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From Sea to Shining Sea - TAT 2023

limbshot3 said:
Unbelievable! 9000+ miles, and a flat 1.5 hours from home. Just proves that "Murphy" is alive and well.
IMG_5305.jpg


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A well trained pit crew had us back on the road in no time flat (pardon the pun).
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Lisa is the only Murphy we need to know...
Home James!
 
limbshot3 said:
Unbelievable! 9000+ miles, and a flat 1.5 hours from home. Just proves that "Murphy" is alive and well.
IMG_5305.jpg


20230607_125411.jpg


A well trained pit crew had us back on the road in no time flat (pardon the pun).
Click to expand...
I taped the wheels on both my Africa Twin and T7 for hopefully plug and goes. I still carry tubes in case of a bent wheel, hole too big to plug, or tubeless tape failure. I have had one flat since going this route. Horseshoe nail in the rear of the T7. It was a 10 minute plug and go.


i-sTm2ngf-L.jpg
 
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Yooper_Bob said:
Less than two hours from home and suddenly my bike has a severe wobble in the back.

Really?!?! A flat! :bluduh

A quick roadside change, and we were back on the move. I don't have any pics, but the others do....

We finally made it home (well, Gordie and I did... Jim has another half day of riding to get to his home in central Michigan).

We rode 34 out of the 35 days we were on the road.

9,303 miles total

My recliner has never felt so good!

i-M8sbCLz-X2.jpg
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Nice work guys !! Glad you it the whole way and back home safely.
 
motocopter said:
Good postings you guys. What's next?
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Not sure yet.... we've been discussing.

I've already done:
  • South Dakota Adventure loop ( my custom version).
  • Lake Superior circle
  • 2 weeks in Colorado
  • Moab and White Rim trail
  • Continental Divide (plus riding there and back)
  • Mid Atlantic BDR
  • TAT
One problem we face, is our summers are way too short. Extremely nice, but short. We have only 3 months of guaranteed no snow....so, these long trips really dig into that.

Trying to plan something that takes place earlier in the year. Thinking about Tellico Plains area in April. There is normally too much snow here then to hit the trails, but should be perfect riding weather down south.

We talked about setting up a base camp some place, and then doing day rides. Not tearing down and setting up camp saves two hours a day easy, plus it's a lot more fun riding without full luggage.

I definitely want to ride more BDR's!
 
I finally made it through your whole adventure... incredible! What a ride. Nice work fellas. It must be really spectacular to see and experience how much the terrain and environment change as you traversed our amazing country. 👍

It would be neat to see your route on a map.

What would you guys say is the most challenging part about living off your bikes for over a month?
 
A large part of the challenge is definitely mental. Staying sharp on the bike, day after day. Putting up with each other is another mental challenge. We all have our off days and can be on the grumpy side. You have to be aware of how each person's day is going and give them space when necessary.

There are two challenges to traveling each day. First... you have to unpack, set up, tear down, and repack. That definitely gets old. You get a system down pretty quickly, but it's still consumes a lot of time each day. Doubly so when it's wet in the morning.

The second, even more challenging part, is coming up with a place to stay each night. That has got to be the most difficult part of traveling "on the fly". It takes up a lot of time... discussing options, trying to explore options on a tiny phone, calling hotels when necessary. I waypointed a ton of campgrounds ahead of time, but you don't always end up near one at the end of the day. Plus, a lot of them are now booked in advance. I think a large component of this is no one wants to make the call on which option is best...then you ride three more hours, get there, and there's a problem of some sort. No one wants to be stuck with the responsibility of having picked a bad place to stay.

The physical aspects of an extended ride are the easiest to overcome. All three of us made a point to get "in shape" before the ride. We all started this a couple of months before leaving. We each chose different training regimes, and none of us had any problems from a stamina point. Sure.... you have the sore butt the first few days, but you power through that.

I will post a screenshot of our intended track when I'm on my computer. I say "intended" because there is the route we intended to ride, and then the route we actually rode. They definitely differ. I didn't bother tracking our actual route, but one of the other guys might have...
 
DJ_MI said:
It must be really spectacular to see and experience how much the terrain and environment change as you traversed our amazing country
Click to expand...

Totally agree, I've travelled and ridden across most of this country; For me as an east coaster, I get enthralled by the riding/scenery
once you get west of the Mississippi. The vastness and remoteness is something to be experienced.
 
Yooper_Bob said:
So...I just double checked, and there is a map picture with our route in the very first post of this ride report.

I thought I had thrown that in....
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How embarrassing. Out of the hundreds of great pictures that you guys posted it was actually the very first one. 🤦‍♂️

That’s awesome to see the macro view of the adventure!
 
Yooper_Bob said:
A large part of the challenge is definitely mental. Staying sharp on the bike, day after day. Putting up with each other is another mental challenge. We all have our off days and can be on the grumpy side. You have to be aware of how each person's day is going and give them space when necessary.

There are two challenges to traveling each day. First... you have to unpack, set up, tear down, and repack. That definitely gets old. You get a system down pretty quickly, but it's still consumes a lot of time each day. Doubly so when it's wet in the morning.

The second, even more challenging part, is coming up with a place to stay each night. That has got to be the most difficult part of traveling "on the fly". It takes up a lot of time... discussing options, trying to explore options on a tiny phone, calling hotels when necessary. I waypointed a ton of campgrounds ahead of time, but you don't always end up near one at the end of the day. Plus, a lot of them are now booked in advance. I think a large component of this is no one wants to make the call on which option is best...then you ride three more hours, get there, and there's a problem of some sort. No one wants to be stuck with the responsibility of having picked a bad place to stay.

The physical aspects of an extended ride are the easiest to overcome. All three of us made a point to get "in shape" before the ride. We all started this a couple of months before leaving. We each chose different training regimes, and none of us had any problems from a stamina point. Sure.... you have the sore butt the first few days, but you power through that.

I will post a screenshot of our intended track when I'm on my computer. I say "intended" because there is the route we intended to ride, and then the route we actually rode. They definitely differ. I didn't bother tracking our actual route, but one of the other guys might have...
Click to expand...
Thanks for the concise reply! I’m still pretty new to all this and I really hope to be able to do some bigger adventures someday and that’s all helpful info. 👍

When I rode the MCCCT last year I faced some of those same challenges. I definitely underestimated how long it would take me every morning to get everything packed back up and get rolling. I got better at it throughout the week but the fatigue slowed me down so it never got any quicker. :lol3 And that was only 7 nights.

Thanks again!
 
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