's literally sleeting.
00:43:27We're on the side of the mountain
00:43:28where literally like small boulders
00:43:31are falling onto the road surface.
00:43:33And, you know, I have a pinlock insert
00:43:36inside my Shoei or Arai helmet.
00:43:39I can't recall what helmet I was wearing,
00:43:41but it was a Shoei or Arai.
00:43:42And usually pinlock, you know, is a game changer,
00:43:45completely mitigating fog and condensation
00:43:47on the inside of the visor.
00:43:49Well, it was raining so hard
00:43:51that the pinlock was rendered useless.
00:43:53So-
00:43:54Oh my God.
00:43:55Now we're going maybe 20 miles per hour
00:43:58and I'm just literally following the faint light
00:44:01of a taillight that's within six feet in front of me,
00:44:04but it's still very faint.
00:44:06And it's raining, it's freezing,
00:44:07there's boulders falling down.
00:44:09We're going 20 miles per hour.
00:44:11And we still have like, we can't turn around.
00:44:13At this point, we're in the middle of the ride.
00:44:15So, you know, there's no turning around.
00:44:17Let's just plow through this stuff.
00:44:19And, you know, we finished the ride.
00:44:22You know, it was, no one crashed, thank God.
00:44:25You know, as we went down the mountain,
00:44:27the sleet turned back into rain.
00:44:29And, but by the time that ride was done, you know,
00:44:32even though I had full waterproof gear on,
00:44:36I was soaked head to toe.
00:44:37Like, there was not an inch of my body that wasn't soaked.
00:44:40And-
00:44:41Yeah, it's crazy.
00:44:42That's a story of when motorcycling goes sour.
00:44:46Yeah, when you're okay being in a car at that point,
00:44:49you're like, yeah, okay, throw the heater on.
00:44:51And yeah.
00:44:53But in true Pikes Peak fashion,
00:44:55the Ducati Pikes Peak lived up to its name
00:44:59in crazy weather and still Paul Button
00:45:02had it was a cool motorcycle.
00:45:04That's cool.
00:45:05Bradley, what do you-
00:45:07You guys set me up by being the last one here
00:45:09because now I-
00:45:10You better be good.
00:45:11It's, no, I'm copying it because I was laughing
00:45:13because it also included naked bikes and bad weather.
00:45:17So this is, yeah, again, common themes.
00:45:20We get good is, you know,
00:45:23beautiful scenery and adventure bikes.
00:45:24Bad is trying to go long distance on naked bikes
00:45:28in any time during winter.
00:45:33Yeah, it was back in the day.
00:45:35I can't remember what year this was, but we were doing,
00:45:36so this is when I was at a Sport Rider Magazine
00:45:40and in typical magazine fashion, you know,
00:45:41you've got deadlines.
00:45:42And so you're like, we've got to get this test done.
00:45:45We need this done for this issue.
00:45:48So we had naked bikes and it was December or January.
00:45:53We had a Triumph Street Triple.
00:45:56We had a Ducati Street Fighter and an MV Agusta Brutale.
00:46:00And I don't know what I was thinking,
00:46:02but I decided to plan this trip.
00:46:04I was like, oh, we'll do this ride up to Central California,
00:46:07go up to Morro Bay.
00:46:08I like to, if I'm planning a trip, it's like,
00:46:10what's the destination?
00:46:10I've never really been.
00:46:11Somewhere that sounds cool.
00:46:13I would just love to see, right?
00:46:15We'll go right up to Morro Bay.
00:46:18Yeah, riding naked bikes in the middle of winter,
00:46:21you know, long distance stuff, you're just like.
00:46:23Right next to the ocean.
00:46:24What was I thinking, you know?
00:46:26Yeah, so we're going up, you know, over the Cone Pass
00:46:30and it starts snowing on us.
00:46:32And it starts snowing so badly.
00:46:36And mind you, I think you guys have all ridden
00:46:39through that stretch.
00:46:39There's nowhere to just get off, right?
00:46:42Once you are on the freeway right there,
00:46:43you are on the freeway.
00:46:45So at least for a couple, you know, miles at a time.
00:46:48And I mean, all of a sudden it turns into.
00:46:51That section of the freeway is just full of idiots too.
00:46:53Like you don't want to be on the side of the road
00:46:57on that stretch of road.
00:46:58You'll get clobbered.
00:46:59Right.
00:47:00So all of a sudden we're like, oh, we can get through this.
00:47:03And all of a sudden it's snowing
00:47:04and then it's sticking to the ground
00:47:06and it's just snow on the freeway.
00:47:08And so all we can do on the motorcycles
00:47:12is pull off to the slow lane
00:47:14and just go as slow as we possibly can
00:47:16to just keep the things upright.
00:47:18But now what's happening is all the big rigs and stuff
00:47:21that are going over there, they're all good.
00:47:23They're still going, you know, 45, 50 miles per hour.
00:47:27So you've got these big rigs blowing by you
00:47:30while you're freezing cold,
00:47:31trying to keep this motorcycle upright
00:47:33while riding on snowy roads.
00:47:37Absolutely one of the most terrifying experiences.
00:47:40So we ended up having to,
00:47:42once we kind of got over the hill,
00:47:45we were able to get off, get into a gas station
00:47:48and we literally just huddled
00:47:49around the coffee machine there,
00:47:51just shaking, just everything to our bones.
00:47:55We're just shivering.
00:47:57And yeah, finally let that storm
00:48:01kind of start to roll through
00:48:03so we can finish the ride up to Morrow Bay.
00:48:06And it never got over like 40 degrees
00:48:09the rest of that ride.
00:48:10Oh my God.
00:48:11Just absolutely bone chilling cold for us, you know,
00:48:16wind chill factor and everything.
00:48:17And yeah, naked bikes, man.
00:48:21I will never plan a big trip naked bikes in winter again.
00:48:26Let that be the lesson.
00:48:27That was what I learned that time.
00:48:30Well, I think that one again, there's a common theme.
00:48:34Cold makes riding long distances difficult, right?
00:48:39Yes.
00:48:40Yep.
00:48:41Yep.
00:48:42Plan accordingly when you're planning a trip
00:48:44as much as you can.
00:48:45Yeah.
00:48:46Right?
00:48:47Yeah.
00:48:48I have a question for you guys.
00:48:49You know, it's kind of crazy.
00:48:50This is a really good question.
00:48:52Like, have you guys ever done any, you know,
00:48:54iron butt type rides where you've covered,
00:48:57I know Justin talked about doing a six day epic journey,
00:49:01but have you guys ever covered 1000 miles
00:49:04in a span of 24 hours?
00:49:06No, absolutely not.
00:49:07And I will never, ever, ever,
00:49:10hopefully ever have to do that.
00:49:12I, like, I understand, like, you know,
00:49:17like the iron butt challenge is this thing where like,
00:49:20it's a ride, like people do it, they, you know,
00:49:23they put their results up on the governing body
00:49:29of iron butt challenge, right?
00:49:31Iron butt association.
00:49:31Yeah, iron butt association.
00:49:33You got to have timestamp capture sheets.
00:49:35You got to, you know, show where you started,
00:49:37where you finished.
00:49:38You got to have a witness, mileage confirmation,
00:49:41like all these documents to show
00:49:43that you did 1000 miles in 24 hours.
00:49:46And like, I don't want to, how do I say this?
00:49:52I don't want to like poopoo anybody's good time,
00:49:56but that is not fun.
00:49:59Like, what is the point of doing that?
00:50:00Like, I know like you've accomplished something,
00:50:02but it cannot be fun at all.
00:50:05And if it's not fun, why do it?
00:50:07Yeah, again, I think for me, at least the joy
00:50:11of riding a motorcycle or traveling on a motorcycle
00:50:14is getting to experience all these places
00:50:16and taking the time to soak it all in and, you know,
00:50:21absorb that and make those memories.
00:50:23And when you're doing something like an iron butt,
00:50:25in my opinion, you're just,
00:50:26you're getting through it as fast as you can.
00:50:29I don't know, that's not what I'm-
00:50:31It is difficult to do 1000 miles in 24 hours.
00:50:34Like riding 1000 miles in a day is very tough.
00:50:38And sure, okay, it's the suffer,
00:50:42like I commend you for making it happen,
00:50:45but I, no, no, thank you.
00:50:48No, thank you.
00:50:49I just don't have the willpower for it.
00:50:51Yeah, and I think it also, like bikes are so good nowadays.
00:50:55You get on, you know, a Goldwing or a K16,
00:50:58something like that, right?
00:50:59And it's just like, it does make it a little bit easier
00:51:01than it would have been back in the day, in my opinion.
00:51:04Yeah, I guess so.
00:51:05I mean, India had pitched an idea a while back of me
00:51:10and who was on staff at that time, Morgan Gales,
00:51:13doing 24 hours or something like that on,
00:51:20I think it was when the Pursuit came out.
00:51:22Maybe the Challenger, I don't remember.
00:51:23One of the big, big,
00:51:25and amazingly big, comfortable motorcycles.
00:51:27And they were like, oh, we want you to do this thing
00:51:30and you want to do it.
00:51:31And everyone was like, yeah.
00:51:32And I was like, no, no, no.
00:51:34And thank goodness the stars did not align
00:51:38that we had to do it.
00:51:39I mean, if I had to, I would have done it
00:51:41and I would have hated every second of it,
00:51:43or at least the last 12 hours of it.
00:51:45So cool, but whatever, you know?
00:51:48So, you know, for me, it's a thumbs down.
00:51:54What about you, Adam?
00:51:55Thumbs down, thumbs up.
00:51:58I've never done 1,000 miles in 24 hours.
00:52:03I've done close, like maybe 700
00:52:05or something like that in 24 hours,
00:52:07but I haven't done that officially.
00:52:09And, you know, my sentiment echoes yours.
00:52:11Like, I wouldn't, it just doesn't sound appealing
00:52:14to do the whole witness and the timestamps
00:52:17and stuff like that.
00:52:18But not knocking the people who do do that,
00:52:20but I mean, and as Bradley said, you know,
00:52:23it's like the fog hat song, slow ride, take it easy.
00:52:26You know, like when you're riding to your destination,
00:52:29you kind of, I mean, you want to ride at a good pace,
00:52:32but it's okay to stop and have lunch at the diner
00:52:35and take some photos.
00:52:36Yeah, exactly.
00:52:37You're defeating the purpose if you're like,
00:52:38oh, we got to go 1,000 miles in 24 hours,
00:52:41hurry up, ah, you know?
00:52:43Right.
00:52:44You're also turning it into real work at that point.
00:52:46Yeah, I guess I appreciate, you know,
00:52:48the challenge and challenging yourself
00:52:50and overcoming those hurdles and stuff,
00:52:52but I know my dad did it a couple years back
00:52:55and he basically did it and was like,
00:52:57yeah, don't really have a desire to do that again.
00:52:59Just like, yeah.
00:53:01And I kind of see it echoing your sentiment.
00:53:03If you were purchasing a motorcycle on the West Coast
00:53:06and going to East Coast or vice versa
00:53:08and you had to get back to your destination
00:53:10for your family or work or whatever,
00:53:12I could totally see an iron butt for that application.
00:53:15But aside from buying a new or used motorcycle,
00:53:19I think I would pass.
00:53:20Nah.
00:53:21No thanks.
00:53:22I guess this is a good time to prompt some listeners,
00:53:23though, like if people that have done it,
00:53:25what made you want to do it and would you do it again?
00:53:28Kind of curious.
00:53:29Because obviously we're all on the one side of the fence,
00:53:32but yeah, kind of curious what other people
00:53:34are thinking.
00:53:35And we're not downplaying your accomplishment.
00:53:40Yeah, right.
00:53:41But it's not for us.
00:53:42It's just not, yeah, it's not the style of riding
00:53:45that we're interested in.
00:53:46Yeah.
00:53:47So let's talk about how to make
00:53:50motorcycle travel easier or better.
00:53:53Let's just, each of us maybe throw in one thing
00:53:56that would help make it.
00:53:59I mean, the list is massive.
00:54:01We could do a whole episode just on how to make
00:54:02motorcycle travel easier.
00:54:04But let's just talk, each of us give a tip
00:54:07on what you would do to make your day,
00:54:11your long trip on a motorcycle better.
00:54:12Let's start with Adam.
00:54:16Well, like you said, there's a lot of options out there
00:54:17and ideas, but I think the most important thing
00:54:20it would be just to make sure you select
00:54:23the right piece of riding gear.
00:54:25You know, you want to check, you know,
00:54:27what weather you're going to encounter during your ride
00:54:30and most importantly at the destination.
00:54:32And, you know, there's a lot of great motorcycle
00:54:34riding gear out there that can fit basically
00:54:37any type of climate, whether it's 120 degrees
00:54:41Fahrenheit in the summer or 40 degrees Fahrenheit
00:54:44in the winter and raining.
00:54:45So really just picking that right gear
00:54:48is really the most important thing.
00:54:51And, you know, any type of ride like this
00:54:53is going to be what pops into my mind
00:54:55is touring gear or adventure touring gear.
00:54:58So like a Gore-Tex or a generic Gore-Tex
00:55:03one piece or two piece pantsuit.
00:55:05Those are always my favorite.
00:55:06I love the two piece pantsuit with the multiple liners
00:55:09inside so you can take one liner out, put it back in.
00:55:12Tons of pockets you can put your charging cables in there.
00:55:16And then, you know, some of the riding gear
00:55:18so good where the inner liners are,
00:55:21they're so modular and even fashionable
00:55:24that you can wear it as like an outside jacket
00:55:26like at night when they look cool.
00:55:27So, you know, I would think just investing
00:55:30in the appropriate riding gear for your intended rides
00:55:34just the most important.
00:55:36How about you guys?
00:55:37With big vents, right?
00:55:38There's nothing better when you're hot
00:55:40and you're like, oh, I've got all these vents
00:55:42that I can now open up when it starts to cool down again.
00:55:44You know, the sun goes down
00:55:46and you just zip them right back up.
00:55:48And then also when you've got,
00:55:50just make sure that it's comfortable gear.
00:55:51Don't buy gear right ahead of your trip
00:55:54and then, you know, not wear it
00:55:56and try it and break it in, right?
00:55:58The absolute worst thing is getting into something
00:56:00and like all of a sudden you're a couple hundred miles in
00:56:03and it's chafing.
00:56:04Like sometimes you get those like pants
00:56:06that kind of just bind up behind your knees
00:56:09and just start chafing and like there's torture.
00:56:11All the sizing is a little bit different
00:56:13between all these brands too.
00:56:15So a medium and one piece of gear
00:56:16might be a large in the nooks.
00:56:18So you have to kind of just try it out
00:56:20and wear it for a little bit of time
00:56:22just to make sure it fits.
00:56:23Because it's not like you're clothing at home
00:56:25where, you know, if your clothing at home
00:56:27doesn't fit totally fine, it doesn't really matter.
00:56:29It's fine, like you'll be fine.
00:56:31But when you're spending, you know,
00:56:32a full day in the saddle, you know,
00:56:34you want it to fit right.
00:56:35Exactly, yeah.
00:56:36What about you, Justin?
00:56:38Favorite tip?
00:56:39My favorite tip I think is be prepared to work on your bike
00:56:45and have your bike prepared to go on the trip.
00:56:47So maintenance is an important part of motorcycle travel.
00:56:52You know, we've all done it
00:56:53where we've gone riding in a big group of people
00:56:55and there's always that guy
00:56:57that his bike is not ready to go
00:57:00and you know before you leave,
00:57:02like his bike's going to break.
00:57:03We're going to be working on his stuff
00:57:05or her stuff or their stuff, you know.
00:57:07And I think don't be that person.
00:57:12Like work on your bike before you go
00:57:14and work on it well before you're going to go.
00:57:16Like really, like if you're going to go on a long,
00:57:19week-long, two-week-long trip, you know,
00:57:22like the month before, start working on your bike.
00:57:25Go through every nut and bolt.
00:57:26Change the oil, check all the fluids, you know.
00:57:29Check your tires, check your brakes, check everything
00:57:32so that you minimize the chances of something going wrong
00:57:36and then have the things you need
00:57:38for the most common things that are going to go wrong.
00:57:40You might get a flat tire, right?
00:57:42So have a plug kit, you know.
00:57:46If you're adventure bike riding, you know,
00:57:49you might have a chance where you fall down
00:57:52and you crack something
00:57:53that's holding some sort of fluid, right?
00:57:56So bring some JB Weld, you know.
00:57:59You know, it's really small.
00:58:00It doesn't take up a lot of space.
00:58:02It's easy to use.
00:58:03Zip ties, duct tape, bailing wire,
00:58:06you know, assortment of small tools.
00:58:08Like, you know, like you don't have
00:58:11to be named brand nice tools.
00:58:13Like Motion Pro makes really, really nice like travel tools.
00:58:16They're like titanium and they're super light,
00:58:18but you can also just go on Amazon
00:58:19and buy like cheap tools as long as they fit
00:58:23and they don't fall apart super quickly.
00:58:26Like just assemble a little toolkit
00:58:28and always have that with you.
00:58:29And I think that's going to,
00:58:32even if you don't need them,
00:58:32you have the peace of mind that you can handle
00:58:36most things that come your way.
00:58:38Yeah, I always like that tip too
00:58:39of anything that you might have to do on the road
00:58:42and you're bringing, you know, your tools for that,
00:58:45your small set of tools, do that.
00:58:48Oh yeah.
00:58:49That task with those tools.
00:58:51You know, don't use your,
00:58:52the tools that you have at home that aren't coming with you.
00:58:55You know, use the tools that are going to be with you.
00:58:57You know, change your tire,
00:58:59take your wheel off with the tools
00:59:01that are going in your toolkit
00:59:02and make sure you're comfortable
00:59:04and that you've got exactly what you need.
00:59:05And yeah, they do get the job done.
00:59:08Yeah, that's a good tip.
00:59:09Okay, I guess that would be your second tip now.
00:59:12Give us your second tip, Bradley.
00:59:15It's maybe a small thing compared to those things,
00:59:17but I think be very selective
00:59:21of who you're doing these trips with, right?
00:59:24Like the people that you're with
00:59:26can really impact your experience.
00:59:28And I mean, from everything, from the people,
00:59:30you've got different, again,
00:59:32people want to experience different things.
00:59:33You've got guys who don't want to touch a highway
00:59:36the entire ride,
00:59:37and you got guys who just want to be on the freeway.
00:59:39You've got people that want to sleep in
00:59:40and just knock out a couple, you know,
00:59:42two, 300 miles every day.
00:59:43You got people that want to go 500, 600 miles in a day,
00:59:46you know, and-
00:59:47You got people that want to stay up all night and drink.
00:59:49Yeah, yeah.
00:59:50All of these things, you know,
00:59:52and that really does dictate your experience.
00:59:55So for sure, and that kind of goes into the planning,
00:59:59think about the route, think about who you're riding with.
01:00:01And, you know, it's not just,
01:00:03well, we'll just get out there and do it.
01:00:04There is a lot of thought that goes into, you know,
01:00:08into traveling on a motorcycle for sure.
01:00:11If you don't want to go on a vacation with that person,
01:00:16you don't want to go on a long motorcycle ride
01:00:18with that person.
01:00:19Yeah, yeah.
01:00:20You know, if you're like, oh, like, you know,
01:00:23if I was going to go to Hawaii,
01:00:24would I invite this person with me?
01:00:26And if you're like, nah,
01:00:27then you wouldn't invite them on a motorcycle ride either.
01:00:31For a long trip.
01:00:32Yeah, right, right, right.
01:00:33Yeah, yeah.
01:00:34And I guess the other thing too,
01:00:36gotta stay hydrated.
01:00:38Gotta stay hydrated.
01:00:39Just for mental clarity, energy.
01:00:42I mean, hydrated and obviously make sure
01:00:43you get enough calories in,
01:00:45but you gotta carry water with you.
01:00:48Have water at all times because, I mean, that's-
01:00:50Even on cold, wet days, you still need to hydrate.
01:00:54Yeah, yeah.
01:00:55Just that mental clarity
01:00:56and just making sure you're being smooth, precise,
01:00:59all those things and attentive.
01:01:00Yeah, you got your attention and all that.
01:01:02Yep.
01:01:03Massive.
01:01:05It's funny, like, you know,
01:01:07I was wondering when we talked about this podcast,
01:01:10like, would the stories and the ideas
01:01:13and the thoughts be all over the place?
01:01:15Because we're three different, very different people,
01:01:16but we've kind of all aligned
01:01:18and we've got some things that align.
01:01:20And for all three of us,
01:01:22one of them is motorcycle travel is rad.
01:01:25You should do it.
01:01:26Absolutely, right?
01:01:27You should go do the trip.
01:01:30Don't put it off.
01:01:32You have a motorcycle.
01:01:34You should do it.
01:01:35Pick a destination, find some epic roads,
01:01:38do some planning and just, you know, make it happen.
01:01:42You gotta do it.
01:01:43It's worth it.
01:01:45Even when it's tough,
01:01:47you're still gonna look back on most of them
01:01:49and go, it was still rad, you know?
01:01:51So-
01:01:52Yeah, don't do the whole,
01:01:54maybe next year, maybe at one point I'll do it.
01:01:57Just make it happen.
01:01:57Yeah, just do it, you know?
01:01:59And embrace the good and the bad, you know?
01:02:01It's almost always more good than it is bad.
01:02:04So just do it.
01:02:07We're at the end of the show.
01:02:08So if we've missed anything,
01:02:12you know, let us know your tips and tricks
01:02:15for having motorcycle travel.
01:02:17Give us some of your stories.
01:02:18Like, put them down in the comments.
01:02:19Like, tell us a story of when the best trip you had
01:02:23or the worst trip you had,
01:02:25or of your riding friend that their bike
01:02:27was a total piece of crap
01:02:29and you left him in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
01:02:31you know, whatever.
01:02:32So-
01:02:33Or favorite rides, right?
01:02:34Because maybe someone else will jump in
01:02:36and be like, see in the comments,
01:02:37like, oh, that sounds cool.
01:02:38I gotta do that.
01:02:39Yeah.
01:02:40Yeah, and inspire other listeners to check something out.
01:02:44Obviously, we all think you should go to Utah,
01:02:47but there's other places in the United States
01:02:49that are just as epic.
01:02:50So put those down in the comments below too.
01:02:52And thank you again for your support.
01:02:55Hit the like button, subscribe, you know,
01:02:58and we're gonna see you on the next episode.
01:03:01Thanks for listening.