Motorcycles & Rural Living

[K7147]

Hi Kids!

Part of rural living for many includes taking two wheeled rides when weather permits. Both the wife and myself have ridden motorcycles for many years and upon moving to rural Vermont we’ve concluded this area has got to be two wheeled heaven!

The roads are almost all “twisty” back roads that usually meander along a river or lake and dip in and out of the mountains into quaint little villages that are sure to have at least one ice cream stand. The small amount of traffic we see is usually other bikes. Sometimes we pack fly-rods and a picnic lunch for a little fishing or perhaps a tour of antique shops (the wife’s favorite trip). With heated seats and suitable clothing we try and extend the riding season and usually put on between 6,000-10,000 miles per year.

So how many of you rural folk have found the pleasures of on road or off road motorcycling? Any pictures of your trips or ride? Any adventure stories? Any motorcycle/critter encounters? Any hot tips on attaching a backhoe to a motorcycle?

Here are pictures of our current two wheeled chariots:

Ken

 

[Thomas]

Morning K7147.
Indeed there some great relaxing roads in New England.

I got my wife into riding 02 and just plan loves it...had to trade up to 02 HD E.Glide for comfort,than again to 04 HD U.Glide for those long runs to upper midwest....Mrs. refuse to ride my chopper.

Oh yeah those ice cream stands beside the road has a way to shrink the leather vest in time.

Two wheel riding,seems one notice more tractors and attachment beside the road,and even tractor dealerships always have smile....than there tractor events.

Good ride we enjoy Rte 302 in VT to Rte 302 NH,than scoot up to Rte 26 than on to Rte 16,to Rte 4 west back to Lebanon.

If we should met up this summer I'll buy you and the Mrs. ice cream.

 

[Regal]

Ken;
I believe there are many riders on TBN. I have a Suzuki LC 1500 Classic that I also log on an average of 8 - 10 K miles per year. Great fun!!! No photos or exciting stories other than 1 very NEAR hit. 2 lane road, oncoming traffic when one pulled out to pass. He took the shoulder ( fish tailing and broadside ) and I kept my lane. Got a nice shower of gravel he was kicking up from shoulder. Only inches between us when we met. He ended up in the ditch (OK) and I was shaking too much to stop. Probably would have fallen over if I stopped anyhow. Has not curtailed my enthusiasm to ride though.
Would love to ride in Vermont sometime. Here in Iowa, is mostly rolling hills but there are also a lot of good riding areas. ( Any riding is good riding ) We have the Missouri river on the west and Mississippi on the east. Both rivers bring many riders.
"TIP" you will need front weights on the bike for a backhoe!!!
Enjoy and be safe

Rick

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I spent 17 years chasing points on the AMA NAtional Enduro curcuit. I gave that up in 1992. I started off with a Penton (now KTM) switched to Husky's and in 1982, made the switch to Japanese water cooled MX bikes (Honda CR250R) I rode "RED" for 8 seasons, finally finishing my "carreer" on Kawasaki. (2 seasons) During the hieght of my years, I rode as many as 50 weekends a year. I spent 5 years as an employee of Honda.

We had a local club that organized and sanctioned several enduros, hare scrambles, and a few "poker runs". We also held the sanction for the AMA Grand National Flat track Series 1/2 mile event held at Louisville Downs until that shut down. (Crushed limestone "cushion". Only track like it on the curcuit back then. A real tire abuser, not to mention the fastest 1/2 mile flat track event anywhere) I was the clubs AMA referree for most of my time in the club. That put me in close contact with most of the big names back then. (Still stay in contact with Scotty Parker)

My son got hooked on motocross. More specifically, SUPERcross. During his first moto of the 1994 season, he crashed on a tabletop jump, breaking his neck. He came out of that OK, but the luster was worn away. My wife demanded that the MX bikes went away. They did.

In 1997, I decided to buy a street bike. (Harley, Springer softail) Still have it,although it hasn't been rode more than a few miles each summer in the last few years. Planning a road trip this summer, wife on the back. We'll spend a few weeks wandering down towards Florida and back. (visiting sister/bro-in-law near Tampa)

In the day, I was a motorcycle nut if there ever was one. Nowdays, I'm just a common nut. (who does his off-roading on a tractor nowdays)

 

[RobertN]

My wife and I both ride; she has ridden longer than I!

She started in the late 70's on a Sportster that she reuibulit from the ground up. Unusual for a lady to do. Back then, a woman, especially on a Harley, was an unusual site. She said back then big bad guys on bikes used to flip her off, give her aweful looks, yell insults... She stuck with it, and paved the way for all the women riders today. She had her Sportster, then moved to a couple FXRS Harley's; she has a FXRS Sprot now. She also used to ride dirt bikes, mostly Honda XR250's.

I have ridden a lot of things, dirt bikes and road bikes. Dirt bikes ranged from converted 70's Honda's to YZ250's, but never did ride competetively. Road bikes went from Honda Enduro's to Suzuki sport tour to Harley FXRS.

The "Gold Country" here in California, heart of the Gold Rush, is also home to wonderful riding. We're in the foothils, and have anything from wide open highway to tight mountian two lane. There's gold mines to wineries to old towns hanging on from the old Gold Rush, like Dry Diggins, Amador City and such. Only a short distance away is also the Sacramento/San Jaquin river Delta.

About 15 minutes from here is the famous HAngtown motocross track. In Auburn, right around the corner from another TBN member, is some awesome 1/8 mile flat track speedway races Untitled Document while in CSacramento, there is the yearly running of the Sacramento Mile flat track race. In amoungst all these foothills and on in to the mountians, is tons of off road riding opportunities.

I like riding dirt bikes on the Rubicon Trail, of Jeeper fame. I have run it in Jeeps, dirt bikes, mountian bikes, and hiking. It is a ton of fun on a big thumper out on the rock bowls of granite.

Some motocross fans might remember Danny "Magoo" Chandler from the early 80's. He is from Foresthill, about 45 minutes north of here. He was a national and international champion in motocross and supercross, until a crash left him in a wheel chair. Last I heard, he was still active with racing, including mountina bike and wheel chair off road stuff.

 

[Bird]

Never did any racing and never had any desire to. And the only "off road" playing in the dirt, old gravel pits, etc. I did was when I had a 1968 Yamaha (305cc) and even then I had a windshield, crash bars, and saddle bags and rode it back and forth to work (it was pretty expensive to park a car downtown Dallas, but I could park the bike free). The only times I've ridden Harleys, or even been around them, I wondered why anyone would want one. I used my bikes for transportation, so I wanted dependability, comfort, and economy (quiet was a plus, too). The 400cc Honda wasn't bad, the 650 Honda Silver Wing was better, the 800 BMW that I rode to Colorado and up Pike's Peak was pretty good (overrated, in my opinion), but the 1985 Honda Aspencade that I rode down to the Texas coast a few times and to Quantico, Washington, D.C., New Jersey, and Pennsylvania was the ultimate, even pulling a trailer. And the last time I renewed my drivers license I finally dropped the motorcycle endorsement and figure I'm through riding bikes.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

My wife and I both ride; she has ridden longer than I!

She started in the late 70's on a Sportster that she reuibulit from the ground up. Unusual for a lady to do. Back then, a woman, especially on a Harley, was an unusual site. She said back then big bad guys on bikes used to flip her off, give her aweful looks, yell insults... She stuck with it, and paved the way for all the women riders today. She had her Sportster, then moved to a couple FXRS Harley's; she has a FXRS Sprot now. She also used to ride dirt bikes, mostly Honda XR250's.

I have ridden a lot of things, dirt bikes and road bikes. Dirt bikes ranged from converted 70's Honda's to YZ250's, but never did ride competetively. Road bikes went from Honda Enduro's to Suzuki sport tour to Harley FXRS.

The "Gold Country" here in California, heart of the Gold Rush, is also home to wonderful riding. We're in the foothils, and have anything from wide open highway to tight mountian two lane. There's gold mines to wineries to old towns hanging on from the old Gold Rush, like Dry Diggins, Amador City and such. Only a short distance away is also the Sacramento/San Jaquin river Delta.

About 15 minutes from here is the famous HAngtown motocross track. In Auburn, right around the corner from another TBN member, is some awesome 1/8 mile flat track speedway races Untitled Document while in CSacramento, there is the yearly running of the Sacramento Mile flat track race. In amoungst all these foothills and on in to the mountians, is tons of off road riding opportunities.

I like riding dirt bikes on the Rubicon Trail, of Jeeper fame. I have run it in Jeeps, dirt bikes, mountian bikes, and hiking. It is a ton of fun on a big thumper out on the rock bowls of granite.

Some motocross fans might remember Danny "Magoo" Chandler from the early 80's. He is from Foresthill, about 45 minutes north of here. He was a national and international champion in motocross and supercross, until a crash left him in a wheel chair. Last I heard, he was still active with racing, including mountina bike and wheel chair off road stuff.

I had the good fortune of meeting "Magoo" back before his injury. Talk about "driven". He reminded me of drag racer John Force with his enthusiasm for his sport.

His "accident" was not of his doing. He went over a big jump. When he cleared it, and was landing, a TV camera man went out on the track to get a closer shot of Magoo flying over. He landed ON the camera man and his equipment.

Another great from motocross history, and his "accident" were the reason why I quit when I did. If you wanted to teach someone how to go fast on a dirt bike, you would show them film of DAVID BAILEY. He was technically perfect on a bike. At least until he "cased it" on a triple jump. He never walked again, paralized from the waist down. At that time, Honda had the "super team" of Bailey, multi-time National Champ Rick Johnson, and "O SHOW" Johnny O'Marra. The team was led by "THE MAN" Roger DeCoster as team manager. For one year, that same team ALSO had the (IMHO) greatest RACER ever in Bob "Hurricane" Hannah. Hannah's motto....? WIN OR DIE TRYING.

 

[Darla]

My other half raced once in Carlsbad against both Bob Hannah (Yamaha) and Marty Smith (Honda). Bob caused our move from Honda to Yamaha. You know, way back then, when dirt was new , those two seemed to dominate and everyone else was left racing for 3rd on back. If I'm not mistaken, 1976 was the first year for the Yamaha monoshock and they went from gray to yellow. Nothing was watercooled, and nobody was doing back flips either. If you had a sponsor from a decent sized bike dealership, you could run with all but the top factory guys for the most part. Things look very different now.

 

[K7147]

Morning K7147.
Indeed there some great relaxing roads in New England.

I got my wife into riding 02 and just plan loves it...had to trade up to 02 HD E.Glide for comfort,than again to 04 HD U.Glide for those long runs to upper midwest....Mrs. refuse to ride my chopper.

Oh yeah those ice cream stands beside the road has a way to shrink the leather vest in time.

Two wheel riding,seems one notice more tractors and attachment beside the road,and even tractor dealerships always have smile....than there tractor events.

Good ride we enjoy Rte 302 in VT to Rte 302 NH,than scoot up to Rte 26 than on to Rte 16,to Rte 4 west back to Lebanon.

If we should met up this summer I'll buy you and the Mrs. ice cream.

Hi again George and all the other TBN folks who like to do two wheel meandering. I’ll remind you of that “free” ice cream come warmer weather! Your bikes are absolutely gorgeous….. even if they don’t burn rice!! Probably our favorite local ride is out via Dixville Notch in N.H. and then on to the coast of Maine.

My first bike was a Triumph T-120 (that dates me). The best part of that bike was that you never got lost as you could always follow the oil slick and line of fallen parts directly back home! Although we’ve had a few dirt bikes I’ve never tried racing although I have great admiration for those proficient on the track.

Strange as it might seem we’ve never been down hard on a bike……although there have been the occasional excessive “pucker” moments!

Someone mentioned “Any Riding is good riding”….yep, that sums up the entire experience! I’m familiar with the riding in the Sacramento area as we visited my son by bike (via Canada) when he lived in Elk Grove, California. It’s a beautiful area for bikes and I’m just sorry our time was limited. Lady riders are indeed getting more common as time goes on and I’ve seen more than one who seemed better skilled than her male riding partner…..guess I can say that?

Gotta remember the suggestion about front weights for installing a backhoe on the motorcycle. It’s the FEL and 3 point hitch engineering that has me stumped!

Ken

 

[George2615]

I've been riding about 34 years now. Owned many bikes over the years. Current ride is a Suzuki 1500LC. Mainly use it back and forth to work in summer months and occassional weekend rides and short trips. Don't do as much riding as I'd like too.