Why we ride - Your favorite ride

[boris696]

So I was reading this article this morning.  There is so much truth in this article and just a good reminder of why we love riding.  I rode to work this morning at 25, just because it's going to be 60 this afternoon and I can take the long way home.
 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2017/03/20/motorcycle-road-trip/99317482/
 
It just made me want to quit my job and start exploring the country.  My Dad, my Father in-law, my Uncle and I take a yearly motorcycle trip together.  My favorites so far have been North Carolina and West Virginia, but no matter where we go we have a blast.  NC has some of the best technical roads, and WV has roads that are literately 100 miles long without straight spots.  We generally do what we call clover routes (like RoadRunner Magazine).  So we pick a centralized hotel and plan four or five routes that loop back to hotel (generally a north, south, east, west routes). My Dad and I spend several days planning the routes, using websites and forums to pick the best roads we can find based on others recommendations.  Everything is planned on an actual map, and all four guys get maps made for their tank bags.  Maps are color coordinated for each day with directions included.
 
My favorite:
We did the Blue Ridge Parkway two years ago, and instead of getting in tons of miles.  We stopped and saw all the sites.  I've done the BRP several times now, but we really hadn't focused on seeing all the sites, we were more focused on riding and getting in the miles.  It was beautiful and it was nice to take our time and really enjoy the countryside and the people of the area.  We also had a day where we hiked to the top of some mountain.  Only to have the skies open up and get drenched.  Our gear was all sitting on our bikes, helmets hung upside down on our license plate bracket hooks, so filled with water.  It was perfect weather when we started the hike.  We took cover with our stuff, dried it out the best we could, laughed it off, and got back on and got in another 150 miles.  But it didn't ruin anyways day, and everyone was glad we kept riding.
 
So, what was your favorite ride so far?  What a your must do (bucket list) ride?
 
 
 

[boris696]

lol Your secret is safe with me. I don't think many people use the internet yet, so it's probably safe on this forum.

[docsimple]

I live in Oregon so great rides are always pretty close but last year I rode to Death Valley (3500 miles) and Jasper, Canada which is the Canadian Rockies (2700 miles) and both were amazing trips. I would say the ride to Canada was way more fun as it is not all superslab but I saw Death Valley during the superbloom and that made riding nearly all of California in a straight line worth it.

[britelitebob]

It sure is some nice country up in WV and NC, too bad though that them roads are all crooked 

[pazzo]

A lone ride to the Grand Canyon. Did it from Texas but it wouldn't have mattered where I started. Great Ride and some great roads in Texas, NM and Az.
PC1 in California a year later from LA to San Francisco with some scenic challenging dirt up on the ridge above Big Sur. Awesome!
Year before last, Sept ride through Northern New Mexico and Colorado including, Durango, Silverton Ourey. Incredible.

[Brick]

In 2015... before I owned an FJ-09 a friend, Chris and I flew to Munich rented MT-09's and rode the Alps for 20 days! That was the top of my bucket list. No tour... I made routes. Fantastic!

[fddriver2]

It sure is some nice country up in WV and NC, too bad though that them roads are all crooked 

I love the drive through the Appalachian ridge on my way to the Sunshine State (kids wanna go back already), and have resolved to go there with the bike this season... 441, 129/115, 32... just goes on and on... of course I will reach out to the group for a meetup.

A wonderful place to ride..... There are so many small twisty roads the loop ride possibilities are nearly endless....  

[keithu]

After 25+ years it's hard to say I have one favorite ride. I've had some amazing tours all over the western US: Utah in 2002, Colorado and Wyoming in 2005. I've ridden the best roads in California and Nevada during various endurance rallies. I enjoyed some incredible Sundays as a young squid tearing up the Santa Monica mountains with my friends in the late '80s and early '90s.
 
Bucket list rides? IoM, the Italian Alps, Alaska and Yukon.
 

[fj09chris]

Bucket list? A week in the Alps & Dolomites

Yeah, its awesome!  
 

[redfjniner]

Can't beat gotfz1's list, it is awesome, but I have no desire to ride to Prudhoe Bay because it isn't really a great ride, just a place a long ways away that tests your endurance level or ability to avoid being bored to death. I did spend two years planning a ride in the Alps and the Adriatic, but was influenced by a friend that had, with the fact that we here in the PNW have some of the worlds greatest roads to rides, places to ride to, and can usually do them with friends. After thinking about that and the limited time I have on this earth, I thought I would stick with all the great places and roads that we have here in N. America. After that decision I planned a “Epic Colorado Ride” that ranks at the top of my list, but I have to add, it was with 6-8 of my favorite riding buddies. The next year I planned a ride through the “Rockies” that took us to Pagosa Springs CO to Jasper, Alberta, Whistler, BC and returned home around the Olympic Peninsula. Also one of the best rides ever, but again with my best riding buddies. I like riding more than site seeing, eating, and spending nights at special locations, so much so, that I find most of the fantastic rides written up by others as boring. After riding CA1 from Leggett to the Pacific Ocean at your max with your best riding buddies, one has to stop at the overlook and bask in believe you have reached nirvana of riding experience. Seeing Alp passes with 10 mph switch backs with straights between, over and over again, turns me off. I prefer 20 miles of 15-20 mph corners, linked one after the other for mile after mile with a few minor straights now and then. But that is me, so when someone says “why we ride” I believe we all are different and we all have our own “why we ride”. I approach all rides as if I'm just scouting the road out. I can visit the same place many times and be impressed or surprised again and again, and I make road selection mostly on how twisty it is. Works most of the time. My list of faves is too long to list. I might add that nothing ruins a ride more than a vehicle in front of you, so you must lean how to avoid that. Just a little advise.

[betoney]

we here in the PNW have some of the worlds greatest roads to rides, places to ride to, and can usually do them with friends. After thinking about that and the limited time I have on this earth, I thought I would stick with all the great places and roads that we have here in N. America.

I have to agree with you Red, we are fortunate to have the PNW as our playground.  In both Washington and Oregon the diversity between West and East side of the mountains (wet and dry side) give us enough variety to piece together some of the most amazing rides anyone could hope for.  And thats before expanding the ride to include N. Cal and Idaho.  So much to explore out there, we are a lucky bunch.