I love curves...

A lot of people are buying motorcycles. Today, 1 out of every 49 people in the US owns a bike and most of them only ride about 3,000 miles per year. I think most of those people don't know where to go on their bikes so they end up going to their local biker area, stand around and drink a few beers. To me that activity religiously makes it into my top 10 of most boring things to do.

And then you have the people that won't venture anywhere unless it's on the activities calendar of their local HOG (Harley Owners Group). Now I will be the first to admit that HOG's have their place -- if you get involved with a good one with lots of activities, it's a great way to meet other bike enthusiasts -- but at some point you have to be willing to venture out on your own.

Another challenge is the locale in which you live. As I am in Dallas, I have seen everything within 150 miles in any direction. I'm not ADD, but I get bored quickly. I do wish I had a truck and trailer so I could tow the bike somewhere and then begin riding. The reality of the situation, you can get somewhere a lot faster that way than riding and if you've already seen the roads time and again, you really aren't that interested in seeing them yet again.

Once I finally get somewhere, I love curvy roads with a passion -- the more severe the better. During my first road trip, we ended up heading towards the east coast. We were having lunch one day and someone asked us if we were there to ride The Dragon. We had never heard of it so after hearing the description of this 318 curves in 11 miles going up and down the side of a mountain road, we had to ride it. We got there close to dusk so we only had a chance to ride it once -- Oh my friggin God it rocked so hard!!! If you go there, also check out the site for Killboy -- great visuals!

Now keep in mind that my Harley was totally loaded down for a road trip and her pipes were scraping at the rip roaring speed of about 25 mph -- that's how much the bike was leaning into the curves. Meanwhile, these crotch rockets were absolutely flying by -- if I lived anywhere close to that region I'd be there once a month!

There are some good roads in the Texas Hill Country and I highly recommend the Willow City Loop when the bluebonnets are blooming at their peak in the spring. There are 4 roads I know for a fact that I want to experience:

1. The Black Hills in South Dakota
2. The roads southwest of Denver through the Rocky Mountains
3. Pacific Coast Highway
4. The coastal roads of Italy

Where there is so much amazing riding to be experienced, I just can't imagine why anyone would want to waste their time standing around in a parking lot guzzling beer! Like everything else, get off your ass and out of your La-z-boy and way from the TV and start EXPERIENCING life!!

Live as you will have wished to have lived when you are dying!!