Ride: Arizona Day Trips

For those of you in a state where the riding is still possible, here are some rides that rank well with other motorcyclists. Most are 4 - 6 hours depending on your speed. Might just be me, but if I end up sleeping in my own bed after a day of riding, I'm staying off the Interstates and city streets, so I've tried to focus on scenic highways.

• Corondo Trail Scenic Byway (East Central) - it's about 123 miles one way. Starts in Morenci and ends in Springerville. It's scenic and has plenty of twisties (over 400 switchbacks), over a mile of elevation change and may be one of the best roads in the U.S. to ride according to biker accounts. You can find a very good description of the route on RoadNotes.com as well.
  
• Petrified Forest National Park (East Central) - this route is pretty straight forward, so a map is probably most used on your "to-the-entrance" and "from-the-entrance" routes, so you're on your own there. It will cost you $5 to ride through the park. For a review of the ride, check out Road Runner magazine. Since I'm a big fan of the magazine, I would recommend subscribing. It has great rides, is a small business trying to make it in today's magazine industry, and they seem like a great group of folks who just love to ride. I've subscribed or four years and have never been disappointed.
  
• Pioneer's Highway (South East) - at just over 200 miles, you'll pass the Biosphere 2 and Tom Mix memorial. Twisties, scenic vistas, and open pit mining on Hwy 177. Mine tours available.
• Catalina Highway (South East) - A 40 mile stretch from Tuscson to Summerhaven, this is a favorite with motorcyclists. Elevation goes from 3,000 to 9,000 feet via switchbacks and curves.
  
• Apache Trail & Tortilla Flats (South East) - Leave Apache Jct. and head north to Roosevelt Dam. Last 30 miles of the 50 mile ride are on a dirt road. Probably one of those rides you want to put into the middle of another day trip as a nice scenic aside. To check out a riders review, head over to Pashnit.com.
• Bagdad to Wickenburg (West Central) - a 123 mile ride through mountains, farmland, dessert and the little town of Prescott. Limited cage encounters, but make sure you gas up in Bagdad or you won't be encountering much of anything after a while!

I haven't been able to find too many well documented rides for the northern portion of Arizona. When I do, I'll add a post.

Deer Jumps Over Biker

Not sure if it's fake or real - but it's worth watching. Scary or cool depends on whether or not you've ever had a close call with a deer.

Leesburg Bike Fest 2007

Reference: Touring Books

Good books with decent maps are hard to come by. They're either too long on copy and too short on route information, or just spend too much time on being a tourist guide book than on being a book for riders.

I love to take a good ride book with me and bust it open each night to get ideas for the next day's ride. Hawk Hagebak has a great series of books titled Motorcycle Adventures that are geographically based, so if you know where you're going, you take along a book and have enough rides for an entire week. There are three in the collection, and all cover the south, primarily TN, NC, and GA. Hawk also maintains a site called Motohawk. A review in case you're curious from CarolinaMCEvents.com and a sample ride in the Southern Appalachians.

I found my copies of his books in a Harley shop in Chattanooga TN, and ended up using some of the rides from the North Georgia portion the next day. You can find used copies on Amazon for about $11.00 apiece.

Another handy guide is AMA's Ride Guide to America, edited by Greg Harrison. While it does cover a majority of the U.S., the Mid-west and plains states are missing, so keep in mind where you'd like to tour before buying. The book is divided into regions, so odds are by the time you're too old to ride you'll have a chance to use all of it. I found a reviews from webBikeWorld, as well as a very good price online from Overstock.

But - let's say you're from Arkansas and these books don't work for you. Here's a link to the Arkansas Parks & Tourism web site offering a free PDF riding guide for the state.

Review: Hugger Gloves

The Basics
• Made of 100% Technaline® cowhide - waterproof leather.
• Leather is 1.0 millimeter thick vs .6 - .8 mm for most gloves.
• Soft as a baby's bottom!
• Conforms to your hands, doesn't loosen with wear.
• Comes in lined, lightly lined, and unlined.
• Styles include full-finger, fingerless, perforated and cut-away.
• Gel palm and some versions have velcro fastener.
• Sizes Available: (W) XS to XL; (M) S to XL
• Price range*: $75.95 - $99.95

• Owner: Samich
• What I've got: Blk/Blk, XS
• Where I bought it: From the friendly folks at Cartersville HD

The Review
If there's one thing I enjoy it's a good pair of gloves. Now, I'd had my River Road full-finger gloves for about three years, and they'd served me well, but one last day in the rain put them out to pasture. They'd gone from a rich black sheen to some sort of sunbleached milky grey colour, with little left in the velcro closure in terms of closure. I'm big on sticking with brands that work, so I thought I might luck onto another pair. As I rummaged through the dealer rack, I noticed a very soft looking pair of basic gloves that didn't seem to have the standard HD paraphernalia of roses, sparkles or lace (all ideal for riding by the way - the guys don't know what they're missing). They claimed to be waterproof - not water resistant - waterproof. Since they were only $35.00, I thought I'd give them a try.

I will say this for Hugger Motorcycle Gloves, they're not a bunch of liars. These might be the most comfortable gloves I've worn. I rode through at least two thunderstorms in them, packed them in my bag at night, pulled them out the next morning, and you would have never known they had even gotten wet.

The Recommendation
• Go with the most close-fitting size. They'll stretch, conforming to your hand.
• The cut-away version looked interesting, but they didn't have my size. Next trip!
• They make an X-Small that actually has X-Small finger length (very unusual)
• These gloves don't make claims they can't keep. Worth $50.00 - a bargain at $35.00

Web site: Huggergloves.com

Riding To Give Back

I was reading an article the other day about winterizing your bike, when I realized I'd never actually thought about it before. Living in Orlando, unless there's a hurricane, I'm riding - so winterizing really isn't something I actually know how to do.

So rather than winterize, I ride with Teddy Bears strapped to my bike (OK - not really - I usually suggest someone else do that) or toys stuffed into my saddle bag heading for a kids home or AmVets lodge. The best thing about riding and December are the toy runs in Central Florida, and they've gotten bigger each year. Ocala HOG alone collected more than 2,000 toys during their event this year.

Given the number of toys runs, it was fitting that today I received an email from a riding friend who recited a great story about a Lake County Florida HOG chapter member known as the Toy Man (Jim Gray). He started a toy run to help out some local Lake county kids, and over time, the number of toys collected filled an entire warehouse. It took a committee of 10 people to manage it every year, and more than 200 children received toys. Jim was a Vietnam Veteran who worked for the Mount Dora Post Office - just a local guy helping local families during the holiday. Tragically, Jim lost his life several years ago when riding his Harley just before Christmas, but his spirit of giving lives on every time someone gets on a bike and donates their time, money or compassion for a day.

Enjoy the holiday season, and don't forget to spread a little joy during 2008 by supporting your local benefit rides. Riding is a great way to meet people, but also a great way to make the world a better place.

Ride and remember the journey,
Samich