Jul 9, 2016

Day 0: Epic Motorycle Road Trip Prologue

Mount Everest is 29,029 feet. If someone told you that you had to successfully climb Mount Everest to save a loved ones life, how would you do it? What would your strategy be? How would you accomplish this formidable goal? Would you attempt to do the climb in three days, only to perish like thousands of others before you? I would argue that the way to maximize success would be to climb 500 feet per day — little by little. This is how you approach any dream in life. My goal is to inspire others to take risks, live their dream(s), and to appreciate the beautiful Earth that we inhabit.

Yes, this story is centered around motorcycles, mountains, the outdoors, and adventure. But this is really a story about inspiration and passion that covers a 20-day cross-country motorcycle road trip through some of the best roads and regions in the United States. For those who may never get the opportunity to explore places like the Rocky Mountains or the Pacific Northwest (especially through the eyes of a motorcyclist), I want to share my adventure while using my life story to inspire others.

The motorcycle road trip will be 20 days and we’ll be starting in Atlanta. The trip will be over 6,000 miles and entirely on sportbikes and with no more than a backpack (one backpack per rider). Here’s a clip explaining the ride (lock the rotation on your phone):

https://youtu.be/5DxrdYRKWtA

For those with little time to watch the video, the trip starts in ATL and goes up to Seattle and down the entire west coast and back. For the detail oriented, here’s the itinerary (feel free to reach out if you’re in one of these cities, we’d love to meet you!):

From ATL to St. Louis (grubbing on BBQ) to Hays, Kansas (more BBQ in KS) to Denver to Salt Lake City to Yellowstone National Park (staying for two nights!) to Missoula, Montana to Spokane, Washington to Seattle to Portland, Oregon to Crater Lake to Eureka, CA and then down to San Francisco (via Hwy 1 of course!) to Los Angeles to the Grand Canyon to Albuquerque, New Mexico to Oklahoma City to Memphis, Tennessee (more BBQ) and back to ATL.

I’ll be going with two of my good friends from my motorcycle race team, Truth and Nofal.

Nofal (left) and Truth (right) catching up after nearly 10 years. We all met in Orlando, FL while I attended the Motorycle Mechanics Institute. We spent part of our evening doing last minute checks on the bikes to make sure they were ready for the 6,000+ mile journey

I’ll be riding the Yamaha YZF-R6, one of the best mass-production road racing bikes ever made. Nofal will be on the BMW S1000RR, arguably the best 1000cc motorycle ever created (I’m more of a Ducati Panigale 1299 guy so it’s hard for me to admit that haha). Truth will be riding the Kawasaki ZX6R Ninja — a bike who’s name needs no introduction. All three bikes have top speeds of over 165+ mph and 0–60 mph times less than or equal to 2.9 seconds (the v-12 Lamborghini’s 0–60 is 2.8 seconds).

The BMW S1000RR (left), the Kawasaki Ninja (center), and the Yamaha R6 (right)

These bikes are truly magnificent machines and are built for racing and high speed. Therefore, they are mostly impractical for most people. However, all three of us are sportbike fanatics so we don’t mind the cramped riding position and the high demand riding required to ride these safely.

The only negative is that the fuel tanks only hold 4.5 gallons each. So we’ll be stopping to get gas several times each day. Which isn’t a bad thing because it’ll give us a chance to rest throughout those long and hot days.

The BMW’s (right) top speed is over 180 mph

To make the trip old-school and simple, we’re taking the minimalist approach and will be packing very light. Each of us have backpacks that can only fit the following (this is my actual list):

I had to do some serious cramming to fit these items. These are the only items I’ll have for the next three weeks. Therefore, I had to choose my absolute favorite T-shirts haha

Second part of the list. Some of the items were on the first picture.

All the items minus my two pairs of jeans

As you can see, the backpack is small but compact. It’s also rain-proof and aerodynamic. I’m NOT riding with shorts and shoes by the way! I’ll be in jeans and motorcycle boots

This is how we’ll stay hydrated each day. This is a 2 liter pouch that holds water and other fluids. It goes into my backpack and the tube runs through a slit and into my helmet so that I can drink while riding

What about food??? Well, we are “surviving” on $20 a day (per person). In other words, I can only spend $20 per day on breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I’ll be eating a lot of Chipotle, Chic-Fil-A, and PBJ sandwiches!

We’ve also calculated that each motorcycle will consume about $650 of fuel (based on $3/gallon prices) for the entire 6,000+ mile trip. We are staying in a mixture of Marriotts, Sheratons, and Airbnbs. So we’ll be able to get solid rest each night which means we can really enjoy our riding throughout the day as well as maintain our fitness at the local gym.

Each day of the trip will be documented using one of these. I’ll post the best footage from the day.

Throughout the road trip, we’ll be recording the best scenary from each day (we have a mixture of GoPros, Sony action cams, etc.). I’ll post videos, pictures, and a little bit of my background with the hope to inspire a few readers to chase their dreams and interests!

Please feel free to post any comments or ask any questions. I’d love to hear from you. Be on the look out for day 1 — our ride from ATL to St. Louis. Thanks for reading!