I have been riding motorcycles since 2001. Maybe nothing compared to those who are riding for decades and have hundreds of thousands of miles under their belts. But the first few of these years have changed my outlook towards life, people and the world altogether. Riding has given me a new life, and has opened up a door to inner peace and happiness.

It is so difficult to explain why I ride. It is the most fundamental question every biker has to answer, yet for a non-biker it is always a puzzle. Two wheelers abound in developing countries as economical transports, but that is not the kind of “riding” I am referring to. Riding is not going from point A to point B, but it is about the intoxicating immersion in the world, absorbing the sights, sounds and aromas of the road while achieving the secondary objective of reaching the destination. On a motorcycle, the route is the goal, not the destination. For motorcyclists, it is the greatest therapy, a quiet time reserved only for the soul. And you need no candles or incense sticks for that kind of meditation.

Experiencing a beautiful countryside through a car window is just like watching TV. No wonder cars are called “cages” in motorcycling world. On a cage, you are a passerby. On a motorcycle, you pass through. As the saying goes, “Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul”.

A motorcycle is a simple machine to enrich life and build memories.

In the year of recession I did at least one wise thing – buying an annual pass for US national parks on a short trip to Yosemite earlier this year. We planned to ride across the US on my goldwing so I had to have one. Ironically, our cross country trip plan got replaced by an equivalent riding trip in India since Priti has to visit again for her final viva for the PhD.

I thought the $80 pass was a waste.

Then my parents came and we did a 4-day trip to Utah covering the following parks ($ indicates fee required which I didn’t have to pay):

1. Arches NP ($)
2. Canyonlands NP ($)
3. Monument valley
4. Antelope Canyon (separate fee)
5. Horseshoe Bend
6. Lake Powell
7. Zion NP ($)
8. Bryce Canyon NP ($)
9. Capitol Reef NP ($)

In the coming weekend I am planning to take my parents to eastern sierra covering the following:

10. Sequoia NP ($)
11. Kings Canyon NP ($)
12. Yosemite NP ($)
13. Mono Lake
14. Ghost Town Bodie
15. Tahoe Lake

As another boost to my traveling momentum after parents are gone, we are planning to ride in 8 states for a week:

16. Glacier NP ($)
17. Yellowstone NP ($)
18. Grand Teton NP ($)

Maybe there will be more. Stay tuned.

I love my goldwing even more today. The first 32k mile valve clearance check went incredibly well. No plastics to remove at all. 8 bolts per side and I was looking at the cam shaft. All the clearances were right on the money, 0.006 inch for the intakes and 0.009 inch for the exhausts. Not only that, I figured that I didn’t even need to constantly align the timing marks, rather making sure a cam lobe was pointing away from the shim bucket would do the job nicely. This is a quite valuable knowledge to have. And I saved $170 by not going to the dealer.

As usual I had fun at Susan’s garage with all her fantastic tools. There is hardly a tool that she does not have. Her recent acquisition is a foldaway picnic table which I could carry on my hitch rack if I wanted. Much fun.

Next maintenance items are minor compared to what I did today: Brake/clutch fluid flush, coolant flush and spark plug replacement.

I have been on two wheels since age 12. Just like everyone else I rode my single gear bicycle through school and college. My father would never buy me a motorcycle but he let me ride his 100cc Kinetic Honda scooter when I used to go home on holidays. I was determined to buy one with my own money someday.

2001: 350cc – 01 Royal Enfield Machismo A350

After joining my first job, my motorcycle dream was back on. I could not afford the 150cc bike I planned to get, so I got myself an old 100cc Kinetic Honda scooter as a temporary fix. In a month I rode it hard enough to seize the engine. I sold it immediately and wanted the toughest bike I could afford. A 350cc enfield was the only choice. It was my first real motorcycle and the only new vehicle I have ever owned. Even with barely enough cash (INR 66k, about $1300) to afford the purchase, I was the happiest person on earth when I took delivery of this shiny maroon bike. I still remember getting up at dawn for a week to practise shifting the gears. This bike was a turning point of my life. I got addicted to the open road and long trips. I joined the Bangalore bullet club and made friends with enfield riders all over India. We did some incredible rides. Priti and I visited numerous places around Bangalore. In two years I clocked 40,000 kms before coming to the states for graduate studies. I still miss that bike very much.

2003-2004: Bikeless for a year

I came to the US for graduate studies in Aug 2003, leaving my riding life behind. It was a tough year in a new place without a ride.

2004: 600cc – 93 Honda Shadow VLX600

Around Nov 04, while I was almost fed up with boredom, my friend Daman pursuaded me to take a look at the used bike market. I got myself an incredible deal – a 1993 Honda Shadow 600cc v-twin in perfect condition with only 5000 miles. Riding in a foreign country was more than I could ever dream of. I clocked over 6500 miles on the bike, combing out Long Island and a few visits to the New York city.

2005: 1000cc – 02 Kawasaki Concours

In a year of riding the v-twin cruiser, I found myself longing for distant trips with more fuel range and better weather protection. It was time I considered a sport touring machine, and with not a lot of cash in hand, a Kawasaki Concours ended up as my only choice. With sheer luck, I got myself an excellent 02 model with 18k miles from a guy at Ohio. It was just in time for the best trip of my life, crossing the US in the middle of winter. I prepared the bike with accessories for a month, and then rode it down from Stony Brook, NY to Sunnyvale, CA in 12 days, crossing 4700 miles in an extended route to avoid snow and extreme weather. Afterwards I did a few memorable (and crazy) rides in the southwest while working in Sunnyvale.

2007: 1300cc – 06 Honda ST1300 ABS

After a trip with Priti on the concours, feeling the lack of two-up comfort and just out of bike lust I flew to Loveland CO one fine morning and rode a fully loaded black ST home. 1320 miles on a crazy fast machine with adjustable windshield, best-in-class suspension and brakes definitely kept me happy. Only for so long. I could not somehow get used to the sport touring posture, with or without bar risers, and the two-up comfort didn’t improve as much as I thought. Luckily, for not much loss I could upgrade to the ultimate touring machine, a Honda Goldwing.

2008: 1800cc – 05 Honda Goldwing GL1800 ABS

This is the bike I only dreamed of since it came out in 2001. I could not even believe I got to own one. The best touring machine ever built. It felt like home on the comfortable seat and Priti could not be happier. We have a couple trips already on it, including a 7-days-3200-miles Colorado trip. We can do 800 mile days on this bike without any discomfort. Looking forward to some very long trips in near future. The best part of owning this bike is the membership of GWRRA and meeting up with the fellow wingers of the local chapter, which is CA2Q for me.

A sweet short regular weekend ride with Piyush on his VFR. My first serious attempt at landscape photography, inspired by my friend Arup Biswas who shoots large format. I slowed down, used tripod, ISO100 and long shutter speeds to capture silky smooth water at the mono lake at sunset and sunrise. I am still amazed to taste the rewards of landscape photography.

Trip route: Sunnyvale – Lee Vining via Tioga road (CA-120) – Mono Lake south tufa – June Lake loop – Sonora pass (CA-108) – Sunnyvale

Day 1 (Sat 18 Oct): Early morning start at 7am. Uneventful ride till yosemite and then we started stopping often at the lakes. It was cloudy, so I missed the blue waters of my favorite lake – Tenaya. But we got some fine scenary at lake Elery, with some early snow on the mountains. Reached Lee Vining around 4:30 and went for the south tufa area of Mono Lake. The last 1 mile was packed gravel and I got really stiff when riding squirrely on it. The wing handled it very well and in the next trip I had no worries at all. When I started doing long exposures as the sun went down, I got addicted to the quality of images I was getting, it was pretty exciting for me. There was not much dramatic clouds, so I thought I could come back another day. Finished the day with a good dinner at Nicely’s restaurant opposite our motel.

Day 2 (Sun 19 Oct): Started at 6am for the tufas again, to catch sunrise. It was even better than last evening, despite the cold. We had wind chill upto 20F. I never enjoyed landscape photography like that before. I got seriously addicted. We went for the June lake loop soon after. This year the fall colors were not as intense as they should have been, due to an early cold spell. But I got enough to satisfy my hunger for landscapes. We got scenic roads all the way through 395 and Sonora pass. Took a cat nap at Cold Springs before the final ride to home via Oakdale.

Pictures:
- Priti’s flickr set
- My flickr set

Another fabulous trip in the same month. Piyush joined with his VFR and he turned out to be an excellent fellow rider and canyon carver. We camped all the 3 nights, with dawn temps from 9C to 3C. Our main targets were Crater Lake national park and Lava Beds national monument, but we also checked out some great roads in both OR and CA – shown in the route map.

Trip route: Sunnyvale CA – Alexander valley RV park, Healdsburg CA – Valley of the Rogue state park, Grants Pass OR – McArthur-Burney Falls state park, Burney CA – Sunnyvale CA

Day 1 (Fri 29th Aug): 130 mi, Total 130 mi, Sunnyvale CA to Healdsburg CA. Usual slow traffic on 101, but got some amazing fog around San Francisco, so dense at places we could hardly see traffic in front of us. Camped at a very nice place – Alexander valley RV park and campgrounds. Got temps going down to 9C at dawn and thought that was cold, till the next night.

Day 2 (Sat 30th Aug): 400 mi, Total 530 mi, relaxed ride through the redwoods. Visited the drive-through chandelier tree (21 ft dia, 2400 yrs old) at Legett, and then some detour from 101 through the avenue of the giants and later through the Prairie creek redwoods park. Tall redwoods making night out of day and great views of sunlight peeking through. And then some fantastic coast views as we neared Crescent City. Stopped at Trinidad state beach to enjoy the shore view. Then more mountain roads through Smith River NRA and we arrived at Grants Pass. Temps were going down like crazy, so bought extra fleece blankets. Camped at Valley of the Rogue state park around 9:30pm with temps already near 12C. Woke up in the dawn to find 3C outside. Brrrrrrrr.

Day 3 (Sun 31st Aug): 340 mi, Total 870 mi, visited our planned spots, namely the Crater Lake national park and Lava Beds national monument. Stunning views alongside the Oregon byways – Rogue Umpqua national scenic byway, Modoc Volcanic sb, Volcanic Legacy sb, etc. Hiked inside one of the pitch dark caves at the Lava beds, and it was a memorable experience. Thankfully we didn’t have to encounter rattle snakes which abound in that whole area. Afterwards a relaxed and scenic ride through 139, 299 and a part of 89 to Burney falls state park. We went to Burney for some delicious pizza dinner and Piyush had the idea of roasting corn and potato. It was indeed good over the open flame of wood fire.

Day 4 (Mon 1st Sep): 380 mi, Total 1250 mi, another chilly night later we woke up to a sunny morning and the sound of a waterfall. This time we had the chance to see a decent waterfall up close. A short hike later we were mesmerized by the huge white curtains of water. It reminded me of Shivasamudram in South India. The roar of the 120ft high falls, the mist and the view made me forget the steep 0.3 mile trail I was reluctant to do at first. Afterwards, the ride up 89 to Mount Shasta was like a roller coaster with the snow covered peak of mount Shasta playing hide and seek. It was the last good ride of the trip. A hearty Breakfast followed by riding on I-5 got me in my drowsiness mode very quickly. Had to stop every 40-50 miles to wake up from a zombie state. Ran into 2 painfully slow construction zones, and while lane splitting, saw the common goldwing overheating issue – 15-20 mph at first gear makes the temp gauge go up in a hurry. Stopped few times by roadside to cool off, then found out from Susie (fellow winger) that 2nd gear can help a little. Anyways, we made home shortly after sundown.

Pictures:
- Priti’s flickr set
- My flickr set

Just back from our longest motorcycle trip together on the goldwing. The excuse to visit the goldwing rally at Canon City, CO made us do a fantastic 7 day trip covering 3200 miles.

Trip route: Sunnyvale CA – Wells NV – Longmont CO – Salida CO – Tuba City AZ – Needles CA – Sunnyvale CA

Trip summary: Colorado mesmerized us. The rockies are breathtaking. Royal gorge is awesome as well. We also visited Mesa Verde, Four Corners, Grand Canyon and Sunset Crater Volcano national parks. This was supposed to be a camping trip, but we ended up taking motels and a friend’s place. So much for the preparation. A hitch and cooler rack to carry the tent, then the tent got melted by the straight exhausts. Elevated the rack platform as a temporary fix, then bought a 90 degree downward exhaust tip at the wing rally to fix the issue forever, and even bought a new tent. Still we didn’t hit a campsite at the end of a riding day.

Day 1: 615 mi, Total 615 mi, Sunnyvale CA to Wells NV on the boring I-80.

Day 2: 730 mi, Total 1345 mi, Wells NV to Longmont CO (record distance for me in one day so far). Stayed at my school senior’s place, they are a fantastic couple and we had a blast with two most amazing golden retrievers they have.

Day 3: 135 mi, Total 1480 mi, Rocky mountains.

Day 4: 235 mi, Total 1715 mi, Attended goldwing rally at Canon city, then visited Royal gorge bridge and park, then off to Salida CO. Beautiful mountain road (US-160) along the Arkansas river.

Day 5: 485 mi, Total 2200 mi, Mesmerizing US-160 through Colorado, visited Mesa Verde NP, then off to Grand canyon. Saw Four Corners on the way. Reached Tuba city at nightfall after catching magical glimpses of rainbows over the canyons. Windy, thunderstorms, no camping place nearby, barely checked in to Greyhills Inn, a student operated hotel, with common bathrooms downstairs.

Day 6: 435 mi, Total 2635 mi, Visited Grand canyon in the early morning with fantastic views. Spent a few hours hopping to the view points. Saw Little Colorado river gorge as well. Then went to Sunset Crater NP. I have been to both these places back in 2004 with parents, and the memory came up like it was yesterday. Off to home on the I-40. Had patches of rain. The moment we crossed Kingman AZ, the temps began soaring as we approached Needles CA. We watched the temps rise from 91F to 106F and at Needles I could not believe it was 108F at 7:30pm and I wanted to camp in the desert ! Motel 6 had a small pool cramped with people, and we happily jumped there right after checking in.

Day 7: 565 mi, Total 3200 mi, Needles CA to Sunnyvale CA. I finally found a solution to my drowsiness on the road. I could not drive or ride 50 miles without falling asleep, till I figured out that red bull actually works.

This is our best/longest trip together. Would not have been possible without an amazing bike like the goldwing.

Pictures:
- Priti’s flickr set
- My flickr set