JRE
Going to hell on scholarship
I've enjoyed the few years I've had with the Tenere but like many with the bike bug, I've been eyeing other rides. A week or so ago I did a ride with 10 others from Ohio, down through KY, into TN, NC, GA and then back around again. It hit many of the great roads down there including the Dragon and Cherohala being the most notable. We did it nomad style with a new hotel every evening so full luggage was on board the whole time. In my younger days, I used to rip it up pretty good on the sport bikes but have scaled things back as my sense of self-preservation has caught up with my sense of adventure. Several of the bikes on the trip were much more sport oriented (Speed Triple, FJR, Concourse, etc). I gave into peer pressure and we hit the Cherohala at mach retard speed and the Tenere kept up with the other bike without too much protestation. Granted, peg scrapes happen earlier than I'd like but it got the job done. Overall, we did 1200+ mi and with the Russell Day Long seat I had no issues at all. On the way home, we hit some pretty good cross winds and the well planted S10 took it well in stride. The others were squirming in their seat, stretching their legs etc. I realized how comfortable and well rounded this bike is. It definitely made me appeciate it much more and while I might get a lighter/quicker hooligan bike for around town (i.e. FJ-09), I think I'm going to hold onto this guy for quite a while. I really have no complaints at all. I'm only at 8k mi in a little under 2 years so there's plenty of time for the unexpected.