Motorcycle Mileage For 2018
Getting to here requires racking up some miles on the bike.
Once again last year my motorcycle mileage totally kicked the butt of my car mileage. I only drove my car 2,928 miles, while I put 7,230 miles on my three bikes. Heck, I put more miles on the Concours in one trip than I did on the car the whole year. In comparison, I put 5,043 miles on the bikes in 2017 and 3,004 on the car.
The lowest mileage–as usual–was on the Honda. That was just 469 miles, compared to 713 the year before. Every year I promise myself I will ride the Honda more and every year I prove myself a liar. Maybe this time at least I can claim that, “Oh, I would have ridden the Honda more if I weren’t off the bikes for two months due to heart surgery.” And that’s certainly true because minus the surgery I would have ridden the Honda in both those months at least a few miles. But that’s still not much of an excuse.
The V-Strom got quite a bit more riding. We went 2,425 miles together and that compares very favorably to the year before when we only went 1,588 miles.
The big boy, also as usual, was the Connie. I put 4,336 miles on that bike; the 2017 total was only 2,742. So once again, that one trip to British Columbia put more miles on this bike than it got all of the previous year.
In other words, if you really want to put some miles on your bike it pays big time to go somewhere–somewhere far away.
So what’s on the agenda for 2019? Of course the OFMC ride will happen, and that looks to be about 2,300 miles. And once again we’re hoping to join members of the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club on one of their long trips, but that will all be determined by timing and conflicts.
And I’m not planning to be off the bikes for two months due to surgery. Of course I wasn’t planning that last year either but it happened. On the other hand, if I hadn’t had that surgery I might easily not be alive this year to do any riding at all.
Beyond all this we’ll just have to see. I do have an idea, however, that I might get out on at least a couple longer solo rides. You see, Judy is very preoccupied at this point and for the forseeable future playing grandma to her new–and first!–grandchild. There may just be times when I tell her I’m figuring to head out for a few days. I don’t want to leave her behind if she’s interested in going but if it’s a choice between Jack and a ride, I’m figuring she’ll choose Jack. Or I could be wrong; we’ll see.
Biker Quote for Today
Time on a motorcycle is unlike time spent anywhere else. There are moments lost in the landscape, seconds devoted solely to balance, and long stretches spent spiraling inward. — Barbara Schoichet
