contrast this with your last motorcycling trip... (days of yore)
I don't know about you, but my last motorcycle road trip was a great experience. That's why it was such a joy to find these pictures on the web outlining a motorcycling road-trip.
http://www.go-faster.com/SS100.html
Below are a couple of my favourite pics:
northern france road stop 001
That's a brick road. Can you imagine what that was like? I've ridden on cobblestones once before, in the rain, and I have to say it's harder than riding dirt. Give me tarmac any day. I've ridden some of the places covered in that site and I can say at least the roads are better now.
black forest 001
That, to me, looks like a blind corner: Who stops on a blind bend? In the alps? These days, some guy dragging his knee on a Gixxer thou would come within centimeters of your front wheel and a great rate. And don't you just love that these guys are all wearing shirts and ties? My last trip I was covered head to toe in either goretex, leather, cordura or fibreglass. I alternated between hot and cold, despite the venting and thermals. And it all meant every stop took ten minutes to secure velcro, fasterners /etc. And who stops anywhere in the alps? the riding is just too good.
But this last one is my favourite and to me highlights the difference between these guys and the way I ride:
ken puncture
He has tools!!! I think, on my last trip, aside from the single screwdriver under my seat, the closest I had to tools was a set of adapters so I could plug all my electronics in. To be honest, I ride a fairly new bike and even if it did break down, there's probably not much I could personally do to fix it.
I did carry a memory stick so I could restore either of the computers I took. Yes, people. Two computers. To be honest, I needed more powerpoints than one hotel room had to offer but that's OK as I took my own power bar, too.
And that's why spent a good ten minutes looking at these photos and the site above. Sure, they airlifted the bikes over, but the riding, like the social life looked easy and not at all hurried. This is pure riding joy at it's finest and it makes me want to go out now, just for the hell of it.
