Motorcycle USA 2024 - Part 4

By Green Snake

Day 31 🍣🌉☀️ - Resting in Maryland - 3/30 - Saturday

Weather: little chilly and sunny.

My friend and I wanted to witness the disaster of the total collapse of  Francis Scott Key Bridge. After some searching, I don't think there are too many good areas to view the calamity.

We went to Round 1 at Baltimore and set the #2 duo high score in  House of the Dead: Scarlett Dawn. Not bad for a first attempt. Played the Onpoint BB game and the pinball machines.

We went to two Starbucks nearby and got a "Been there" at Maryland mug for my collector friend. Ate at a Japanese restaurant . I got sushi and edamame. My friend got the beef and rice. I reached out to my friend from Brick, New Jersey to see if I could see him.

I watched the first Jurassic Park. I enjoyed it.

Trip: 0 miles.

Day 32 🏠😴☀️ - Back Home - 3/31 - Sunday

Weather: chilly and sunny.

I headed home to New York.

In Delaware, I stopped by the Delaware House Travel Plaza  rest area. I saw a bust of our President John F. Kennedy.

Another great theme park to visit here is Six Flags and their water park. On the way, I went to see my friend in Brick, New Jersey that I was supposed to see from Day 1. When I arrived, I made a lot of obnoxious noise with my motorcycle with the engine and horn. I should have been doing this every single time for every friend for the entire trip. I have to be more mindful.

My friend's wife took my 2 jackets and bag. She said it was really heavy. My friend bought his kid a whistle and the kid kept using it non-stop. I thought it was funny. They fed me some dumplings and rice. I showed their family pictures from my trip.

I folded an origami paper dinosaur and gave it to their kid. Their kid put it in a bucket of mud.

Towards New York, I was in a mild traffic jam. I saw a car flipped upside down, the first in my life. After that, it was smooth sailing. The rest of the trip was me riding at night on a windy road listening to my radio music on my Cardo.

As I was approaching my home, there was a superbike driving at ludicrous speeds on a pitch-black empty highway.

Trip: ~310 miles.
States visited: 26 out of 50.
Final Odometer: 11,815 miles.
Total Trip: 8,903 miles.

Conclusion 🤔

To summarize, the whole trip was surreal. I went to a lot of new places. Everyone outside of New York was very nice to me. Especially other bikers.

I lost 4 pounds and I feel a lot weaker after not lifting heavy weights for a whole month, something I haven't done in decades. Would I do this again? Probably not 😎? I enjoy my great-indoorsman, prison-esque lifestyle of working, escaping through books, saving money, and lifting heavy weights. A true spartan lifestyle.

If I had to do it again, maybe do it when it's warmer. Less gear needed too.

I'd say the south-west of the US was the most scenic. It even has the highest concentration of national parks. California was the most scenic state, even with the sketchy areas. My favorite city was Las Vegas, lots of fun there, assuming you got money to waste.

I wish I knew how to tighten the motorcycle chain. It's actually not that hard, but you will need to carry some extra tools. If the chain can easily hit the tire or slap the chain guard, that's not good. You could also use your OEM gear but I don't recommend that as a long-term solution. You may want a torque wrench, a ruler, chain alignment guide, and your manual.

My favorite part of the trip was, of course, meeting all my friends again. They knew the area much better, and they knew people that knew the area, thus making everything much better. And we got to do a bunch of goofy stuff. I mean, if I was alone in these towns, I'd look like a creeper. I wish I stayed a bit longer for each person.

It took a few months but I'm back to bench pressing my normal reps of 200+ lbs. I have a ganglion cyst in my right wrist. My condition is unnoticeable externally and interally. It would cost $2,000 to remove 💀.

I hope you enjoyed my goofy blog. Even if you looked at nothing but the pictures.

Appendix

Additional resources be here...

Further Resources

Counter steering note

You should be familiar with counter-steering. Maybe go into a big empty area. Try going up to 10+ mph, and pressing the left handle bars down  towards the floor. You should steer left.
Also, try pushing the left handle bar away from you, thus turning the bike handles clockwise. The handle should face right, but you will however, turn left. That may be confusing. At low speeds, turning the handlebars clockwise, will make you go right.
For the most part, I just push the handles down toward the floor. "Push (to the floor) left, go left"
Most people say "push the handlebars" and I'm like "in what direction?"

Books 📚

• Proficient Motorcycling - The best motorcycle book with many answers about riding. If you own a motorcycle, you should read this book. I have the 2nd edition. It appears there is a 3rd edition coming out.
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Riding - I thought this was 😴😴😴. Too much blah blah, not enough vroom vroom.

Movies 🎥

• The Bikeriders - New movie that comes out Summer 2024. (Was mildly interesting)(imdb)
• The Fastest Indian - One man, one motorcycle, one dream, to set a land record at the Bonneville Salt Flats.(imdb)
• The Wild One - One of the first film about outlaw riders. Stars Marlon Brando. (imdb)
• The Motorcycle Diaries - An adventure through South America with Che Guevara. Minimal politics. (imdb)
• Easy Rider - A classic motorcycle adventure movie in the USA.(imdb)
• List of Biker films

Shows

• Sons of Anarchy - Outlaw biker gang. Highly rated.(imdb)
• Ride With Norman Reedus - Daryl Dixon, from the Walking Dead, has a travel show with his motorcycle.(imdb)

Stores

• Revzilla.com - A great online motorcycle store
• Cycle Gear - A great in-house motorcycle store
• Round 1 arcades (locations)

Etc

• r/motorcycles

Youtubers

• Fortnine - Not to be confused with the popular game.
• Doodle On a Motorcycle
• Other youtubers, motorcycle cross country - (youtube)

Numbers🔢

Here are some numbers I kept in mind after some googling and using reddit. I'm not sure how exact they are.

• Ninja 300 has a fuel range of 180 - 240 miles depending on how fast you ride and how well maintained your bike is.
• It takes about a football field's distance to brake when doing 80 mph.
• Oil can last for 5,000 miles or 1 year.
• The tire limit is about 10k miles or 5 years. Even if they're almost bald, you can have problems.
• USA is about 3k miles long
• Brake pads last for 10K - 20K miles.
• Air filters last for 10K miles.
• The chain can last for 12K or more miles if maintained

Audiobooks 🔊

I listened to a lot of audio books on this journey.

• Learn Japanese by Paul Noble
• 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene
• What If? by Randall Munroe
• Reconciliation by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Undisputed Truth by Mike Tyson
• Designing Data-intensive Applications by Martin Kleppman
• 1984 by George Orwell
• The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
• No Mud, No Lotus by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino

Checklists 📜

I don't recommend relying on memory when you have a long list of action items. The odds of you forgetting some action during your long journey is inevitable. Go through them mindfully and your journey will go more smoothly. This is my personal checklist. You may want to modify it. Check the checklists.

One-time checklist

Do these before you start the trip.

• Stranded Plan
• Learn to unflip bike
• Learn Bump start
• Learn Battery cable jump
• Learn to use the emergency tire kit
• Learn about death wobble and handling
• Learn hand signals - I mostly used the 'wheels on the road' signal
• Stolen bike plan
• Learn about towing bikes
• Major accident plan
• Learn individual motorcycle part limits
• Read your motorcycle manual
• At least one long trip with your gear
• Try getting on the bike by putting your left foot on the left peg first

Pre-day checklist

This is a sample checklist I run through before I ride off.

• Duolingo
• Clean helmet and check pinlock seal - I use a damp rag. Some people use the wiper at the gas station.
• Remember to take pictures
• T-CLOC - check tire, chassis, lights, oil, chains. Refer to manual
• Check weather and weather map.
• Put rain bags over bags, if needed
• Be mindful of meal plan
• Reset Odometer, Trip A (current gas tank distance), Trip B (today's distance)
• Message people
• Phone on airplane mode, conserves battery

Post-day checklist

This is a sample checklist I run through when I turn the motorcycle off

• Duolingo
• Charge phone and Cardo
• Check hotel prices.
• Take picture of odometer and Trip B
• Rest Odometer, Trip A (current gas tank distance), Trip B (today's distance)
• Do laundry
• Message people
• Sleep 8 hours to recover
• Check weather and weather map.
• Go over directions

Back to the Top

• Part 1