I hit a milestone on my Goldwing yesterday, as I rolled over 50,000 miles on the odometer.

I bought the motorcycle in late September, 2003. Though I was one of those hit with the infamous Goldwing frame weld problem, it took less than two weeks to have the frame re-welded and no other system of the bike has come to trouble.

Of all the creature comforts and little blessings in the design, it is the engine which comes out being the most desirable part of the bike. 1,832 CC’s is hardly small and at 124 ft/lbs. of torque and 120 horsepower, the 850 pound monster still manages zero to sixty in four seconds flat. That speed of throttle has saved my ass from the Utard drivers more than once, as I was able to avoid blind merging, running red lights and other phenomena in the nearly endless menu of driver stupidity in this state. The braking is equally impressive for a bike its size, which again has saved my life more than once.

Either it is a testament to my willingness to compromise or simply to be satisfied with the way things are, or it is a statement on how well the bike fits me, but the only add-on’s I’ve installed on the beast have been highway pegs, power outlets and a GPS. Perhaps someday I’ll want a custom saddle, but so far my iron butt is holding out. Probably the most grueling ride I’ve done on this bike was a 22 hour ride from Salt Lake City to Minneapolis (including a half hour nap on a stone bench at a highway rest stop.) Because I was resting along the way, my failed Alaska attempt in 2004 wasn’t near as bad. Not that it lacked the miles. I went from Salt Lake City, up through Glacier National Park to Jasper, across to Vancouver, down to San Francisco, across to Akron, IN, up to visit family in Minneapolis and back home in six days on the road. That added up to about 4,800 miles total. Aside from running into a complete jerk posing as a border guard coming home from Canada, the trip was highly enjoyable.

I was trying to work out the money and time to hit Alaska this year, but financing simply isn’t going to happen. My wife and I are going to be spending far too much on house renovations this year to swing the trip. This leaves me with the conundrum of planning some other, less involved trip.

One possibility is to make a run to do the Tail of Dragon at Deal’s Gap, NC. This is probably the most famous motorcycle road in the country, following over 60 miles of mountain scenery, with one stretch of 11 miles of it holding 318 curves. Nothing gets a biker’s heart going more than a good road full of “twisties”. My only concern is just how popular the road is. There have been more than one horror stories of crashes due to riders pushing the envelope past their skill level. Being involved in such a skirmish doesn’t thrill me any.

Another thought is to hit the west coast again and spend more time in Oregon and Washington. I have a deep love for the upper northwest and wouldn’t mind spending more time in her mountain forests.

In any case, I’ll have to do some kind of trip this year. The winter has been a long one, with the most days called on account for snow that I’ve had in the decade I’ve lived in Utah. The cold doesn’t stop me, but icy roads do.

(Photo credit Honda Motor Co., Inc.)

Tags: driving, Goldwing, Motorcycles, motorcycling, riding

This entry was posted on Monday, March 9th, 2009 at 21:45 and is filed under Asides, Motorcycles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.