Been There Done That

philthymike · May 24, 2018

I've become really bored with riding the roads in my regional area. I find myself riding further and further out of my area each time I go for a joy ride but this becomes self-defeating in the end because much of that riding still takes place on roads I am bored with and there's only so far I can go before it becomes impractical time wise. At some point it might as well be an overnight trip but that isn't very practical either due to finances and responsibilities.

Anybody else get into a rut like this where they ride?
How do you make it more fun to ride your local roads again?

kuksul08 · May 24, 2018

I am lucky enough to live in an area with so many roads and combinations of roads, I can put them in a rotation and rarely get tired of them.

Try riding with new people.
Plan multi-day trips to get further away.

Bones302 · May 24, 2018

try riding blindfolded.

dragoontwo · May 24, 2018

No. Every ride is a chance to work on your skills managing both the bike, and the road. I'm not talking about riding 10/10ths on the street. There should always be something that needs worked on. Work on your vision, body position, braking, throttle control, etc.

philthymike · May 24, 2018

I don't ride with anybody. Tried to get all the riders at my last job (10 or so) interested in a group ride and they all said yeah that will be great but none of them would ever commit to a ride in the end.
Plenty of riders in my neighborhood but they're almost all harley riders that only like to go bar hopping and get shitfaced when they pull their garage queens out for their quarterly ride.

As for my skills I get them tested regularly on my death race 3000 commute. When I go for a joy ride it is to relax, enjoy myself and the scenery. The insane roadragers in my area have tuned my reflexes and riding skills quite alot.

Traffic is an issue too. I get so tired of the traffic with commuting that sometimes I don't even want to go for a joy ride since it means having to ride a long ways through traffic to get to where there isn't so much traffic. It is super congested around here and the resulting road rage and accidents is off the hook. It gets to me.

MartyGarrison · May 24, 2018

One of the many great things about DC is in less than 15 minutes you are in rolling farm country and can really ride for miles (if you go North). I have a 120 mile loop I go on the weekends, by myself just to practice and enjoy the bike. I am a novice rider so I can actually still feel myself improving on a regular basis. Some days do feel better than others however.

N4teTheGreat · May 24, 2018

Maybe an extreme option, get a truck drive the bike to better riding locations. At least you'd have tunes and A/C during the boring roads getting back home?

kuksul08 · May 24, 2018

philthymike said:
I don't ride with anybody. Tried to get all the riders at my last job (10 or so) interested in a group ride and they all said yeah that will be great but none of them would ever commit to a ride in the end.
Plenty of riders in my neighborhood but they're almost all harley riders that only like to go bar hopping and get shitfaced when they pull their garage queens out for their quarterly ride.

As for my skills I get them tested regularly on my death race 3000 commute. When I go for a joy ride it is to relax, enjoy myself and the scenery. The insane roadragers in my area have tuned my reflexes and riding skills quite alot.

Traffic is an issue too. I get so tired of the traffic with commuting that sometimes I don't even want to go for a joy ride since it means having to ride a long ways through traffic to get to where there isn't so much traffic. It is super congested around here and the resulting road rage and accidents is off the hook. It gets to me.

Dude... I know how you feel. I always try organizing rides and people always bail.

Only one person I work with ended up riding with me regularly. I've been trying to get his skills better and better but not quite there yet. That's another challenge... finding riders with your same skill level and riding style.

bayotte · May 24, 2018

Agreed. Either mental squids or slow cruisers. I guess im somewhere in the middle.

Boxomatic · May 24, 2018

I had this same problem. Being on the coast means I've got limited options compared to someone who's landlocked... The short rides after work became boring so I basically stopped doing them. Instead, I try to carve out at least 2-3 days at a time, I put a tent on the bike, and I get far away... NH to VT to NY to PA, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, etc. I find I'm enjoying riding even more now. I do more miles, in fewer days, and I'm nearly always somewhere new.

nosequeponer · May 25, 2018

usually, getting a group of riders improve the quality of the ride a lot....
i donÂ´t usually go alone, because it is a bit boring...

itÂ´s nice to stop, for a drink and coment the road, the bike, even swap bikes to test ride others...

appliance821 · May 25, 2018

Boxomatic said:
I had this same problem. Being on the coast means I've got limited options compared to someone who's landlocked... The short rides after work became boring so I basically stopped doing them. Instead, I try to carve out at least 2-3 days at a time, I put a tent on the bike, and I get far away... NH to VT to NY to PA, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, etc. I find I'm enjoying riding even more now. I do more miles, in fewer days, and I'm nearly always somewhere new.

Yup - that's what I do. 3 days minimum out of Boston. It's about 2 hours to get to good roads and I like at least one full riding day. I try to enjoy getting there, but at some point I'm on a highway and apart from the pleasure of avoiding xanax influenced suburban traffic, it's pretty boring.

I've done about 30k New England miles, and do worry about getting bored, but I never do. On a bike, the road is never the same twice, and I seem to stumble on new routes using my patented "get lost after the second turn" method.

appliance821 · May 25, 2018

nosequeponer said:
usually, getting a group of riders improve the quality of the ride a lot....
i donÂ´t usually go alone, because it is a bit boring...

itÂ´s nice to stop, for a drink and coment the road, the bike, even swap bikes to test ride others...

Different strokes. I've come to hate having to gauge my riding by others' pace. Someone is always a **** at some point (me included), and it's hard not to get target fixated. I like making my own riding decisions, and not being taken out of the immediate.

I never get lonely, I just talk a little too fast when I get out of the helmet bubble.

N4teTheGreat · May 25, 2018

appliance821 said:
Different strokes. I've come to hate having to gauge my riding by others' pace. Someone is always a **** at some point (me included), and it's hard not to get target fixated. I like making my own riding decisions, and not being taken out of the immediate.

I never get lonely, I just talk a little too fast when I get out of the helmet bubble.

I actually enjoy long rides by myself as there's nothing to distract me from the ride. I'll do group rides on occasion with the expectation that I'll be taking it easy. I have a few people I ride with somewhat consistently but we all ride our own ride anyway so it's almost a solo ride with coffee and conversation breaks.

philthymike · May 29, 2018

@N4teTheGreat
I've considered the truck idea. Even a trailer hitch and trailer too. It may come to this eventually.

@appliance821
I had suggested a local ride called the Ephrata Breakfast Ride to my coworkers. It's not too far and fairly convenient to the locations of my coworkers and they all "loved" the idea. But every 1st Sunday of the month none of them could go for one reason or another. I gave up.

I guess I could go on that ride by myself but feel a bit paranoid going into such a large crowd without somebody watching my back.

There's also a county motorcycle group here but apparently it is managed by members of the Pagans MC according to my neighbors, many of whom are former Pagans. I don't want to get mixed up with those people having worked with a couple before. Those coworkers brought me to the Wilmington DE chapter headquarters once and I saw things - and guns (pointed at me). You can keep that 1% mess thanks.

@MartyGarrison Hey Marty, how bad are the State Troopers in MD? I hear some real horror stories about them targeting bike riders and except for a few short rides I've tended to avoid that state out of fear of getting pulled over and having my bike impounded.

I tried riding in NJ a few times. The upside is they have much nicer road conditions than PA but the last time I went I got followed at low altitude by a State Police helicopter so now I avoid that state too. The helicopter flew so low overhead I was getting buffeted by rotor wash. It chased me until I headed back to the bridge to PA. Very disturbing experience.

I recently rode down Rt. 9 in DE which follows the Delaware River coast and that was an enjoyable ride. Plenty of other bikes including some guy on a sport bike who rode along with me for many miles. I might go do that ride again soon.

appliance821 · May 29, 2018

Drove through the backroads of PA in a car - look forward to doing it on a bike - some great roads.

I was camping along the Sierra Nevadas on the eastern side last fall and saw lots of groups of bikers. I liked that it was mixed bag: a group might be made up of a gs, a strada, a harley and a whatever, men and women.

I think bike culture is stronger out there than in the north east/east - maybe because it's year around. There's not even a new bike dealer in Boston proper - My dealer is in mighty Medford, and the other dealer (in Arlington) is owned by a conglomerate that seems to own most shops within reach of Boston.

and so it goes...

philthymike · May 31, 2018

So I rode farther West yesterday into Lancaster County. The smell of manure became overpowering at times but as I reached the valley of the Susquehanna the roads became nice and hilly and curvy. I even found a great unpaved road complete with several stream crossings called the Fishing Creek Nature Preserve.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Fishing+Creek+Nature+Preserve/@39.806319,-76.240536,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x80dec652897d7506!8m2!3d39.806319!4d-76.240536

Fishing Creek Road is unpaved from that point all the way down to the river.

I also buzzed around Susquehannock State Park which was very pretty.

I'll need to go explore this area some more. Worthwhile roads and little to no traffic. On my way back I didn't start to hit traffic until Chadds Ford PA. It was a hour from the Fishing Creek to Chadds Ford and then 2 hours of traffic back east into the city from there. The last 3rd of the trip took twice as long as the 2/3rds before it. Damn shame that.

I'm eyeballing state road 441 all along the east bank of the Susquehanna River. Looks to be a promising ride.

Anybody know of a gas mask that fit inside a helmet?

philthymike · May 31, 2018

Here's my HS after crossing the stream on Fishing Creek Road.

gatdammit · Jun 2, 2018

Moving to Europe helped with the daily grind lull. I actually used to love my urban commute in Virginia - very short, lot's of lanes, got to use all the contact patch and test the limits of (no) traction control.

In southern Italy, every time we visit a new area, all I can think is "wish I had my bike". I still commute but the rural roads are bombed out worse than Syria and freakishly slick. Seriously, I think they coat the asphalt in lard. There was a couple mile stretch in a beach side town and anything more than 1/2 throttle sent the DTC into overdive on setting 3...in a straight line. This makes every on/ off ramp russian roulette. Everything outside my immediate area gets better and the toll roads are very good. Alas, I actually have the flat spot of shame developing on my rear meat due to lack of corners on my daily commute.

I do like having a riding buddy but, with my profession, I have to be careful how I ride with co-workers. I'm not a total hoon, but I like giving her the beans out of corners and maybe lifting the wheel from time to time. This could get my driving privileges revoked if someone squealed to the right people.

philthymike · Jun 5, 2018

Moving to Europe sure would be nice. Spain possibly. Heck just moving to another state in my own country would be great if it is one that isn't so massively overpopulated as here.

So the Susquehanna valley sure is nice for riding. But realistically how often am I going to be able to ride there. Worst case scenario is 6 hours round trip just to get there and back. Accounting for a rest stop that leaves me about an hour and a half to actually enjoy riding there before I hit 8 hours and start getting punchy.
And getting punchy on the last leg of my trip home is the last place I want to be riding with reduced awareness and slowed reflexes.

So that's West. Next I will try South and then North. My casual rides have brought me nearly to Dover in the South and all the way to Pottstown in the North. I think I'm going to find the same scenario playing out in any direction. If the sum of travel time equals 8 hours it might as well be an overnight trip...
I won't even bother going East. That way lies dragons.

Been There Done That

philthymike

kuksul08

Bones302

dragoontwo

philthymike

MartyGarrison

N4teTheGreat

kuksul08

bayotte

Boxomatic

nosequeponer

appliance821

appliance821

N4teTheGreat

philthymike

appliance821

philthymike

philthymike

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