I am Iron Butt (Part 1)

I am not Iron Man. I am not a Hawaiian athlete, a comic book character, nor the subject of a Black Sabbath refrain. I am a programmer and single dad with a mortgage and a land yacht. I have however had an odd tendency since I was young to try and go a little further, a little more extreme, and push what I believe to be my limit more that what some consider "normal". My mom said I had an iron will. My ex-wife probably used different grammar. Neither were intended as compliments. I don't think Gene Wilder's Abby Normal applies, at least in a pathological sort of way. I just believe that others feel comfortable with constraints whether they are self applied, or externally-inflicted by societal pressures. Constraints generally make me chafe.

I have a number of passions in my life. Although fatherhood dominates the list, I love to fish, pursue whitetail deer and turkey with my bow, be a computer nerd, and try and be a good friend. I find this motorcycle thing to be somewhat transformative (to plagiarize the owner of my company's favorite word). This month marks 20,000 miles and the second anniversary since I first straddled my 1982 Suzuki GS750T. Pulling out of that craigslist driveway in Emmaus, PA for my virgin motorcycle voyage was an excellent decision. The intent was to see if I liked motorcycles as much as mountain bikes, 4-wheelers, and automobiles, all while saving some gas money and letting my truck last an extra 5-10 years.

I did. I do. It may not.

Last year's Cabot Trail trip was an eye opener for me on many levels. I learned much about myself. I also added a number of questions to the list, a list which continues to grow as I ruminate on that adventure. I always knew that I liked to plan trip routes and mess with a GPS, but hated reservations that forced a day to progress past what I wanted, or demanded a premature conclusion. I consider Google Maps a close personal friend. I'm different and I get it.

Fall doesn't see much riding except for commuting to work due to being interrupted by hunting season. This was an exceptionally mild winter allowing the wheels to continue to roll. If there is not ice on the street or thunderstorms blazing on my AccuWeather android app, I ride. Cabin fever was bad as always this year, it started right on time in mid January with the Dakar Rally. I started researching rides in the Nevada desert that would get me the hell out of here. I found some, but it seemed silly on some level to fly to ride. I realized I just wanted to ride and for the grips of winter to be loosed.

It started with a map on EPGSoft.com. I have visited all but 6 US states now and have been to 4 Canadian provinces. That took me 42 years. I started messing around with states I have been on my motorcycle on the epgsoft website. It's kind of a pathetic list, but growing. I noted the states around PA where I have not been and everything with color so far has been north. Weak . There is so much west and south. Could I do all of them on a motorcycle? No way. In planning my riding vacation this summer, the intent was to put a foot in each of the great lakes. 7 day trip, 450 miles a day, 3,150 miles. It could be a good trip. What about 2013? I could go south and do Florida and back, but I spent a lot of time on 95 as a kid going back and forth to S Carolina and it doesn't rock my world. 2014? Hmm, states are flipping color rapidly in Vanna White style in my mental map. I appear to be at my limit for a 7 day trip already. 2014 would have to be a repeat of existing travels. That just doesn't seem right. It doesn't seem fair. I don't want to wait until I retire to explore 1/2 of this country. At this rate, I may never retire anyway. My states visited map on my tombstone will look like a map of the colonies, pre-Louisiana purchase. This will not do.

The life of a programmer involves a world of constraints. The world of Joel and his Triumph Tiger 1050 is constrained only by desire and speed limits. Perhaps it is the yang to my nerdy yin. To make improvement, constraints must be re-evaluated then confirmed, improved, or bypassed. I am too hardheaded to confirm most constraints. Bypassing in this case would involve shipping a motorcycle, flying to meet it and riding back home. It's an expensive proposition and I've been accused of being cheap. I also watched Long Way Round this winter and saw Ewan McGregor's mighty GS come off the plane in Alaska on it's side. It also seems kind of feeble, and I don't have that kind of constitution.

That leaves improved. I got my ever performance award from the PA State Police on New Year's eve this year (in the truck). I don't want to go through that again. Thus, improvement cannot be made with speed. Lesson learned.

That leaves 2 options: If _Weak = True Exit Dream. If _Weak = False then _DailyMileLimit += x.

Now to solve for X. How much is reasonable? How much is unreasonable? How much is safe? Where does the law of diminishing returns intersect on the enjoyment vs tedium slopes? My friends, and people I meet on the road already think I am crazy for enjoying 450 miles in a day for several days in a row. I don't know any other motorcyclists who ride further than I do (in the interest of full disclosure, I really only know 3 other 2 wheelers in the flesh), but the guys at the shop when I had service done thought I was crazy, both here and in Moncton, NB. They have a fairly large population to sample from I would guess. I look at websites for motorcycle roads and people take what I did last summer and take a month off to do it when they retire. Even most of the hardcore riders I met up on the Cabot Trail ended up trailering to Maine or Moncton to do their epic ride.

I'm not the most social guy with strangers, so that leaves me with the internet, and there, I feel more at home. Perhaps that's why I like being beneath my HJC. I am invincible, invisible and anonymous all at the same time, all while learning and experiencing more than I can possibly retain.

Part 2 will cover that cyber-journey and it's path forward.