Why I ride 2.0

[kmac]

I have posted before about the reasons I ride, wind in the face, head clearing, freedom....but it really boils down to moments. Let's face it, lane splitting in rush hour traffic is not exhilarating or fun and exciting. Eating miles on I-10 is not mind blowing and wildly exciting, unless of course you are doing at 300+ mph...I'm guessing that might make it more fun, I have done much of it at 100+ and was still bored.

Moments, however, are what you remember. Not all moments are good, but you still remember them right? I have had LOTS of bad moments that I remember vividly, and they still make great camp fire stories.

Good moments though are sometimes less exciting to others than a huge cartwheel off a triple while popping out your eyeball or whatever gets an ohhh and ahhh around a camp fire.

Yet I had a moment yesterday that I had to share. Not a scary moment, but something I hope to never forget no matter how bad my memory gets. I have been blessed to see a lot of cool things while riding and wild animals are some of my favorite. I have talked to MANY cage drivers who drive through the same country side as I do every day and say they have NEVER seen a deer or a bear... I had a guy tell me yesterday that he did not even know we have wild turkeys here in Cali, I have seen dozens of them.

Some animals are more elusive than others and that much more exciting to get a glimpse of, especially in this concrete jungle that is southern California. I am riding through a small high Chaparral forest, literally in my back yard, I roll out of a turn with my eyes up road and right in the middle of the road is a small mountain lion. My first instinct said "NO, it must be a big bobcat". But from the 50-60 feet away it was pretty clear he had a long tail and was a solid color unlike every bobcat I have seen here in Cali that has a pretty short tail and usually a few spots mixed in.

Very cool for me. I now have my list of must see animals from a motorcycle seat down to just a few. I have seen lots of deer and elk, bison, wild turkeys {the flightless kind and the bottled kind} tons of coyotes, skunks, possums, coons, squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, bobcats, wild boar, javalina, hawks, eagles, falcons, owls, kestrels, black bears {too close for comfort once}, rattles snakes {one as it bit me, yes I was playing with it} and a momma grizzly with 2 cubs and even a beaver in California, but never until yesterday had I seen a mountain lion. ALL that is left is wolves and moose. I need to ride up to the northern rockies soon and complete my list.

Any other must see US animals I should try to see?
Off the bike I have seen howler monkeys, capybara, and coatimundi. I have a huge bucket list of animals I would like to see internationally.

 

[cesarb]

That's amazing and a once in a precious moment occasion. I had a moment like yours once too riding in the Catskills mountains in upstate NY. It was a black bear in the middle of the road! I thought it was initially a big dog but there were no homes or anything where I was. It was big, furry, no tail, and loped like a bear when it saw me. It's fur was shaking on its hunches as it ran for cover across the two lane road. Like you I will cherish this forever. Thanks for posting. Ain't riding great!

 

[krussell]

Fantastiic!!!! Congrats on the Mountain Lion.

I've been hoping to see a Big Horn Sheep in the wild. Been in there territory a couple of times, but have never connected.

 

[Bigbore4]

Very cool!

 

[kmac]

KR, I forgot that one, I saw bighorn sheep in Zion but I would like to add Dahls sheep to my list of must sees.

 

[krussell]

All this ranting about the BMW RT has me fondly remembering my 08, and how many places it took me and us. I had this 10 day trip from Portland where I was going to go through Yellowstone, do beartooth pass, etc. but the September weather significantly modified my route due to snow all over the place. I ended up in South Dakota, did the bad lands, road around the black hills, cruised through Sturgis, quite the ghost town in September. Anyway, on my way south went through Custer State park and had the opportunity to ride through wild donkeys by the dozen, and buffalo by the hundred. It was the best ride I've ever had, and the opportunity to see the wildlife was great. I went to a family event in Denver on the way home, and rode through Rocky Mountain National Park hoping to bag the a sheep, but it was not meant to be. Next time.

 

[Checkswrecks]

What I find awesome is that here on the east coast, we have a lot of red-tail hawks which perch near roads and watch for small prey in the grass. Every now & then you will have the thrill of one flying parallel to you and everything goes into slow motion. Totally unreal!


Bald eagles in flight are beautiful but I've never had one fly as close as the hawks. We have some here in Maryland and in Alaska they are almost pests near any dump.


Been hit by a vulture and plenty of small birds.


Next to or in the road, I've seen bison, lots of bears, moose, elk, bighorn sheep (Yellowstone), eastern coyotes, etc.


South Dakota:

BC, Canada:

Mt. Rainier, WA:

Yellowstone:

This last photo was in June while it snowed.

 

[10éréRider]

This was on my mountain bike not a motorcycle riding the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia when I saw a black bear. The camera I had was not working properly and I didn't want to take the time to get "the" shot. The car in the picture was stopped too so I asked him to block the bear if it made a move for me when I started riding passed it. This was the start of a 60 km ride so I was looking over my shoulder the rest of the ride!

This was the first of 3 bear encounters while mountain biking and the only one I got picture of.

10éréRider

 

[Don in Lodi]

You gotte ride alongside antelope some day, beautiful animal. Your turkeys are flightless? Mine fly across the road at head level. They gotta join the rest of the flock, they don't care what's coming. Saw a wolverine truckin' alongside the road cut once. By the time I could get stopped he had moved along. That flying along side thing, I got pretty close to flying off a bit of twisty because a condor decided to check me out. Huge bird, small aircraft huge.

 

[archer]

Wildlife, elk, deer, skunks, armadillos, tarantulas (crossing a small country road on the border of Texas amd Mexico), antelope, coyotes, possums, wild turkeys; as well as numerous birds of prey, hawks and eagles being my favorites. It is a wondrous treat when they fly alongside me as I am flying-low on the road. I even love stopping near bridges in back mountain areas, where safe, to watch the fish in the water below. On the bike I can feel temperature differences quickly, smell changes in humidity in the air, enjoy the perfumes of different trees at changing elevations in forests; and every rider knows: water nearby means more bugs to clean off the bike and helmet! I love the sensory intimacy of riding. There was one stretch of the north Cascade highway in Washington that had the most amazing air -- it smelled so good I just wanted to keep breathing in, not out! In a car none of these amazing experiences ever exist.

 

[bruised]

The smell of all the BBQ joints as you ride thru kc

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

[greg the pole]

Dammit Kelly!

I thought you were going to write about the elusive sasquach...

But seriously that's pretty cool.
I've seen my share of cool critters, large and small.
It's not until you go to south america, that the really cool stuff literally crawls or slithers out of the bushes...

Last year in Costa Rica we were crossing a creek lined with fallen green leaves. I was talking to my wife and not paying mcuh attention. I stepped on something that looked like foiliage...turns out it was the tail of a green snake, who obv. was pretty pissed off. He turned around opended his mouth, and showed me his impressive fangs. This was roughly 1.5 foot away from my shin. After taking my foot off his tail, he elected to take off in the other direction...me in the direction of our room to change my undies.

 

[howier]

A few years ago another guy and I were riding in the upper peninsula of Michigan around the Crystal Falls area. It was a real low overcast day and we were going up a grade to a small pass between some hills. As we were starting the climb I notices a large bird going the same direction. As we here getting higher the overcast was getting lower and so was the bird. When we crested the hill I had a Bald Eagle flying about at the same speed as I was going no more than 30 feet above my left shoulder. It was totally amazing. So majestic to see him just cruising along. One of those moments, I will never forget it.

 

[kmac]

Thanks for sharing all of the cool stories and pics.
I agree, the sensory input and connection to the environment around you riding is 100 fold that in a cage. I also think that because an experienced rider is so used to scanning and looking widely for potential dangers we SEE more than cagers on the same stretch of road...added blessing to riding.

Thanks also for reminding me, I saw 6 pronghorn antelope in Arizona on the road from Flagstaff up to Page at the end of March....very cool for a Cali kid. {OLD kid}
As to the hawks flying alongside, I had that exact thing happen the same day as the Mt. Lion...Red tail hawk sitting on a pole right next to the road started watching me as I approached, I let off the gas to be quieter but he still jumped up and started flying parallel me about 15' off the ground just off the edge of the road...no more that 20-25' from my head...he paced me just gliding along. He flew up and landed on a tree branch next to his mate and started screeching....very cool.

On the size of Condors....holy cow you are right. Not on a bike, but on a family trip to Zion 3 years ago we were at the Narrows and I saw a ranger looking up with binoculars so started trying to see what he was looking at....a gorgeous Condor flying around with a group of regular turkey vultures, which are a large bird to start with, but that Condor was 2 maybe 3 times the size and bulk of the Turkey vulture....I have seen ultralights smaller than that bird.

And NO, our Turkeys are not truly flightless....but much more ground birds than flight birds...flight is merely a means to an end...I have only seen them fly when really spooked. I have always had them just strut across the road. About 3 weeks ago, on highway 79 {just a few miles before the spot where I ran out of gas Greg} I had the biggest turkey I have EVER seen just casually walk across the road in front of me...he was not fluffed up at all, but TALL and thick bodied...big Tom.

I am so stoked so many others enjoy this kind of random stuff. Moments man.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

I've seen elk in the Great Smoky Mountains. Two young fox cubs (?) playing on the side of the road in Massachusetts. I stopped to watch them and they started to walk over to me with no fear. I figured that might be a bad thing and beeped the horn to keep them back. Saw a black bear run across the highway in front of us in Nova Scotia. On Skyline Drive I saw another bear come rolling off the hillside and was only inches away from my wife's front tire before he got turned around and ran back up. Had more deer encounters than I care to think about.

I've ridden thousands of miles in moose country, I've seen hundreds of moose signs, moose avoidance fences, and even a high tech moose warning radar or infrared system in Newfoundland. I've seen stuffed moose inside of stores and hotels. I have never seen a moose, not a one. I do have to wonder if they are a mythical creature drummed up by the tourist board, but people whom I trust assure me they are real.