After 6 years on the road, my body finally cried uncle and forced me to take a breather for a few weeks. I had been having issues with my arms and neck, pain and numbness mostly for a few years. Around December of last year, I began to have weakness in my right arm, specifically the inability to raise a beer mug to even shoulder height, which was very, very concerning to me! I knew it was spine related, not a lesion from my Multiple Sclerosis. An MRI proved me right and in late August I received a shiny new titanium bracket in my neck, some cadaver bone particles and a nice scar across my neck. I had a procedure which fused a handful of my cervical vertebra together called Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion or ACDF.
Luckily I had a busy July and August, putting over 13,000 miles on my new Yamaha Star Venture before the surgery and realized the new bike donated by Yamaha is going to work great for the next quarter million miles of my intended goal of one million MS miles. It handles great, comfortable on long distance rides and has a ton of great options that help make each ride enjoyable. The V-twin motor pulls like a tractor and is just plain fun to ride fast or slow. It’s going to be like cheating!
This left me with a big dilemma. Originally I was expecting to keep my other bike, the Yamaha Super Tenere as sort of a back-up spare, but struggling to pay my travel expenses and a lack of paid speaking opportunities this year led me to the conclusion I should sell bike 2 or Curechaser II as it is now called. (I only name by bikes after I stop riding them) With 122,000 miles on it, I did not expect to get much for it. As I was talking to a friend about what I should do, he reminded me I was an idiot, and should raffle the bike off. He said people will be interested in owning a piece of my story and would be glad to know the proceeds would go towards my bills.
“You do know your first bike which looks just like this one, is in a museum, surrounded by armed guards and cameras, being admired for it’s place in motorcycle history by about a million visitors a year, right?”
I never ask for donations for myself, but this idea was different. Raffle participants were buying a chance to own something worth much more than what they paid, and I would end up with more money than if I tried to sell the bike on Craigslist.
And so the plan was hatched. I decided to offer the bike up to the winner of such raffle, with a limit of just 122 tickets, representing each of the thousand miles of flawless service the bike delivered to me. The money raised would help pay some of this year’s unpaid bills.
The winner, in addition to getting the Motorcycle with all it’s customized options and accessories, would receive a copy of all the ABILITY articles and other magazine stories that featured the motorcycle in them. Copies of pictures, videos, news reports and even my helmet adorned with the Longhaulpaul logos was included in the deal. The plan also includes having me deliver the bike to the winner’s home, anywhere in the continental USA and I secretly hoped it would allow me one last cross country jaunt on such a fine machine.
Excited about selling every ticket in just a few hours, I spent the weekend before the raffle repairing a few items needing attention on the bike. I changed all the fluids and replaced the tires. I did not wash the bike, but did a short video about the raffle while walking around the machine that had been sitting still for the last 8 weeks.
I don’t usually get attached to bikes, I’ve had 40 of them over the years, and because the last two were basically the same exact models, it wasn’t hard to swap them out. Now that I am riding a totally different style of bike, I was sad. I almost had second thoughts about the raffle all together. I was going to miss Curechaser II, as it added another 122,000 miles to my incredible journey without a single hick-up.
I wonder what will become of Curechaser II. Will it be striped of it’s decals and accessories, normalized and just enjoyed? Will it be used for spare parts for a newer bike because it has so many miles on it? Will it find it’s way to a private collectors garage or museum?
Zac Rhoades became The lucky winner of Curechaser II, and the delivery route was only about 100 miles; just up the road in Vermont.
I am thankful to all who took a chance and supported the raffle, and to those who are waiting for me to raffle off the new bike, my Yamaha Star Venture, don’t hold your breath. It’s sticking around for a bit.
Last I heard of Curechaser II, it was being enjoyed as is, romping around the backroads of Vermont and that makes me happy!
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Mile Marker 330,251
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