Hitting 50 Thou On The Connie
Tuesday, July 17th, 2012
The Connie and Judy at the Mackinac Bridge.
I didn’t ride as much in earlier years as I do now, and I have two motorcycles that I divide my seat time between. At least those are my lame excuses for the fact that I just turned over 50,000 miles on my 1999 Concours. That averages less than 4,000 miles per year, but the last few years I have exceeded 10,000 and am looking at about 13,000 this year.
Or to put it a little differently, I bought new tires last year and am already looking at getting new tires again. Maybe before this trip is over.
So the spot where I turned over 50,000 on the Connie was a pretty nice place. We are in Michigan, and were in the Upper Peninsula (UP) approaching the Mackinac Bridge. As the bridge was coming into sight there was a viewpoint so we pulled off. It was then that I noticed the odometer was at 50000.3. Cool. That’s a shot above with Judy and the bike in the foreground and the bridge in the background.
It has been interesting riding in Wisconsin and Michigan, primarily because the other bikers here don’t seem nearly as inclined to wave in acknowledgement as they do back home. I can’t tell if it’s because they’re almost all on Harleys and we are not or whether they just don’t do that so much around here. I have noted, though, that a lot more people on non-Harleys do tend to wave. Approaching the Mackinac Bridge, though, I also suspect that a lot more of them are non-locals. The bridge and the UP are major tourist attractions.
We did chance upon a sweet motorcycle road once we got across the bridge and down into the Lower Peninsula. We immediately headed west to the coast, picking up MI 119 at Cross Village. Heading south toward Harbor Springs the road is called alternately the Tunnel of Trees and Lakeshore Drive. It hugs the coast.
You might more accurately say this is a motorcycle passenger’s road. The tight, frequent turns keep the rider’s attention totally focused and there is no time at all for sightseeing. Also, because it is barely one and one-half lanes wide, with lots of car traffic coming the other way and no shoulder, there are not that many places to pull off so the rider can enjoy the view.
That didn’t deter the bikers, though. Along with the cars we saw a considerable stream of bikes heading the other way. This is definitely a destination road.
Much of the rest of the time, unfortunately, the riding here is not nearly as interesting as in Colorado. When we ride up and down mountains the views are spectacular and ever changing. In this region you do way too much riding just following straight pavement between rows of trees. You know there is a lot of water, in the form of a lot of lakes and a couple really big lakes, close by, but you often do not see them. They’re over there somewhere.
Oh well. We’re still having a good time and seeing some new places. Today promises to be a nice ride, once again down the western coast of the Lower Peninsula. Now if it will just cool off enough so we’re not drowning in sweat.
Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Finding a great Michigan motorcycle road
Biker Quote for Today
You know you’re becoming addicted to riding when you look for excuses to go to the store to buy a Snickers bar or to the bank just to check the balance . . . several times a day.
