Monday, July 29, 2013

Twenty Minutes To Nowhere

"What's with the "amber waves of grain" B.S., Lucky?"
"Be quiet, Triumph.  They're green waves of grain.  Happy?"
"No.  I am so leaking a quart of oil in your garage tonight."
I've been talking to a friend of mine recently about long distance riding.  Here on the middle coast, if you want to get anywhere interesting (besides the interesting places that are convenient and local), a long distance ride is in order.

These conversations have gotten me pretty excited to get out there and ride far.  Maybe I'll cruise to Iowa for lunch.  Do a fireworks run to South Dakota.  Take a week off of work and visit a coast.  I haven't been to Galveston, I could go there.

You don't always need a destination, though.  Sometimes you can just go ride through the middle of nowhere, just for the joy of riding.  And one of the good things about the Middle Coast is that, no matter where you are, it's never more than twenty minutes to the middle of nowhere.

Seriously.  I'd bet you a nickel that you could get yourself out of the city limits within 20 minutes from anywhere in the Twin Cities except, maybe, downtown Minneapolis.

The only downside to near immediate access to the middle of nowhere is that the roads in the middle of nowhere are straight.  And although the Triumph was not designed for going fast in a straight line, it does so very, very well.  Sometimes, a ride is also a meditation on self-discipline.  Sometimes, it's an exercise in restraint.

And sometimes, you just have to see exactly how fast your damn bike will go.

On days like that, being able to take a short ride to the middle of nowhere is pretty handy.

15 comments:

mq01 said...

oooh, triumph, maybe you'll get to travel soon. and at least, til then, you have opportunities to go very very fast. bob and i have a different scenario, it takes us 20 minutes to get anywhere. it's called "traffic". lol. life is short my friend, break out the camping gear and go!

Lucky said...

"life is short my friend, break out the camping gear and go!"

Truth! The best time to go is right now.

We have traffic on the middle coast too. It might be more like 25 minutes to the middle of nowhere when traffic is bad. :)

I worry I'm being overly critical of my new home. I'm just observing differences, really.

Of course, the Triumph really is just all pissed off about these straight roads. If any locals want to clue me in on where to find a curve, that'd be great. ;)

Chris Cope said...

I'm late to the party here -- my excuse is that I was on vacation for a while -- but it is great to see you blogging again!

Chris Cope said...

By the way, I suggest seeking out the joyous emptiness of MN Hwy 1, up north. Stop often. Embrace the tranquility.

Lucky said...

Thanks Chris!

No worries - it was a vacation of the big & important variety. I'd have wondered what went wrong if you'd commented sooner...

Lucky said...

Ah yes, North. I will go North. Thanks for the reminder!

Coop a.k.a. Coopdway said...

Lucky,
The good roads are but an hour east and south of you; the state (and the adjoining two) are quite diverse for riding. Oh, and there's coastline north. :)

Welcome to Middle Coast!

Trobairitz said...

Self restraint? On a Triumph? Say it isn't so.......

Lucky said...

Thanks, Coop. Yeah, I have heard that Wisconsin is the place to go ride.

...Actually, when it comes to motor-sports fun in general, I keep hearing "go to Wisconsin." I know a few snowmobile enthusiasts who don't even really ride in Minnesota - they just trailer their sleds over the Wisconsin.

Lucky said...

Well, my self-restraint could very well be someone else's wild hooning... It's all relative.

Joe said...

Okay, trying Safari this time. Lucky, if you can see this, it worked, but I'll be darned if I can figure out why Chrome and Firefox didn't.

Joe

Lucky said...

Hi Joe - Thanks. I've changed the commenting method. Please give it a whirl and let me know if it works for you now.

Joe said...

Hey, Lucky! Thanks for helping me to try to get to the bottom of the commenting issue. This is a test to see if the old method works on Chrome.

Joe

Anonymous said...

Look at this way, if need to get back home in really big hurry, there's nothing better than a straight road!

Lucky said...

Joe - Awesome. Glad to see you are able to comment again.

Steve - This is true. Like I said to mq01, I'm probably being a little hard on the area. There are lots of good things here, and I'm determined to find them.

Gotta say, though, this place is kinda short on twisties that don't have lots of intersections and stoplights in inconvenient spots. :)

Ah well. There's good pizza to be had, at the very least.