Mike’s Typo

One of my favorite events each year is the Highest Mileage Contest.  This year was no exception.  I’m blown away by the miles that some people rack up.  Then I’m just plain jealous.  But, I only admit to being envious.  You get the idea.  Without further fan fare - 119,366 miles was enough for this year’s prize.  The winner was none other than Santa Cruz HOGster, Jose De La Torre, riding his 2002 Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle Road King.  Aside from being his daily commuter, he and his steed have been to Sturgis a couple of times, the Colorado Rockies, Four Corners, and a few other choice spots.  Kuddos to Jose and his wife Terry.  Those are BIG miles.  Lots of stories must go with them miles.  Wouldn’t we all love to have click off that kinda saddle time.  Ride safe and enjoy the journey.

David Mann artistry set to a classic Bob Seger song, Roll Me Away - does it get any better?  This is a great slide show offered up by one of our readers.  Bob Seger has captured the essence of the road.  David Mann has put paint to canvas and created evocative images of life on the road.  The combination is inspiring.  Anyone for a road trip?

It’s this time of year that I always start thinking about “tunes” for my rides. Maybe it’s that whole Spring thing. Regardless, I’m always up for a “free” list of someone’s favorite road songs. Came across a great list of one person’s Top 100 Road Songs (of All Time). You can take issue with several, and no doubt would add a couple of your own favs, but this is a great list. Check it out. Then download what you don’t have from iTunes, power up that iPod, and head on over to Santa Cruz H-D and see what’s new. We’ve brought out lots of new, fresh faces and a whole bunch of kool stuff for Spring and Summer riding.

That’s the weather in Milwaukee as I write this post to the blob. Yep, you guessed it, I checked in with the web voyeurs watching the H-D Museum build. Doesn’t look like much is happening. My guess is they moved inside. Walls, electrical, flooring. So, where’s the indoor cams. Come on H-D, get with it. Anticipate the desires of your constituents! It’s still fun to hop over and check out what the new Milwaukee skyline looks like. I’m getting pretty excited about the party in Milwaukee in August. Celebrating the big 10.5. Springsteen is the headliner. And, the who’s who of rock ‘n roll B players are on the list. The ride to, the week of celebrating, the concerts, the 15 mile long parade of bikes - it’s all going to be a blast. Think about it.

So, for you folks who’ve been checking out the voyeur cam regularly, doesn’t it bug you that the horizon is running down on the right. I’m sure hoping that’s the way the river flows. But, really, I just want to crawl up on that tower (even though I’ve got a bad thing for heights) and twist that camera level. One good reason it can’t be done is the Time Lapse button. Check that out. It’s like watching re-runs of I Love Lucy (sort of).

A wet, soggy & windy weekend gave me time to catch up on some magazine articles I set aside. Lots of time. From my perusing came a couple of “dream” trips. One in Washington and one in Oregon. Strangely enough, both come really close to Portland. I wonder if that’s why so many people are starting to talk about Portland. But, the rides are what I started to talk about.

Northern Californians are just plain spoiled. We have some of the best riding in the country certainly - and arguably the world. That being said, it’s still nice to see what else is out there. There is amazing beauty in the west and lots of it to see. Both of these articles highlight the beauty of Washington and Oregon well. One of the things that I liked about both articles is the reference to so few cars. Not something we are used to in the Bay Area.

So, without any snide quips, I present you with the following two articles. These are pdfs from scans. So, you should be able to read them online or print them. I checked to make sure that the maps were as readable as the original. Hope these two articles get you inspired to plan a trip.

• Salmon Run, Northwest In September - A beautiful loop around some of the best of Washington
• In The Ride of the Beholder - A July/August ride through western Oregon concentrating on the the Oregon coast

By the way, my sources tell me that right now might be one of the best times in years to ride through Death Valley. Spring flowers were huge this year in the valley and they are on the waning days of that cycle.

I love hearing great adventure stories. Particularly when there is a Harley involved. Recently someone tipped me to a customer who’d skipped his 35th High School Reunion and set off on a journey to the end of the earth. The Arctic Circle. HS reunion and that long winding Dalton Highway - those two things seem mutually exclusive. Sorta. See it took the decision to attend the HS reunion to cause ‘ole Dennis Walker to hook up with some long lost high school mates. After all these years, it turned out they shared a passion for motorcycles. One email lead to another and Dennis was signed on to join their journey North.

All motorcyclist have heard the stories of the Dalton Highway. No wrong turns; no map needed. It’s a dirty, muddy, bug-infested, semi-straight shot to the end of the earth. Embark upon a trek up the Dalton Highway at your own risk. I’ve know a couple of crazy people who rode their bicycles up the Dalton Highway. Now, that is nuts. But, it may be equally loony to venture up that road on a fully loaded Bagger. The prospect of sinking in the mud, getting eaten by human-sized bugs, or just getting plain beaten to death by the road didn’t stop Dennis and his two buddies.

So it was up through California, Oregon, Washington and into British Columbia. Prince George, BC is the jumping point to the trans-Alaska Highway. Dennis and company were putting in some 500 mile days as they ventured through tough frontier towns such as Whitehorse and into the Yukon Territory. Dennis wrote me that the Yukon Territory was his favorite. He described, “the colors as vibrant and the people as eclectic.”

So where does the Dalton Highway start? This whole story made me want to pull out an atlas and follow along. Seems you hook up with the Dalton Highway somewhere just north of the North Pole. Since the trip was in August, they missed Santa. Seems he and the misses take all of August off. They head over to one of the Aleutian Islands for a bit of R&R before the real work begins leading up to Christmas.

One of the most interesting things I read in Dennis’ email to me was how bizarre the landscape is at the Arctic Circle. “You see the curve of the earth, you feel like you are standing on top of a ball, the sky seems closer and the isolation is unnerving.” I don’t know about you, but I’m putting this on my list of must see places. Really. My hats off to these guys. I respect their great sense of adventure and their accomplishment. If Dennis had only called me first, I’d told him this is what Erik Buell invented the Ulysses for!

Want to hear more? Drop me a note (typo {at} santacruzharley {dot} com - take that spam harvesters) - addressed to Dennis and encourage him to get an editor and write this adventure up. His words will be far better than mine.

Harley launched a new custom seat program for Softails. It’s online. You design your seat and then we order it for you. Could this be a hint of what’s to come on the custom front? If so, it’s all long overdue. This is a cool tool. Check it out here. Better yet, check it out, build a custom seat, and we’ll order it for you!

It’s the classic story. You’re packing tight for that road trip. It starts out two pairs of jeans, six pair of underwear, four pair of sox, and so on. By the time you’ve got the T-bag stuffed you’re down to a couple of pairs of underwear and a single pair of jeans. Inevitably there’s no room for that book you’ve been reading. Or, worse you’re almost done with one book and ready to start another one. There’s definately no room for two books. “So, where is he going with this?”

Right. And, the point is. I needed a little intro to justify my latest foray into technology. The Amazon (.com) Kindle. What the heck is that, you say. It’s the latest attempt at an “electronic” book. I say latest, because there have been a handful of companies, including Sony, that have tried to create electronic books and failed. There’s nothing like the feel of a book in your hands, right?

Well, the world is changing. And, I think Amazon may have gotten it right. Who better, with their experience distributing the printed book. At roughly 5″ by 7″ and less than an inch thick, this device is the perfect size to hold and travel with. Battery life is excellent because of the completely-different-than-pc-screen-technology. Maybe best of all, it holds a ton of books. You can load maybe 5 years worth of reading on here. I’m just making that up, but really it holds a lot. You can change the size of the type. You can read indoors; you can read outdoors.

Here’s what I like almost best, it’s easier to order and receive a book than the conventional way of ordering from Amazon. Impossible you say. Believe it. Right from your Kindle screen, you search for a book, find it, one-click buy it, and it’s ready to read in about 30 seconds. Oh, and you aren’t plugged into anything. I’m not even going to tell you how that works. Check out the product site to find out more and figure out where I got my facts wrong.

So, what’s the downside. Well, the biggest one I can think of is this: the days of impressing the cute gal next to you on the plane are over. You know the scenario - she’s so impressed because your reading a well-worn, unabridged copy of War and Peace. Oh, well, that really never worked anyway.

Solves the packing problem at least!

Quick footnote: you’re probably thinking the economics don’t work. The initial buy-in to get the unit is a bit steep. But then, the books are about 2/3 the cost of the printed version and there’s no shipping, and no wireless charges. So, depending on how you want to crunch the numbers, the thing really pencils out too. Not to mention the rainforest of trees we won’t be using to print those books you read only once, blah, blah, blah. I wish I was getting a commission on this.

Well, not “everything.” But, damn, these are the most comfortable boots I’ve ever worn. They’re the new engineer style boot with the comfort sole from H-D/Wolverine. Joselyn, in SC, convinced me to try them on. I was skeptical. But, what the heck. So, I’m wearing them all the time now. I think I caught a gal checking out my boots today! At least that’s what I think she was lookin’ at. Ok, a bit of wishful thinking there. Really though, what were they thinking - boots are suppose to be big, clunky, uncomfortable, and hot. These aren’t boots, these are slippers that look like boots. Oh, did I mention they make me look taller, too? They’re so new, they’re not online. Check in with J - she’ll get you fitted-up.

They’re called “Release.” Hmm. Weird name for a boot. But, they sure are comfortable.

A bit wet & soggy, we’ve drug this out of the Typo Vaults to bring you another holiday gift idea. For the guy or gal who has everything, there is now Nikwax Map Proof. Here’s the blurb. Among traveling’s lesser joys is when rain makes a nice, expensive map disintegrate like toilet paper. It doesn’t have to be that way, though-not if you treat it with Nikwax’s Map Proof. Just sponge it on, and the solution is said to render maps waterproof, while keeping their ability to fold for storage and even write on them. One $7.95, 4.2-ounce bottle should be able to treat six or more maps. Check out the Nikwax site. If you think this is right for your enthusiast, you can order it online from Whitehorse Gear. Original source: Motorcyclist, 9/06