Long rides

I have been recently reading a lot of ride reports from the ADV forum and thinking that I need to get a longish ride in this summer. Last year I did a weekend ride from Portland to Victoria, which was fun, but stayed in hotels and didn't ride much, once we got to Victoria.

I don't think I'll ever get enough time off to do a cross country trip - although that would be awesome and I don't have a BMW GS or a standard touring bike- no intention of getting one either.

So what can I do with a Ducati monster? I want to get in at least 2-3 long weekend rides over the next season. Here is what I'm thinking -

1) Do the Victoria ride again, but extend it to 4 days or so.
a. Day 1- Ride up to Port Angeles
b. Day 2- Victoria to Vancouver B.C
c. Day 3- Vancouver BC to somewhere mid- Eastern Washington
d. Day 4- Mid-Eastern WA to Portland

2) Ride south on the coast line- east into Oregon and back up.
a. Day 1- Portland to around the Florence area
b. Day 2- Florence to Crater lake to Bend
c. Day 3 - Bend to Portland

3) Ride south on the coast like to however far I can get in a day- stay
the night and come back up.

I had friends that rode scooters from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine in about 10 days and then shipped their bikes back- but to do such a trip you need a bigger group- don't think I would want to take that one on with my limited mechanical skills + really need to save up for something like that. Maybe when I'm retired and ride a couch on wheels ;).

Cafes and customs

I haven't had a chance to ride much over the last few weeks even though the weather has been somewhat decent for FEBRUARY - but the pattern, as always, kind of sucks (for lack of a better word)- nice and dry during the week and rain throughout the weekend. Well, today I did get to check out some very cool bikes at a local motorcycle show called, the One.

Held in a warehouse in the industrial district of Portland, it was a mixture of ratty, cafe and custom bikes owned/ created mostly by local bike shops. There were some bikes with no front brakes (and I know for a fact that the owners still ride them), bikes with hot sauce bottles as oil catchers, hard tail customs with seats with no padding whatsoever. Also in the mix,active racers, bikes with cup holders and some very well preserved, Ducatis, Triumphs, BSAs, Hondas, Yamahas, and Kawasakis. Also a bunch of bikes that I had no idea what they were when they first rolled off the line.

Regardless it was fun to go check them out and hope that they make this an annual thing.