Retrospective on the 2010 Riding Season in Alaska
This was an interesting year for spouse and I in Alaska. My riding season began the 3rd week in March and will last until the first snow hits my driveway. Thats 3 or 4 weeks away (mid October), I hope. Traded in my 2008 Spyder with 20K miles on it, for the new 2010 RTS #474 in early April. Spouse still has her 2009 RS (now with 18K on it). I now have 12K miles, and anticipate another 1.5 to 2K miles before I park the RTS and 3K miles on my Vulcan 900, purchased in August.
The riding year in Alaska was mostly one of endurance. April & May were gorgeous, but June, July, August gave us rain every day. September has been pretty nice, very little rain, the temps have went from 60's now down to 40"s. It was 35 when I drove into Anchorage this AM for work. During June-August, we only had a couple days with some sunshine and reached 70 degrees just a couple of times. This was one of the coolest, wettest summers on record for Alaska. I am considered a die hard, so I rode every day regardless of weather. Drove my Subaru only two times all summer.
We were able to entertain BMW from Illinois, who came to visit Alaska via the Alcan Highway. He got to see Alaska when she was not at her best, and also experienced some mechanical difficulties with his Spyder. He was able to get them solved, and hopefully we did not scare him away from Alaska forever. Other threads discussed the problems etc.
Spouse and I covered most of the highways in Alaska again this year and took an adventure trip to Whitehorse, Yukon and Skagway Alaska. Other threads discuss the trip. We also went on weekend rides (200-350 miles) in length.
We tried to get the Alaska Spyder Ryders going full blast this year, with organized rides & stops every Saturday. People came to the rides for about 4 weeks, and then went on their way. It has been difficult to get Spyder owners together to ride on a regular basis. Looking at the statistical demographics of Spyder ownership, I would say that organized Spyder Ryding is not a priority item for middle agers and up. The jury is out as to whether or not I will try to get the group together next year. Spouse and I also belong to Last Frontier Motorcycle Club which rides every Thursday. LFMCC is open to riders of all types of road bikes. We would have between 25-55 bikes at every ride. More bikes when it was not raining of course. I attended all 21 weekly rides and spouse made all but three of the rides.
It's been a great year regardless of the weather. For me, any ride is a good ride, and I feel that just ryding is good therapy for me. I envy you folks from "the lower 48" aka. "outside," who live where you can ride most of the months of the year. For me, it is a long time between October and March when I have to go to the garage and polish and occasionally sit on the bike(s) in anticipation of the coming season.
I will still be around to chime in on various subjects and kibbitz with my site friends and acquaintances throughout the winter, but will miss ryding a lot.
Thanks to all of you for being on the site with information, encouragement, and sometimes even a controversy or two.
Dwayne, aka. akspyderman
