I have ridden motorcycles since 1983 passing from a '74 Honda CB360
to a '05 Suzuki Boulevard M50
and then on to a '14 Honda Goldwing.
I have had the pleasure of visiting many parts of the United States and Canada on these motorcycles for a total of about 80,000 miles as of this writing. Some of these journeys are documented elsewhere on this blog.
Upstate NY, where I currently live is a particularly beautiful place to ride. And yet, the Goldwing, though designed as the ultimate, comfort touring motorcycle, gets a little skittish when the road gets rough. And so, as I ride with my friends, we pass up exploring unpaved roads that meander into the wilderness. I cannot get the thought, "what lies down these trails", out of my head.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics, a statistics agency in the Department of Transportation, estimates that, as of 2019, there are approximately, 2.9 million miles of paved roads in the USA; an admirable goal for any biker😀. Yet, they also estimate another 1.2 million miles of unpaved roads! These cannot be ignored!
In February of 2021, I purchased a new, 2021, KTM 890 Adventure motorcycle with the intent to start exploring some of the more remote countryside.
Adventure motorcycles are designed to handle both paved and unpaved roads. They have a combination of features that provide, if not the best of both worlds, at least the very, very good of both worlds. Riding on unpaved and dirt roads is a new skill to learn. While it looks like a street bike, the techniques for riding on pavement versus dirt change completely, due almost solely to the changing nature of the traction contact between the motorcycle and the ground.
I started my new learning curve in my local area. My algorithm was to ride down the street and every time I saw a road in worse condition than the one I was on, I took it.
