Annual Mileage, And Aging Rider

I retired at 66 on June 9th, 2018 and bought a 2008 GoldWing GL1800 as retirement present to self. I then rode it a little over 50,000 miles in exactly one year; rode in over 20 states; visited friends and family I'd not seen in many years, and attended several GW gatherings. Prior, in over 50 years of riding, the most annual mileage was around 25,000. The 2nd year after retirement, I only rode about 15,000 miles, mainly thanks to COVID. Prior to retirement, I had slowed to maybe 5000 miles per year on a 1986 Harley I'd had for 11 years. Going from Harley to GoldWing rekindled my riding enthusiasm, hopefully the same will happen with the new-to-me Airhead. I will always love GoldWings but, at this point in life, they are just too heavy. Come to think of it, I got off a 1993 GL1500 in the late 1990s for the same reason, and went back to BMW. Back then, I was a lot stronger, and still dropped the GL1500 three times before deciding to get rid of it. In 72,000 miles, I have never dropped the current GL1800 (knock wood), but I am always highly vigilant, since I'd need help to pick it up. In 11 years and about 100,000 miles, I only dropped the 86 Harley once, at a gas station when I forgot to put the kickstand down. No problem picking the Harley up then, but today I'd probably need help. About three years ago, I purposely lost a lotta weight (224 down to 164) and have kept it off, but strength is also less. Still, pretty sure I could stand the RT up again now, but hoping not to drop it.

So far, I have ridden about 700 miles on the RT in 5 days. Today it's raining, but that's not a problem, as I often ride in rain and actually enjoy it. I learned to enjoy riding in rain on the current GoldWing. The RT is actually more protective than the GW, I just hope it handles as well in rain. The RT's rear shock is toast, also, deploying the side stand is dangerous for me even in the best of conditions. So I may not ride it today. I have a Brown's SS and IKON shock on order, and eagerly awaiting their arrival. Getting old is not for wimps, but retirement offers more riding opportunities!

Anyone else keep track of annual mileage?

jhall said:

... Anyone else keep track of annual mileage?

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I used to. For about 15 or so years I averaged a tad over 12k per year (a thou per month) for a total of about 200k. Some of that was daily commuting to the job, but I managed to ride in all lower 48 states three or four times, each time on a different bike. The past 5 or so years the mileage has fallen off considerably as I have aged out of solo trips (i'm 75). I quit keeping track last year cuz the miles were so few as to be embarrassing. I guess all good things come to an end.<sigh>

jhall said:

Anyone else keep track of annual mileage?

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I still do...something that was drilled into my growing up and being a retired engineer, it's what we do! My numbers aren't nearly that good...I seem to mostly ride just for the maintenance part of it, to charge the battery and warm up the oil. The idea of a longish ride anymore just doesn't sound all that romantic. But I still remember somewhat fondly some long rides I took many years ago. I seemed to have blocked out the hot, tired, butt hurting parts of them!

I use to as well. I think my highest year was 20k which doesn't sound like all that much but at that time I was still on active duty in the AF and working full time. The year before that I rode the AlCan south to WV and back again but the rest of the year I was stationed in AK where there isn't much in the way of riding unless I wanted to do the Fairbanks, Anchorage, Tok, Fairbanks circle over and over again. After retirement from the AF real life jumped back into the picture with having to try to make a living in the civilian world, eye surgeries, etc. Now, in real retirement I finally have what I consider to be a really great bike but a non-riding spouse so I get in rides whenever I can and happily enjoy what I can get. The biggest changes have been w/ the ergonomics. I've had lots of different bikes and really loved the VFR and the GpZ and I finally recently finished a Café bike project that was conceived and designed when I was in my 50s but not finished until I was in my 60s. Before that was even finished it was evident that my old carcass wasn't going to enjoy it but the light weight and low stance were really nice. For now I'm resigned to enjoy what ever riding I can but the long distance days are probably over.

Lots of people keep track of their mileage. And if a person does, both BMW Motorrad USA and BMW MOA will award nice emblems at 100,000 mile intervals. And BMW provides a nice trophy if you document your first million miles.

PGlaves said:

Lots of people keep track of their mileage. And if a person does, both BMW Motorrad USA and BMW MOA will award nice emblems at 100,000 mile intervals. And BMW provides a nice trophy if you document your first million miles.

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Weren't you the guy (Paul Glaves) who used to write a monthly article titled, "Mileage Slaves" in the BMWMOA News back in the 1980s? If so, I recall you used to go out for 150 miles or so after work, many times. Back then the BMW Annual Mileage Contest was popular. If I recall, it only ran about 8 months out of the year, maybe March through October, but some riders would still top 50,000 miles in that timeframe. I was never even a candidate for that, but always enjoyed reading about it.

The first motorcycle forum I was active on, ST-Owners.Com, had and still does have a communal mileage tracker and many of those guys lay down the miles. About the same time in 2006 I fell in with a few guys that think a 400 mile ride every Saturday is just the thing so right after re-entering riding at age 50 I started riding 20-25,000 miles a year. I've had a few near 30,000 and some around 15,000. Now at 64 I still ride around 20,000 on a Goldwing and R1200RT. I still work full time and all my riding is recreational, no commuting. The Smokies are 500 miles away three times a year.

I rode a 1981 R100 40,000 miles between 2006 and 2012. After the R100 came a couple of NC700Xs. The NC700X is the modern airhead. When I sold the second NC I bought another RT, this time a Hexhead. One of the things I like about the Hexhead is that engine character-wise it's not far from the R100.

We've met I believe - on GL1800Riders.com.

I keep track on my miles, not accurately, but rough numbers. I also ran a touch over 20,000 miles one year. Pretty good for North Dakota and a full time job. My average runs about 10,000 miles, but this year I am around 7,000 miles. Dealing with COVID and places being closed or restricted. Also my job in the last 8 years has me working more hours. I used to ride 2-3 evenings a week, maybe 100-200 an evening but I am often gone in the evening. Lately it has been 12 hour work days and not much ambition when I got home. We are also doing a bit of a remodel too, so weekends get used up too. Just a bad year in many ways.

jhall said:

Weren't you the guy (Paul Glaves) who used to write a monthly article titled, "Mileage Slaves" in the BMWMOA News back in the 1980s? If so, I recall you used to go out for 150 miles or so after work, many times. Back then the BMW Annual Mileage Contest was popular. If I recall, it only ran about 8 months out of the year, maybe March through October, but some riders would still top 50,000 miles in that timeframe. I was never even a candidate for that, but always enjoyed reading about it.

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The column I wrote was Bench Wrenching. Dave Cwi wrote mileage slaves. And yes I did some rides after work. Back then the mileage contest was 6 months. Mid May to mid October. My wife Voni did more riding than I did and won 1st in that contest 6 or 7 times on her way to 1,100,000 miles. Then the MOA tried a summer contest, a winter contest, and a whole year contest. They have now dropped the winter contest due to lack of interest and participation. The summer and annual contests remain confusing and I hope they just go to a 12 month annual contest.

PGlaves said:

The column I wrote was Bench Wrenching. Dave Cwi wrote mileage slaves. And yes I did some rides after work. Back then the mileage contest was 6 months. Mid May to mid October. My wife Voni did more riding than I did and won 1st in that contest 6 or 7 times on her way to 1,100,000 miles. Then the MOA tried a summer contest, a winter contest, and a whole year contest. They have now dropped the winter contest due to lack of interest and participation. The summer and annual contests remain confusing and I hope they just go to a 12 month annual contest.

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At least I was in the ball park with memories over 35 years old. LOL I recall some riders back then took the annual mileage contest quite seriously, and invested a lot of time and energy. Lots worse things to do with time and energy, that's for sure. I used to look forward to the BMWMOA News each month, it was in paperback, of course. Wish I'd kept some of them.

dduelin said:

The first motorcycle forum I was active on, ST-Owners.Com, had and still does have a communal mileage tracker and many of those guys lay down the miles. About the same time in 2006 I fell in with a few guys that think a 400 mile ride every Saturday is just the thing so right after re-entering riding at age 50 I started riding 20-25,000 miles a year. I've had a few near 30,000 and some around 15,000. Now at 64 I still ride around 20,000 on a Goldwing and R1200RT. I still work full time and all my riding is recreational, no commuting. The Smokies are 500 miles away three times a year.

I rode a 1981 R100 40,000 miles between 2006 and 2012. After the R100 came a couple of NC700Xs. The NC700X is the modern airhead. When I sold the second NC I bought another RT, this time a Hexhead. One of the things I like about the Hexhead is that engine character-wise it's not far from the R100.

We've met I believe - on GL1800Riders.com.

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Yes we have met on GL1800! I am having fun re-entering the Airhead world, but the GL1800 ain't going anywhere, at least for now. Your 1981 was one of the best, in terms of improvements in a single year, IMHO. First year for the nikasil lined jugs, transmission and clutch improvements, etc.. Did it have the dreaded exhaust valve recession problem though? I had a 79 R100RT and 82 R100RT and they both had it.

I don't keep track as such but since I record the mileage and date of each oil change for each bike it would be easy enough to check. Especially since I change the oil yearly.

jhall said:

Yes we have met on GL1800! I am having fun re-entering the Airhead world, but the GL1800 ain't going anywhere, at least for now. Your 1981 was one of the best, in terms of improvements in a single year, IMHO. First year for the nikasil lined jugs, transmission and clutch improvements, etc.. Did it have the dreaded exhaust valve recession problem though? I had a 79 R100RT and 82 R100RT and they both had it.

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I had the cylinder heads reworked by Nathan at Boxerworks not long after I bought it. It had 77,000 when I acquired it.