Since Fred asked...
Total Miles: 5,270. This is actually the shortest western tour I've done in several years, as a result of my decision to leave Therese in Phoenix instead of riding back across the plains.
Longest Riding Day: 790 miles (Day 1). This is typical, on Day 1 I'm both fresh and also trying to make the best time I can across the plains. This time I stayed in Council Bluffs, IA to see what it was like. Now that I know what Council Bluffs is like, Omaha will remain my stop of choice.
I was in good shape and could have ridden further, but ran out of daylight. Normally I ride early in the season when the days are long (and keep getting longer as the ride goes on), which allows for much greater distances without having to ride at night. But even with that option available, Omaha is a good stopping place.
This certainly isn't the longest ride I've done. Mike Feekart and I did 1100 miles back in 2013 (see "The Saddlesore 1000" in Return to Malfunction Junction). And I've done at least two other 1000 mile days.
The next-longest day was the 597 mile ride from dad's house in South Fork, CO to Larry's house in Mesa, AZ.
The shortest real travel day was the 58 mile ride from Berkeley to Vacaville, CA.
Below is the whole trip reduced to numbers and charts. Note the "Tire Miles" column. I added this column mid-way through the trip with conditional color formatting to further exacerbate my concern about whether I'd make it all the way back to Phoenix on the tires I started with, which weren't as close to brand-new as I'd have preferred.
Total Miles: 5,270. This is actually the shortest western tour I've done in several years, as a result of my decision to leave Therese in Phoenix instead of riding back across the plains.
Longest Riding Day: 790 miles (Day 1). This is typical, on Day 1 I'm both fresh and also trying to make the best time I can across the plains. This time I stayed in Council Bluffs, IA to see what it was like. Now that I know what Council Bluffs is like, Omaha will remain my stop of choice.
I was in good shape and could have ridden further, but ran out of daylight. Normally I ride early in the season when the days are long (and keep getting longer as the ride goes on), which allows for much greater distances without having to ride at night. But even with that option available, Omaha is a good stopping place.
This certainly isn't the longest ride I've done. Mike Feekart and I did 1100 miles back in 2013 (see "The Saddlesore 1000" in Return to Malfunction Junction). And I've done at least two other 1000 mile days.
The next-longest day was the 597 mile ride from dad's house in South Fork, CO to Larry's house in Mesa, AZ.
The shortest real travel day was the 58 mile ride from Berkeley to Vacaville, CA.
Below is the whole trip reduced to numbers and charts. Note the "Tire Miles" column. I added this column mid-way through the trip with conditional color formatting to further exacerbate my concern about whether I'd make it all the way back to Phoenix on the tires I started with, which weren't as close to brand-new as I'd have preferred.
Fred also asked, "What to do again, What not to do again."
What to do again...oh, there is so much.
What not to do again...oh, there is so much.
Since I've shared some of my ridiculously-detailed trip-related spreadsheets, here's a couple graphs that I think are fun to play with and look at.
Below is a 3-D presentation of the last few years of riding...I like the way it looks like a series of mountain ridges.
What to do again...oh, there is so much.
- Seeing my family, of course.
- Touring with my old riding buddies.
- Hanging with my old high school buddies.
- Can't ever do too much Yosemite. Making the last-minute decision to stay another day was the best decision I made during the trip. Nearly as good as the decision to sleep in a tent, but hang out at the Ahwahnee hotel as if I belonged there.
- Monterey. My ocean-view was actually the second least-expensive hotel room I booked during the entire trip; I often paid a lot more for a lot worse. And now I know where the nearest Thai joint is.
- We'll see whether leaving my bike 2,000 miles from home turns out to be a good idea or not.
What not to do again...oh, there is so much.
- Don't give up a day of riding in the mountains when a repaired tire seems perfectly serviceable.
- Don't run out of daylight.
- Don't ride through central San Francisco. Especially on a weekday.
- Don't take old electronic devices with weak batteries.
- Don't skip the GoPro.
Since I've shared some of my ridiculously-detailed trip-related spreadsheets, here's a couple graphs that I think are fun to play with and look at.
Below is a 3-D presentation of the last few years of riding...I like the way it looks like a series of mountain ridges.
And below...my whole history of riding street motorcycles, different colors for different machines, month-by-month.
Yeah, I'm a geek.
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