On riding alone
Sunday, July 25th, 2004From Bamarider’s Long Distance Tips:
A lone rider, far from home, is a magnet. Everyone wants to stop and chat. I meet people in cafes/diners, truck stops, tourists traps, and campgrounds. Most people appreciate what you are doing. The lone rider sets himself apart from the masses. He is his own master, and that is the heart of his appeal to the ordinary folk. The modern motorcycle has greatly reduced the challenge of cross country riding. My ST takes me to California easy as a 747. At issue is not the machine, but the elements. The lone rider must deal with the savage cross winds of the Great Plains, the booming thunderstorms of Texas, the cold, and snowy Rocky Mountains, the traffic and congestion of the East Coast. The totally unpredictable weather of the Appalachians. Conquering those things alone, makes me feel good. I need that to grow as a individual and as a rider.
On the flip side, the lone rider relates to glorious sunrises and sunsets. Twisty mountain roads that deposit him into spectacular valleys and vistas. I know the quiet solitude of the desert southwest, the open farmland of Iowa. I know about fall in Canada and New England, when the landscape is ablaze in reds, yellows and orange. From the saddle of my ST I gazed out across the Pacific Ocean, yearning for a transcontinental bridge to take me to Asia.