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We used to ride so much more—in the 15,000-ish miles per year range. Mainly because we were traveling a lot to rallies and whatnot.
But the new normal seems to be in the range of 6,000 miles a year. Pathetic, I know. Granted, that’s more than we were getting in during the pandemic but it’s still pretty lame.
Even so, we bookended 2025 with New Year’s Day and New Year’s Eve rides. It’s nothing more than symbolic but it felt good regardless. Or at least, conciliatory. Especially since we only got in one short trip on the bikes. The rest of the rides have been of the maintenance variety.
As for 2026? We didn’t even get our first ride in until two weeks into the new year. All due to life, work, and obligations that are incompatible with riding (like say, a colonscopy).
Hard-earned first ride
I wish I could say getting out the door for the first ride of the year was smooth. It was not. We got a late start thanks to some work fires that needed putting out. And once we finally saddled up and were about to dive into our throttle therapy, my dear man’s bike wouldn’t fucking start in spite of the fact that he leaves it on a trickle charger in between rides.
We had to dial back and go through the rigamarole of jump-starting his bike before we could set out. We originally planned to have a brief stop visiting with friends over coffee before the ride. By the time we finally had sidestands up, there wasn’t time.
And, of course, we needed to get some miles in to make sure his bike was adequately charged so it would restart. So a quick stop for coffee after only a mile in the saddle wasn’t in the cards.
Once we were on the road and settled in though, it was a pleasant ride, if nothing technical or demanding. And after two weeks off the bikes, that fit the bill to refresh our skills and at least tick the box for the first ride of the year.
The moto year ahead
The good news for our slow start to the new year is that it’s still early days. We have time to correct our course. But fuck, I really hope all of this challenging beginning isn’t a harbinger of our saddle time this year.
The hopeful spot on the riding horizon is our new Southwest Art Towns project. We need to cover a lot of ground throughout the Southwest this year to promote it. And we should be able to do a lot of that on the bikes.
Stay tuned to see if we can get in some moto adventures to redeem ourselves as motorcycles travelers in 2026.
Cheers, friends. See you in the saddle. I hope.
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