03-26-2017, 12:08 PM
(03-25-2017, 10:29 PM)The ferret_imp Wrote: I am a joy ride only motorcyclist.
Even when I commuted by motorcycle it was for the joy of it. I could have commuted by car. Chose not to. I commuted to work by motorcycle for 17 years, from 1972 until 1989 riding approx 20,000 miles a year. Then switched jobs and for the next 24 years I drove a car over the road covering 3 states approx 48,000 miles a year and rode the motorcycles for fun approx 11,000 miles a year. I have been on out of state vacations by motorcycle every year since 1973 riding to 40 U.S. States, 2 Canadian Provinces and 5 countries in Europe.
Since retiring almost 4 years ago, I try and ride the bikes everyday, (yes, for the sheer joy of it,) putting approx 23,000 miles a year on my bikes and I drive my car ( truck actually) very little, last year approx 1,000 miles. Mostly on my weekly trip to the grocery store (18 miles round trip). Last year I rode my bikes 323 days and 25,304 miles. A have ridden a little over 91,000 miles since 2013, the year I retired. The only thing that keeps me from riding is ice or snow accumulated on the highway. Temperature doesn't matter. I have ridden from -9 to + 105 degrees
I look forward to riding everyday. I keep track because I like doing that kind of thing, always have, and now I have unlimited time to do it in.
Yep, I'm a joy ride only motorcyclist.
I don't commute to a 'place of employment' anymore either. However, part of the year I am located in a large city in the part or the world where motorcycles (unlike in the US and Canada) do filter through dense urban traffic (the way it should be, but that is another topic altogether). What would be hours by car is minutes on a motorcycle. So it is a preferred transportation method for any and all of my daily needs - business calls, visiting friends, shopping... - as long as the road is not covered by snow or ice.