Sunday, May 9, 2010

Back in St. Louis


I recently moved from Cornland (Central Illinois) back to St. Louis, where I came from.

This is the most beautiful place I know for motorcycle riding.

The above photo was taken Friday at Babler State Park. The tree behind my motorcycle would not quite fit in the photo. The camera was on its widest setting and I was as far back as I could get without going into the woods and obscuring the shot with foliage.

That was a great ride from Maryland Heights to Babler but I found an even better ride today. I rode past Creve Coeur Park and out the country roads in the bottom lands to Hog Hollow road. I took Hog Hollow to Olive asnd Olive to Chesterfield Parkway to Wild Horse Creek Rd.

Wild Horse Creek Rd. might be the best motorcycle road I've ever ridden on. If you live around St. Louis you should try it. But let me warn you: keep at or under the speed limit and watch the road. The scenery is outstanding and distracting. Don't be distracted. Most of the road has no shoulder and a couple of the bridges are one-lane only. Pay attention and take it easy. This isn't a road for speeding around pretending you're a racer. A real professional motorcycle racer would take this road easy and enjoy the ride. Real motorcycle races don't include daydreaming car drivers, horseback riders and wildlife. Don't be a dumbass.

I encountered one motorcycle on Wild Horse Creek Road, a new Triumph Thunderbird. If I had enough money to keep two motorcycles I'd get a Thunderbird. But on roads like Wild Horse Creek Road I'd still ride the Bonneville. As beautiful as the Thunderbird is, it's a cruiser. And I want my foot pegs right under me when I'm exploring strange roads. I would not want to ride a bike bigger than a new Bonneville on the bad back roads.