Over the past few years I have pretty much quit touring. Now that my wife is coming up on retiring at the end of this school year, I was planning to do some day trips or a long weekend. If she heals up, however, she and a bunch of her friends are going to Aruba. I might be stuck doing "loops" to take care of the house and animals.

This got me thinking about loops, and why I use them to ride.

First of all, I hate going some place and them coming back on the same road. I like to go out one way, make a big circle or loop, and then return on a different road. This even provides things like different coffee places, different sights, even roads with different speeds or trips through the rural areas. Anything to make riding more fun.

My area is perfect for this. I am encircled by Class A Highways, roads through dairy country, our Capital City, three different slabs, and at least three different Harley shops. The only downside here is Madison's Beltline Highway, the proverbial 'gladiator school' for commuters and fools. I even hit that coming back from our area's best cobbler shop.

But as much as I like these loops (and they are great for running errands and playing hookie), I sometimes find myself in a quandry as I warm up the bike. If I take Spinner, it's going to be a 100 mile day. That's brief jaunts, trips home for housework, the mutts and *sigh* actually working. If I take Betty I'm going to be gone all day. And since my wife blew out her knee, I had trouble getting more than 150 miles away from home last season.

Clearly, the loops are getting a tad boring. But I figured it this way. Even if I could ride in 500 mile loops, sooner or later the trips would take me over the same ground. I need something to keep it fresh. Any of you guys in this same predicament?

I have my favorite loop, 125 miles roughly half way out a great outdoor watering hole/restaurant/bbq,
part "gladiator school" mostly scenes out of a Hollywood western movie, like the ones I watched on snowy afternoons as a kid. The rock formations are amazing, my buddy showed me the secret picnic area and there are some different off shoots that take me to the train museum and past the skydiving school....
On the way home I drive down on PCH/beach/ocean....
I guess what I'm saying is, that if you're getting bored you're not looking at it the right way. The same road is never the same twice, different cars/bikes/ppl... Then again you've probably beat those same paths for so many times....
I've got too much diversity here to honestly say I can relate, but I do understand.
I used to race bicycles in a previous life, the kind used in the tour de France...
I never gave that passion up, and I still do my rides, 23 miles round trip-out and back, to the beach where i stop and use the rest area for a quick splash off on my face rehydrate/gobble a bar, and return on the exact path I just rode... year after year thousands of times... it is fuQing mind numbing!!!! but I love my time out there so much I just, and I'm quoting The Tourist here, "shut up and ride". For almost 25 years I do that ride 3 times a week (on average) and because its the safest route I'll continue to use it for life.
its what you do when you love something. I always ride alone because there is no one else to ride with. I use the time out there to clear my head to a level motorcycles cant reach. ON the bike trail I can go balls out no cops no speed limits just me the wind the cranks.... But turning the cranks cant replace a v twin the speed the ultimate freedom .... no sweat!!
I'll keep my bicycle rides to keep my motorcycle rides in perspective and vice versa.
All I know is either one beats a day in front of a TV any time.
I like to make some preparations for my rides (mc) just to ad some options, always carry a map and compass, some snacks and drinks... I do ride a bagger for a reason.
What ever the route, its the ride that, the opportunity to crank the throttle - sheet... just throwing a leg over is a smile maker, dont loose the perspective and every ride is an adventure.

Oh, I know what you mean. I do like some of the same roads, in fact, I told my wife that some roads evoke the same emotions every time I ride on them.

When Spinner was new and had a tight engine, I'd take her out due south by some back roads that posted 45 MPH. Then one major intersection in Cottage Grove closed down completely--and it was on the main back road to the bike shop. I was going to use the detour, but I found out it had been paved with tar. (Fortunately I saw black tire marks from the cars that used it several blocks before I turned onto it. I can only imagine how hard that would have been to scrub off of a new scalding hot motorcycle.)

Ironically, the last south-bound road to that area started posting signs of an impending road closure. You could still use the road, but "local traffic only" signs began appearing. Good thing I was a biker and used to ignoring commands. However, by that time Spinner had over 600 miles on her, and I was doing short spurts up on the slab. When she showed 1,200 miles, they closed the entire area down for the summer.

I tell you that story to show how emotions can affect you. When I first took that road, I had to pass a beautiful redwood suburban home. It was quite striking, and still is. My mindset at that time was a tad worried about keeping a new engine cool, worried if I had enough gasoline to bypass the entire area, wondering if the detours would get me lost coupled with the thrill of a new bike.

Now that the construction is done, a winter and six good thunderstorms have cleaned the road, and Spinner and I go looking for trouble, I often pass that same redwood home. And you know, I get that same pang of excitement I first felt when Spinner was new!

And you have to face facts. While I'm in incredibly good health and could easily tour, my taste in "entertainment" ain't what it used to be. Going to Sturgis and having a scantily clad girl the age of my granddaughter serve me a nine-dollar tap beer loses its charm.

I'm looking forward to a little jaunt up by Black Earth to Festge Park and their observation area cut into a rock outcropping. I haven't been there in a decade, and I used to go there midday and have the place to myself. I think Spinner would like that.