“Show Us Your Stits”

Bikers have had a bad reputation since Marlin Brando in The Wild One. Put a bunch of them together and you are just asking for trouble.  Crazed and wasted,  leather clad Neanderthals screech into town engulfed in a cloud of dirt-road dust and over-jetted hydrocarbonated  smog. They commandeer the local saloon, chase the Sherriff out of town, rape the women and beat the hell out of everyone who try to stop them. After the untamed parolees destroy the town, they ride off with all the pretty women and skinny boys.

Well, except for a bunch of bikers getting together,  Aerostich’s  Very Boring Rally 3  was nothing at all like that!

 

 

 

It was not long after I gave my first motorcycle friendly presentation of, “Having MS is Like Riding a Russian URAL in the Iron Butt Rally“, did  I receive an invitation from Andy Goldfine to do a similar seminar at the Very Boring Rally 3 and Aerostich’s  30 Anniversary celebration which took place this August.  I gladly accepted; I was unable to attend their first two rallies and really looked forward to meeting Mr. Subjective, Andy Goldfine and the staff I knew only from afar. The high quality and innovative motorcycle gear they make and sell direct from their Duluth factory has been part of my riding for many years. I won’t get on my bike unless I’m wearing my “Stich”.  If my math is correct, I wear out five motorcycles to each riding suit from Aerostich I’ve owned! See my review of the Aerostich Roadcrafter suit I wear here.

I made the decision to take the 1500 mile scenic route to Duluth Minnesota traveling by way of the Trans-Canada Highway over Lake Superior. I planned to take two days to get there because it was all two lane roads.  I made it to the Lake Champlain ferry just in time for my morning pee break. Probably would have been smarter to go before the ship started moving.

 

I rode all day and stayed in Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario, taking full advantage of my CTC100 prototype cooling system. I can not reiterate the fact that my riding this summer was possible because I was able to stay cool. It looks like the system is on it’s way to becoming manufactured and publically available.  I will certainly keep my readers in the loop!

I tried to match the temperature to my speed…..

 

I parked the bike, showered and went scrounging for  vittles and a cold beer.  When I checked in, I inquired about a decent restaurant and asked if the ice cream shack next door was any good.  He recommended a Portuguese Grill and said the ice cream was wonderful, in fact he ran both establishments. I went to the gas station across the street to get water and repeated my questions. The clerk agreed the Grill house was good eating but I was a bit worried when he said, “What ice cream place? I’ve worked here for a year, and I didn’t even know it was there.”

I skipped the ice cream.

 

 

 

 

Ok, who ever named Superior a LAKE was an idiot, clearly it should have been labeled as an Ocean. I did a lot of heavy thinking circumventing the Superior SEA.  How the hell did someone make a map of this lake before Google? How about before airplanes?

“Hey Joe, I’ll start walking around this side, and you go the other way. Make sure you count every step, and draw every little turn on this really big roll of parchment as you walk.”  For a few hours I pondered the enormity and complexity of it all, then got lost wondering if the inventor of the first compass had a good sense of direction, or a bad sense of direction. Inventions happen both ways. Take my CLAMSICLES for instance, I like popsicles and I like clam chowder. Voilà, my patent-pending idea is the greatest thing since I invented perforated spaghetti!

 

People often ask me if I get bored riding alone or on long trips.  The truth is I absolutely don’t. When you drive a car, your senses are comfortably asleep, detached from the road, the weather, the dangers.  You view your trip like a movie through a big glass screen. When you travel by motorcycle, you are actually in the movie.  When I ride, I am in the moment, with my thoughts and ideas, and more often than not, my mind is completely stuffed with nothing at all.  It is what I call MOTOmindfulness and it can be orgasmic!

iTunes hates me, I haven’t updated my playlist in 8 years.

 The views around the great lake were excellent, I can’t recall when I had last seen hundreds of miles of  breathtaking Earth Art. I was surprised however, that I did not see many lobster shacks while circumventing the big pond. Maybe they do not eat a lot of lobster in Canada?

I had not made a border crossing since 9/11, and had recently got my first passport. Getting into Canada from Vermont had not been  a problem, but crossing back into the US at Thunder Bay turned out to be a bit interesting. There was a twenty minute wait, but I finally got to my turn in front of the border patrol officer. I tried to prepare myself because, as I like to say,

“My ability to  answer questions is limited only by my ability to remember the answers.”

Multiple Sclerosis has chewed into the part of my brain that spits out answers; answers that should never need searching for.

 

“Where do you live?”

Londonderry, New Hampshire.

“Where are you going?”

Duluth for a motorcycle rally.

“How long have you been in Canada?”

About 24 hours.

“What do you do for work?”

Huh?

I almost had it. I looked the guy in the eye and could not remember what I did for work. In less than 36 hours, I completely lost all memory of what I did 40 hours a week for the past five years.  I eventually cobbled together something about working for a non-profit and that I was also a seminar speaker. Even I didn’t believe myself. I pointed to the decals on my bike and said, I have MS, and I am riding a million miles to raise money and awareness. As he looked over the bike, I started regretting throwing all my medications into a single pill bottle. My cooling system prototype looked like a nuclear reactor, but at least I wasn’t hiding it, and I took some comfort in the fact that I was wearing fairly clean underwear.

“Is that an extra gas tank?”   

Yes it holds 6 gallons.

“Have a safe trip.”

I tell my audiences I have Artistic MS –  because I draw a lot of blanks.

 

I made it to Duluth Minnesota and rode up to the top of Spirit Mountain Ski area where I set free into the wind the ashes of Ardys Kellerman, a friend and motorcycle legend. Ardys rode her motorcycle everywhere, and it was her family’s wishes at her funeral that we each take a bit of her remains to spread over unique and special places we encountered on our journeys. Ardys wouldn’t be missing this cool rally. When I saw the sign Spirit Express at the top of the mountain, I knew it was the place to let her free.

I had reservations at the Superior Inn and after checking in and showering off the 14 hours of road rouge, I ventured downtown. Canal Park, with it’s cobblestone streets and small shops tasted a lot like Portsmouth, New Hampshire. later in the evening I was able to hear Jazz bellowing from clubs down the street.  Very cool. Sad my wife was not with me; I made a mental note that this was a place I must return to, only next time with my best friend and favorite passenger.

I sat out on the back patio of the hotel and eventually was joined by  motorcycle legend John Ryan, another speaker at the rally. John and I struck up a conversation that turned into a few hours and sharing a pizza. We casually discussed our motorcycle paths and hopes for the future. We bonded; two motorcycle enthusiasts, two travelers, two men on equally special journeys. I had retired from the crowd of long distance competitors in 2003, just a year before John showed up. I had met John a few times and we were Facebook friends who shared banter back and forth, but I had never really met him until this night.  John held the Iron Butt Association Ultimate Coast to Coast world record by riding from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Key West, Fla., in 86 hours and 31 minutes. He also became the first person to ride a motorcycle 1,000 miles in 24 hours, all within the New York City limits. He had done a few other 1000 mile city rides as well.  Crazy shit! The Book by Melissa Pierson, “The Man Who Would Stop at Nothing” was written about John. He was an amazing and talented rider. Besides riding motorcycles, we were brothers of another club as well.  John was riding hard and setting world records despite being a type 1 diabetic. We both were trying to use motorcycles to promote awareness for our diseases, while giving inspiration to others who have similar diagnoses. John and I were destined to be life long friends.

John had been trying to figure out his new camera, and we spent a few hours taking pictures as the moon rose over Lake Superior. These pictures start with ones from the back patio of the hotel, the boardwalk and bike path that ran parallel to the shore; and end with my favorites, John Charles Ryan, Shooting for the moon.

It was just a few weeks after returning home when I learned of John’s fatal motorcycle accident.  Life long friends sometimes have to go long periods without seeing one other, but I know when I do see my friend again, we will pick up right where we had left off, joking about starting a biker gang called The Afflicted Riders.  Ride in Peace my friend.

 

 

 

I got up early Friday morning and had a wonderful breakfast, then rode over to the VBR3 Rally headquarters.

 

 

 

There was quite a lot of interest in my cooling system, everyone wanted me to demonstrate it.

 

 

With the exception of the beginning, my presentation went well.  I make it a point to get to my events early, but as I was removing my riding gear, someone started a conversation with me outside the ski chalet where the seminars were being held.  I got away with just a few minutes to spare, but was already feeling a bit warm. I tried to get my PowerPoint presentation to display correctly on the projector and began to get confused as the room began filling up with riders. The longer it took me, the more heated I got, which cause more cognitive issues. I was a Jim Carrey movie,  getting Dumber and Dumber! I finally got it to work and was able to chill out. I had a good time speaking and reliving my 2001 Ural story. When someone tells me my story should be a movie, I take that as I did an OK job.  Needless to say, I now show my presentations on Keynote run off my iPad.

 

The Aerostich rally location was amazing!

 

 

 

 

The whole event was top-notch!

For entertainment, there was a family-safe comedian, a  violinist strolling the grounds all weekend, a classical guitarist, and The Honeycutters band took the stage Saturday evening. All weekend long the 2013 North American Trials Championship took place on Spirit Mountain, and if you’ve never seen a trials competition, you really should check it out. The skills these riders demonstrate by balancing and controlling a motorcycle over huge rocks and obstacles without putting a foot down is utterly amazing. Great show!

 

 

Over a thousand people, great music, great BBQ food and the ability to check out all the gear and clothes from the Aerostich catalog; priceless! In addition to John Ryan, some of the other seminar speakers I got to listen to were famed authors David Hough, Bob Higdon and Dr. Greg Frazier. Amazing stories and around the globe adventures all possible because of  two-wheeled machines we call motorcycles.

An amazing collection of people, real riders and enthusiasts, all in one place, all made possible by a motorcycle manufacturing company started 30 years ago by a man with an idea to create a protective suit for everyday real world riders.

I got the privilege to spend some time with Andy Goldfine, as well as attended his presentation. He told the story of Aerostich; then and now, and his vision for the future. Not just of his company, but the future of motorcycles. One of the topics he explained was riding motorcycles as a social good.  Aerostich has been at the forefront of this movement for decades by organizing events like the national Ride to Work Day. Riding a motorcycle daily is good for our planet.  See Andy’s Riding is a Social Good essay here.

Andy also spoke about how motorcycles can help us   physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He believes motorcycles will be seen as therapy, or may even be used for medicinal purposes in the future.

In front of a few hundred people,  Andy Goldfine gave validity to something I truly believe, thought about the entire 1500 mile ride home, and vow to spend the next 950,000 miles proving.

 

When I ride my motorcycle, I don’t have Multiple Sclerosis.

 

 

-Longhaulpaul