Solstice Ride 2014

[flynrider]

On June 19th, I will participate in my third Solstice Ride. The overall idea is that a person should take advantage of the longest day of the year by being out enjoying every minute of it. We think that it need not be spent on a bike. If boating was your passion, be on a boat. If hiking is your passion...well you get the idea.

The Solstice Ride was conceived by my brother-in-law and has a few simple rules: you must be on your bike at sunrise, on or near your bike all day, on your bike on sunset, and your route should return you to your starting point at the end of the day (avoid using The Ride as the first leg of a longer trip). It does not have to be on the exact date of the solstice, but it needs to be a date close enough that the daylight hours are virtually identical (within seconds) to the solstice. Also, this need not be a riding endurance event. In the past, we covered 400-500 miles over the course of the day....that means lots of off-bike time.

This year, it is possible that I will be violating one of the rules.

If you read my ride report, Tales of the Dragon, you may recall that I took a side trip to Chattanooga to visit my boy-hood friend Kelly who has been suffering with heart issues and diabetes for quite a long time. Kelly passed away yesterday and I intend to ride down to Chattanooga to attend the funeral on 6/21. I may try to combine the Solstice Ride with my first leg of my trip to Chattanooga, thus violating one of the rules...but it's not like I'm going on a vacation trip or something.

Anyhow, I will post a Solstice Ride report in this space once I return. I would love for members of this forum to plan their own Solstice Ride and enjoy the longest day of the year perched on two wheels....don't forget to take pictures!!

Matt

Funny you should mention this. I've been looking forward to the solstice myself. My flying buddies and I are departing Phoenix about an hour after the official beginning of summer and flying up to Montana. We've been doing this for about 13 yrs.

We'll also be breaking the rules as it's the first leg of our annual backcountry flying and camping trip. Thanks to the early sunrise, we can get out of the desert before the heat churns up the turbulence, and be setting up camp in Yellowstone by lunchtime. That's about 8 hrs. of flying but the rest of the day will be spent mountain biking, hiking and just enjoying the the weather (whatever it is, it'll be better than Phoenix in June).

Since the sun doesn't set until 9:15 that far north, I'm figuring we'll be enjoying about 16 hours of daylight.

As this is a motorcycle forum, I will add that I've made this same trip on two wheels numerous times. Instead of an 8 hr. flight (including a fuel stop) it takes about 3 1/2 days sticking to mountain back roads (800 air miles vs. 1300 road miles).

Sorry to hear that your ride will be for a more somber occasion, Matt. Have a safe trip.