Zongshen – Page 4 – The ExhaustNotes Blog

Bryce, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Capitol Reef

Utah, hands down, is the most beautiful state in the Union. I’ve been to every state in the US except North Dakota, and unless there’s something hiding up there, Utah gets my vote. There are places in Utah with scenery and riding that are as close as you can get to heaven without a one-way ticket. There’s Zion National Park (to be covered in a future blog), there’s Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and Capitol Reef National Park (which I’ll cover in this blog), there’s Cedar Breaks National Park (a topic for a future blog), there’s Kodachrome Basin State Park (another future blog), there’s Flaming Gorge National Park (that’s coming up in another blog), and there’s Arches National Park (to be yet another blog). And then there’s the Dinosaur Highway. I’ve been to all of them, and I’m telling you, if you like road trips it doesn’t get any better than Utah.

Panguitch on the western end of this trip, and Hanksville on the eastern end. It is a grand ride.

There’s a reason I’m touching on Bryce, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Capitol Reef in one blog. Two reasons, actually: State Routes 12 and 24. These two roads run through all three National Parks, and they are two of the best roads I’ve ever ridden. If you want to plan this grand adventure, start in Panguitch, ride Utah SR 12 and 24, and spend the following night in Hanksville, Utah. I’ve got good places to have dinner in both towns, and I’ll share them with you in this blog. It’s a full day’s ride to get from one to the other (maybe longer if you want to stop and see the sights).

The large featured photo at the top of this blog is in Bryce Canyon National Park. This is another photo in Bryce. Unlike Zion ((where you are in a basin looking up at the rock formations), in Bryce you are up top looking down into the colorful canyon. Bryce has stunning views.

This is the most beautiful stretch of the planet I’ve ever ridden. The colors and the riding are stunning. Think bright blue skies, vibrant and verdant pine trees, and multi-colored pastel rock formations. The formations include stunning pinnacles called hoodoos, plus arches, large rock mounds, exposed vermillion cliffs and monstrous domes and folds in the Earth’s surface. Although the region was once alive with dinosaurs, you most likely won’t see fossils. But you will see an artist’s palette of pleasing pastels: reds, pinks and browns due to iron in the sandstone, yellows and creams created by limonite, and purples presented by pyrolusite. Whatever the chemistry, the display through this stretch is dazzling.

The spot for dinner in Panguitch is the Cowboy’s Smoke House Cafe. You’ll probably have to wait to get in. Trust me: It’s worth it.

You can ride US 89 from Panguitch to pick up SR 12 at its western end. Head east and in just a few miles you’ll be at Bryce Canyon National Park. Bryce is one of America’s jewels, with hoodoos arranged in several natural amphitheaters. An early morning start will help capture dramatic photos; the sun will be low in the eastern sky and the resultant lighting makes the colors pop. Native American Paiutes thought these hoodoos were ancestors turned to stone. Take a long look at some of these formations and you’ll see why.

Stay on SR 12 after Bryce and you’ll skirt Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument on tantalizing twisties. All of SR 12 is breathtaking; it is something out of a dream. It takes you through a series of red rock formations and then winds along a ridge with sheer drops on either side. Forget about guard rails and shoulders; you’ll feel as if you are riding the sky. Cook a corner too fast on this stretch and you’ll wish you were wearing a parachute. This area, more than any other I have ever ridden, is a near-religious experience.

It was tough to keep going on Utah SR 12…I wanted to stop after every corner for photos.

One of many scenes along Utah SR 12. You need to ride this road. It’s one of the best.

State Route 12 tees into SR 24, but you’ll be able to see Capitol Reef National Park long before you get to SR 24. Head east on SR 24 toward Hanksville and you’ll ride through much of the accessible portion of Capitol Reef. It’s perhaps the least known of Utah’s national parks, but its scenery is as stunning as any of the other parks.

Only a portion of Capitol Reef is visible from SR 24, but it is outstanding. Hundreds of miles of unpaved roads into Capitol Reef offer similar scenic views. The park’s unique white sandstone domes (similar to the U.S. Capitol building) were formed by a warp in the Earth’s crust 65 million years ago. “Reef” refers to any barrier to travel, and when you see these formations, you’ll certainly understand the name.

Gabriel, Juan Carlos, and Uncle Joe along SR 24 after rolling through Capitol Reef. We rode 5000 miles through the western United States on brand new 250cc CSC motorcycles. It was a great ride with great guys.

State Route 24 follows the Fremont River through Capitol Reef National Park, and as it twists and turns on its way to Hanksville, you’ll be thanking me for turning you on to these very special roads. The Whispering Sands hotel is a good, clean place to spend the night, and Duke’s Slickrock Grill is a great place for dinner. Try the trout; it’s wonderful. And don’t miss the photo op standing next to Duke.

Want to discover more great moto destinations? We’ve got you covered!

Yellowstone National Park

Man, it was cold. It was the coldest we would be on our 18-day, 5000-mile ride around the western United States. Yellowstone National Park was our destination and we wanted to arrive early. Baja John was doing the navigating and the trip planning, and we were leaving early that morning out of Cody, Wyoming, at 5:00 a.m. to beat the tourist traffic in Yellowstone. I had an electric vest; our Chinese and Colombian guests did not. I knew they had to be hurting. I had my vest dialed all the way up and I was. Did I mention it was cold?

So, about that big photo above: That’s Yellowstone Falls on the Yellowstone River. There are something like 10 waterfalls in Yellowstone National Park. I’ve only seen the one above. That means I have at least nine reasons to return.

Back to the story. I did mention it was cold riding into Yellowstone that morning, didn’t I?

Following Baja John into Yellowstone. That trip was 6 years ago, and I still get cold looking at this photo.

Another shot entering Yellowstone National Park from the east. That’s Baja John in front of me…we were dressed for the cold, but I think our guests found it to be a little colder than the weather they are used to in southern China.

The trip was a wild one…18 days on the road with a dozen guys from China, two from Colombia, and all on free motorcycles provided by Zongshen via CSC Motorcycles. CSC was the importer, I was the go-between spanning the CSC/Zongshen interface (and two continents), and while we were arranging the initial shipment Zongshen asked if I had any ideas to promote the bikes in the US. Wow, did I ever!

In Zongshen’s main offices, with key Zongshen execs viewing photos from my rides in the US and Baja. Sue grabbed this photo and it’s one of my favorites. Without realizing it, I was selling those guys on giving us 15 motorcycles to ride around the US. This looks like a staged photo. It’s not.

That ride became the Western America Adventure Tour, and it was a hoot. I mean, think about: Every angry and ignorant asshole on the Internet was condemning Chinese bikes and here we were, with 15 of the things just arrived in America, setting off on a 5,000 mile ride from So Cal to Sturgis, west across the US to the Pacific Ocean, and then riding the Pacific coast back to So Cal. On that epic ride we didn’t have a single breakdown and that was giving the Internet trolls meltdowns. It was a grand adventure.

But I digress. Back to Yellowstone. On our ride, we hit every National Park along the way, and Yellowstone was one of the best. Prior to that ride, I’d never been to Yellowstone and I had always wanted to see it. And for good reason…it is (in my opinion) the quintessential National Park. Yellowstone is surreal, with sulfur-laden steams and ponds spewing forth, majestic views, waterfalls, bison, bears, deer, elk, wolves, geysers, and more. It was a first for me. I was a Yellowstone green bean.

When we entered Yellowstone, we arrived so early the gates were unmanned and we entered for free. But it had been a long, cold ride in from Cody and we were nearly out of gas. My fuel light was blinking as we entered the park and I didn’t know for sure if there would be gas in Yellowstone. John felt confident there would be, and he was right. I saw the Sinclair sign up ahead, but before we got there, we had a close encounter of the bison kind. We were cruising along at about 30 mph, and all of a sudden I noticed this locomotive next to me. I was too slow to realize what it was until I was alongside, but our chase vehicle driver John (we had two Johns and one Juan on this ride) grabbed this photo…I had passed within 10 feet of this monster!

Just as I went past my big buff buddy above, he exhaled. In the frigid Yellowstone air, fog came out of his nostrils. It was like riding alongside a steam locomotive.

Here’s another cool shot in Yellowstone: The Continental Divide. We had crossed it several times on the ride to Yellowstone already, but I think this is the first time I stopped for a photo.

Sometimes the photos almost take themselves.

One of the many attractions in Yellowstone is Old Faithful. Here’s a shot of the geyser in its full glory.

It was one of those motorcycle rides that was so much fun it made me feel a little guilty. (That’s a Jewish thing; maybe some of our Catholic readers will understand it, too.) I felt bad because Sue wasn’t enjoying the trip with me. So I fixed that. A few years later Sue and I hopped in the Subie, pointed the car north, and a few days later I rolled into Yellowstone National Park again (this time with my wife). Naturally, I grabbed a few more photos.

Peering into the valley carved by the Yellowstone River.

Ah, the bison. This was really cool stuff.

A photo of Sue in the Subie photographing a bison.

I’m not a geologist, but geology seems to me to be a pretty interesting subject and there sure are a bunch of geological things in Yellowstone. Like the bubbling and burbling pits and pools you most definitely do not want to fall into.

You get the idea. In doing a bit of Internet research on Yellowstone, I came across this Yellowstone map. It is a good way to get the lay of the land up there in Wyoming, but visiting Yellowstone National Park would be even better.

You can learn a little bit more about Yellowstone as a destination (and how to get there) by reading an article I wrote for Motorcycle Classics magazine. It’s a cool place and I’ve never met anyone who felt like visiting Yellowstone was anything other than a marvelous experience. Trust me on this: Yellowstone National Park belongs on your bucket list.

Never miss an ExhaustNotes blog:

Would you like to read more Motorcycle Classics Destinations articles? Hey, just click here or better yet, buy your own copy of Destinations.

One more thing…if you’d like to learn more about the RX3 motorcycle and our 5,000-mile Western America Adventure Ride, you should do two things: Buy yourself a copy of 5000 Miles at 8000 RPM, and watch Joe Gresh’s video:

Baja’s Sierra de San Francisco Cave Paintings

Real Indiana Jones stuff, this is: Baja’s prehistoric cave paintings, or as they are known in BCS, Pinturas Rupestres en Baja California Sur. They are in the Sierra de San Francisco mountains in an area north of San Ignacio on the eastern side of the peninsula.

No one knows for certain how old these paintings are or who created them. Conventional wisdom holds that the prehistoric Comondú people (ancestors of the Cochimí natives first encountered by Spanish explorers in the 1600s) created the paintings perhaps 7500 years ago, but like I said, no one knows for sure. One of the very few relatively accessible sites is about 520 miles south of Tijuana, but don’t let the miles fool you. You’ll need a very full day of hard traveling once you’ve crossed the border to reach Guerrero Negro, and it will be a full day from there to get to the cave paintings and return.

The red arrow on the left points to Guererro Negro; the red arrow on the right points to the cave paintings at Cueva del Raton.

There are well over a hundred known prehistoric Baja cave painting sites throughout the peninsula (there may be others yet to be discovered) and with very few exceptions, most involve traveling by mule for a day or two through difficult terrain. One of those exceptions, though, is the Cueva del Raton site (the subject of this blog). Getting there makes for a grand adventure, and you can do it in a day if you’re already in San Ignacio to the south or Guerrero Negro to the north. Our advice is to visit Guerrero Negro and take in the whale watching, have a grand breakfast at Malarrimo’s the next morning, and then head southeast on Mexico Highway 1. Guerrero Negro is where Mexico Highway 1 turns to cut across the peninsula to the Sea of Cortez. You’ll head southeast for about an hour. Keep your eyes open and watch for the Pinturas Rupestres sign pointing to the left. Trust me on this: The ride into the mountains is grand. The road runs straight as an arrow for maybe 15 miles, with the at first distant and magnificent Sierra de San Francisco mountains straight ahead.

The path into the Sierra de Francisco Mountains. Mexico Highway 1 bends southeast to go across the peninsula at Guerrero Negro on Baja’s Pacific Coast. The big lagoon is Scammon’s Lagoon, one of two choice whale watching locations in Baja.

Then the road climbs through a series of desolate, precipitous, and tight switchbacks with stunning views in literally every direction. I don’t use the word stunning lightly: The ride into the Sierra de San Francisco Mountains is, all by itself, worth a Baja trip. I’ve never seen other vehicles out there, unless they were fellow riders in the groups I’ve led to the cave paintings. I’ve seen goat herds tended by shepherds and sheep dogs (don’t tempt those dogs; sheep dogs in general are fiercely protective of their flock and the ones in this region seem particularly aggressive). You may see other things out there as well. On one trip, I had a close encounter with a very docile Mexican Red rattlesnake.

This guy (or gal; I wasn’t going to turn it over to check) was very polite. He (or she) was just outside my car door in the early morning hours. He (or she) didn’t rattle, although with those nine buttons I imagine its rattle would have been impressive.

They say few people (or even horses) survive a bite from one of these Mexican Red rattlers. This one’s previous meal might have been a rabbit; you can still see a hair on the right side of its mouth. I shot this photo with a 70×300 Nikkor lens (on a Nikon D810 camera) at 70mm. I was maybe 6 feet away in my Subaru with the window down, and the snake was just outside my door.

The road to the Cueva del Raton site (after you leave Mexico Highway 1) is paved for maybe 15 miles, and then the pavement ends for the next maybe 10 miles. I would call it a fairly gnarly dirt road, but I’m an old guy and what’s gnarly to me may not be to you. I wouldn’t attempt to ride it two up on a motorcycle. I’ve done it in my Subaru with no problem and I’ve done it several times on my 250cc CSC RX3 motorcycle. Depending on your skill level, you might be able to do it on a street bike. Common sense is the order of the day: If you’re on a Gold Wing or an FLH-anything, I would not think any less of you if you took a pass. I think towing a trailer or driving a large recreational vehicle on this road would be a very bad move.

Twists and turns through the Sierra San Francisco Mountains.

When the pavement ends, this is what is ahead. It gets way rougher as you get into the mountains.

Traveling in style: My Subaru CrossTrek. It was a grand automobile for Baja exploration.

Don’t let this photo phool you. This was the only smooth stretch on the dirt road to the Cueva del Raton site.

You’ll see the sign for the Cueva Del Raton cave paintings on your right, but you can’t just go in. There’s a locked gate and a set of stairs to get to the cave paintings, and to get in, you’ll need to buy a ticket. There are two little villages in this area. One is almost directly opposite the Cueva Del Raton site; the other is another two or three miles along the same dirt road (which dead ends in the little village of San Francisco de la Sierra). At times I’ve tried to buy tickets in the little village directly across from the cave painting site and they sent me on to San Francisco de la Sierra, and at other times I’ve gone up to San Francisco de la Sierra and they’ve sent me back to the little village near the cave paintings. The fees are modest and I always use larger Mexican bills and tell the people there to keep the change. You’ll have to sign in when you purchase your ticket. The cave paintings are a UNESCO World Heritage site. Seeing them is a big deal.

If you ride to the end of the road to the little village of San Francisco de la Sierra, there’s a cool little church that is normally left unlocked. It’s a good spot for grabbing photos.

After you have purchased your tickets, one of the guides will meet you at the locked entrance to the Cueva del Raton site. He will walk down from the village, so you may have to wait a couple of minutes. Sometimes two guides come along. They don’t speak English, so they don’t provide much explanation. But you don’t really need much narration. The paintings speak for themselves, which is no doubt what the artists who created them thousands of years ago intended.

The Cueva del Raton entrance. I led groups of CSC RX3 riders to this site several times. CSC offered no-charge Baja trips to its riders as part of its marketing approach and it worked. I don’t know why other motorcycle manufacturers don’t do the same.

Our local guides. These fellows didn’t speak English, but they didn’t need to. The paintings spoke to me.

Once the guide unlocks the gate, it’s a modest climb up about three flights of steps, and there you’ll see the cave paintings (the cave is actually more of an overhang). The paintings are protected from the rain and the region’s arid climate have protected them well.

Deer, a puma, and a human with a black face. In the more than one hundred known Baja cave painting sites, only four instances of humans with a black face have been found.

Another painting of a puma and a deer. In some cases, the paintings are done over other paintings. The black puma makes me wonder…was it really a cougar, or was it a jaguar? Jaguars have been found as far north as Arizona, even in modern times.

A better photo of the figures to the left of the humans.

And another. It was an eerie feeling, seeing these paintings and knowing they were done by a civilization that vanished thousands of years ago.

As I mentioned at the start of this blog, there are more than a hundred known cave painting sites throughout Baja and most are relatively inaccessible. I’ve been a Baja traveler for more than 30 years, and many of my trips have been on Mexico Highway 1 down through the Cataviña boulder fields. Several years ago I noticed a new sign for cave paintings just north of Cataviña on a trip with my daughter and three of her college friends. We had to stop. These paintings were just off the main road and I’m pretty sure they were done by the famous Cochimí artist Sherwin Williams and his sidekick, Dutch Boy. Don’t be taken in; you want the real deal and that’s the much further south Cueva del Raton.

A Spring Break trip through Baja with my daughter and three of her friends. All of these young ladies have gone on to very successful careers.

Our preference when traveling by car or motorcycle is BajaBound Insurance. I’ve been using them for years and they are the best.

If you would like to learn more about Baja’s cave paintings, Harry Crosby’s The Cave Paintings of Baja California is a stellar reference with outstanding photos. It’s the best work of its kind on this fascinating topic.

Want more Baja moto adventure? Check out our collection of stories on several trips in the full color Moto Baja book!

The six best bikes for Baja? This one always gets the keyboard commandos wound up!

More on Baja, including favored restaurants, hotels, and destinations? It’s all right here!

Zuo!

You guys remember good buddy Sergeant Zuo from the Dajiu and Arjiu ride across China (Dajiu and Arjiu are me and Joe Gresh, as christened by our Chinese riding buddies).

Zuo hiking the Ma Ya Snow Mountain in China at an altitude of 4,500 meters.

Zuo is a great guy and he and I correspond regularly. He wrote a guest blog, and here it is (first in Chinese, and then followed by an English translation).

夜雨秋 2021
残荷飞雪雷音寺荻花瑟瑟恐龙湾

我想该去转转吧，牵马出槽，天气很阴，气温很低。很多时候，连一个说话的人都没有，孤独就成了很好的朋友，不是有人说“孤独，只有天才和疯子才配有，你充其量是寂寞罢了。”我不知道自己是寂寞还是孤独，总之，为了一个梦境我想该去趟恐龙湾地质公园，为了远方的牵念该去趟雷音寺。

好像，自从新小三（赛科龙RX3s）仰或说是大黑吧入手到现在1000多公里这是第一次跑这么远。离开市区天空好像在零零星星的飘雪，毕竟今天是大雪节气，哦，天慢慢的冷了，一个拐弯处，隔着头盔都感觉到了凛冽，最冷的时间到了，我真的很怕，今年好像格外的冷，降温了，马路上没有几辆车。

新小三良好的动力储备，游刃有余的操控性能感觉真好，感觉滕森轮胎的低温抓地性能比起正新轮胎好点，自动感应大灯在进入隧道的时候很是给力。磨合到了1000公里，是该跑跑高速了，时速到了120km/h还是没有再拉起来，毕竟才1000公里的里程，极速还是再忍忍吧，人就是这么的自私，自己的车总是谨小慎微，给厂家试骑的时候却是档档见红。

寒冷的天气，大雄宝殿也挂上了厚厚的门帘，是不是菩萨也怕冷，干净的雷音寺没有一个人，香火依然，庄严依然，再次叩头的时候前额还是有些隐隐作痛，实际上，菩萨也罢，神灵也罢，谁也救不了谁，磕个头、念声佛号也就是消除自己的贪心、嗔心、痴心、嫉妒、慢心。明明知道，哪有什么菩萨，要有菩萨也是在老家炕上躺着的那尊佛，为了那尊佛的康健，还是去了寺庙，如果非要给皈依一个合理的解释，那就是给自己灵魂找个家，让孤独不再孤独，让流浪不再流浪，让牵念可以穿越时空，也许这就是菩萨吧，也许这就是佛吧，但是，我真的很喜欢寺庙的幽静，喜欢和那尊泥菩萨的对视，喜欢听那念佛声声。

恐龙湾池塘的残荷一如既往的展现着它的忧伤，恰有几片雪花的飘落，还有那瑟瑟的荻花，那随风摇曳的更多的是一种无法言表的曾经，朋友说过他喜欢瑟瑟的荻花，那是生命的底色，一如广袤荒凉的西部环境。

站立慢速骑行在小径，身边池塘、残荷、荻花……环境，静的可以听到自己的心跳，柔和的发动机声音还是惊起了不知名的大鸟，把新小三停在铁道旁，远远的看着那个隧道，多少年了，还是为曾经的年轻，曾经的莽撞心有余悸。
—— 2021.12.07 兰州大雪节气

What, hey…you don’t speak Mandarin? Well okay, then…here you go!

Night Rain and Autumn Breeze 2021
Remnant Lotus Feixue Leiyin Temple Dihua Sese Dinosaur Bay

I think I should go around, lead the horse out of the trough, the weather is very cloudy and the temperature is very low. Very often, loneliness becomes a good friend without even a single speaker. It’s not like someone said, “Lonely, only geniuses and lunatics have it. You are lonely at best.” I don’t know if I am lonely or alone. In short, I think I should go to Hanauma Bay Geopark for a dream, and Leiyin Temple for the memory of distant places.
It seems that this is the first time since the new junior three (Seccoron RX3s) started to run this far, more than 1,000 kilometers. Leaving the city, the sky seems to be fluttering. After all, it’s a heavy snow festival today. Oh, the sky is slowly getting cold. I can feel the coldness through the helmet at a corner. The coldest time is here, I’m really I’m afraid, it seems to be extremely cold this year. The temperature has dropped. There are not many cars on the road.

The new small three has a good power reserve and easy handling performance. It feels that the low temperature grip performance of Tenson tires is better than that of Zhengxin tires. The auto-sensing headlights are very powerful when entering the tunnel. After running-in to 1000 kilometers, it is time to run at high speed. After the speed reaches 120km/h, it is still not pulled up. After all, the mileage is only 1000 kilometers. It is better to bear with the top speed. People are so selfish, and their cars are always cautious. When I gave the manufacturer a test ride, the stalls turned red.

In the cold weather, the Daxiong Hall also hung a thick curtain, whether the Bodhisattva is afraid of the cold, there is no one in the clean Leiyin Temple, the incense is still, the solemnity is still, there is still a slight pain in the forehead when I kowtow again, in fact, the Bodhisattva Forget it, gods, no one can save anyone, knocking one’s head and chanting Buddha’s name is to eliminate one’s greed, hatred, infatuation, jealousy, and slowness. Obviously knowing that there is no bodhisattva. If you want to have a bodhisattva, you will also go to the temple for the sake of the health of the Buddha. If you have to give a reasonable explanation for refuge, it is to give your own soul. Find a home, let loneliness no longer be lonely, let wandering no longer wander, let Qiannian can travel through time and space, maybe this is the Bodhisattva, maybe this is the Buddha, but I really like the quietness of the temple, and I like to be with that statue. The Bodhisattva looks at each other and likes to hear the sound of chanting Buddha.

The remnant lotus in the pond of Hanauma Bay shows its sadness as always. There are just a few snowflakes falling, and the rustling flowers. The swaying wind is more of an unspeakable past. My friend said He likes the rustling Dihua, which is the background of life, just like the vast and desolate western environment.

Standing and riding slowly on the trail, surrounded by ponds, remnants of lotus, Dihua… the environment, you can quietly hear your heartbeat, the soft engine sound still startled the unknown big bird, and stopped Xin Xiaosan by the railroad. Looking at the tunnel from a distance, for so many years, still for the youth and recklessness of the past.
—- 2021.12.07 Lanzhou Snow Festival

If you’d like to know more about our ride across China (and it was a great one) you can read the story in Riding China: Running with the Cult of the Zong. Don’t wait for the movie (although there have been a couple of YouTubes on our grand adventure riding through the Ancient Kingdom, which you can view below).

Ankara!

Sleepless in Seattle? Nah. How about awake in Ankara?

I’ve had a few secret missions to Turkey and I love the place. When I fly in to Ankara, I usually arrive at 2:30 a.m. over there. That would be 4:30 p.m. back in So Cal, so I’m still usually wide awake after flying through the night (it’s 12 hours to Istanbul, and another hour to the capital). Hence the title of this blog.

Maybe I was a Turk in a prior life. But then I’ve sort of always felt I was Mexican in a prior life, too. I love Mexico (especially Baja), but here’s something you probably didn’t know: I love Turkey, too. And it’s weird…as far as I know, there’s nobody in the Berk family tree from Turkey. But my last name, with it’s unusual spelling (B-E-R-K) is a common last name in Turkey. When I’m over there and I pay with a credit card, folks frequently ask if I’m a Turk. Berk the Turk. Go figure.

Ankara is one of my favorite cities in Turkey, and like the rest of the country, it’s a photography Nirvana. I’ll share a few of my favorite Ankara spots in upcoming blogs, and I thought to get the ball rolling I’d share a few from the airport ride into downtown.

I’ll have a few more in future blogs…the Ataturk Museum, Old Ankara, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, and more.

Turkey would be my dream ride. They sell Zongshens over there, and the 250cc RX3 would be perfect for a ride across Turkey, I think. Someday.

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Geezer on a Beezer

The latest news to sweep across the ether is that BSA is being revived in India. Eh, we’ll see.

I’m naturally skeptical about revivals. Lord knows Norton has been through a few, and last I checked, like Julius Caesar they’re still dead. Indian (not bikes from India, but the American Indian brand) should maybe be called the Easter bike based on how many times they’ve been resurrected. And there was Henderson for a while maybe 20 years ago (remember that flash in the pan?). Triumph…well you know that story. They rose again, but it wasn’t really the original Triumph…it was just the name, but then they reintroduced the vertical twin Bonneville, except the displacement increased until the marvelous 650cc we used to know grew to 1200cc and the bike gained a couple of hundred pounds, give or take. I’d like to see Bud Ekins jump one of the new Bonnevilles escaping from a German POW camp. He might have better luck getting airborne with a Panzer.

And then of course there’s Royal Enfield, but they’re technically not a resurrection. They never went out of business. Well, maybe they sort of did, but before the Japanese bikes drove the final nail in the British motorcycle industry coffin (with a lot of help from the British motorcycle industry, who’s official motto seemed to be “too little, too late”), the original Royal Enfield (the folks in England) starting building bikes in India, and when the Brits went belly up, the folks running the Indian plant watched, shrugged, and kept on building. I ride an Indian Royal Enfield, but it’s not an Indian like most folks in the US motorcycling community use the word. Well, okay, it is, but it’s from India. It’s not a Polaris Indian from America.

Confused yet?

This BSA thing might be cool, though. I’d like to see it work, and if it works as well as my Royal Enfield (which is as fine as any motorcycle made anywhere), it would be a good thing. I always wanted a Beezer when I was a kid, and I suppose owning one now would make me a geezer with a Beezer (like the kid’s book, Sheep in a Jeep).

In the meantime, here are a few more photos I’ve shot of BSAs at the Hansen Dam Britbike meet in California, in Australia, and elsewhere over the years. We can only hope the resurrected bikes look as good.

You know what I’d like to see? I’d like to see two bikes from the 1960s resurrected…a 1966 Triumph T120R and a 1965 Electra Glide (the last year of the Panhead, and the first year of the electric start). Those are two of the most beautiful motorcycles ever made. The HD photo below is an earlier Duo Glide, but you get the idea. Make them reliable, substitute enough aluminum for steel so that when you add all the smog and other regulatoria the bikes weigh in at their mid-’60s weights, and make them reliable. Zongshen, you guys listening?

If they did either of those two resurrections, I’d be in. In a heartbeat. I’d be Charley on a Harley. Johnnie on a Bonny. Whatever.

Hey, if resurrections are what you want, check this out!

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Phavorite Photos: Wenchuan Woman

There are photogenic people in Wenchuan. One is the Wenchuan man I described in a previous Phavorite Photos blog, and another is the young lady shown in the large photo above. For lack of a better name, I’ll call her Apple Annie. Some of you folks my age or older might remember the 1961 feel-good film A Pocketful of Miracles, in which Bette Davis played a character named Apple Annie.

Bette Davis has nothing on our Wenchuan Apple Annie. After Gresh and I got out of the Wenchuan police station (we had to register as foreigners), we were walking along a main street through Wenchuan. Apple Annie was selling fruits and vegetables on the sidewalk, and somehow her bushel full of apples tipped over. Before you could say “Oh, no!” in Mandarin, apples literally rolled into four lanes of busy Wenchuan traffic. That’s when our pocketful of miracles occurred: Traffic absolutely stopped, Gresh hopped into the street before Annie or I realized what had happened, and then we jumped in, too, along with a bunch of other Chinese good Samaritans. As traffic patiently waited (not one horn honked), we recovered every one of Annie’s apples. She gave Gresh and I one as a small thank you, along with the beautiful smile you see above.

In 2008, Wenchuan had one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history (a magnitude 8.0 quake), and between 65,000 to 80,000 people died. Something like 80% of the buildings in Wenchuan collapsed.

Some of the damaged buildings were left standing as a tribute to Wenchuan’s victims. We saw those. People are resilient, perhaps even more so in Wenchuan. You can read more about what we saw in Wenchuan and elsewhere in China in Riding China.

Earlier Phavorite Photos? You bet! Click on each to get their story.

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Grand Canyon National Park

Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park is another bucket list destination. As As was the case described in our recent blog on Devils Tower, a movie inspired my first visit. A contemporay review of the 1991 Grand Canyon movie said it was about “random events affecting a diverse group of people exploring the race- and class-imposed chasms which separate members of the same community.” That’s an artsy-fartsy tinsel-town mouthful. Grand Canyon was pretty good and it had some big name actors in it. But we’re not here to talk about the movie.

On to Grand Canyon National Park. The name sounds majestic, and the Grand Canyon surely is. I’ve been to the Grand Canyon many times (it’s only a day’s ride from home) and I would not pass on an opportunity to see it again. It’s a great ride in a car or on a motorcycle. I’ve done full-family car trips and I’ve done a number of motorcycle trips. Interestingly, some of the best rides were on the 250cc CSC RX3 motorcycles with guys from China, Colombia, and the US (you can read more about the RX3 trip in 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM).

A Grand Canyon photo from the 5000-mile Western America Adventure Ride.

There are two places to see the Grand Canyon National Park, the North Rim and the South Rim. The South Rim is by far the most heavily visited area and offers the best views, but the North Rim is a better ride, especially the last 50 miles or so along Arizona Route 67 (also known as the North Rim Parkway). Getting to the South Rim involves riding through a spectacular desert to get to Grand Canyon National Park, at which point you enter a beautiful pine forest. And when you visit the South Rim, you can continue on in the direction you were traveling when you leave — you don’t have to backtrack. The North Rim is different: There’s one way in, and one way out. It takes longer to get to the North Rim along heavily-forested Route 67 (and that road shuts down when it snows), but wow, what a ride!

My first Grand Canyon visit brought me and a riding buddy to the North Rim on a couple of Harleys nearly 30 years ago. It rained all the way in, we were thoroughly soaked and chilled, and I still remember how much fun I had. The Grand Canyon Lodge is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It’s a magnificent place to stay or you can just have lunch there. The view is awesome, but I think the views from the South Rim are even better (and there are more vantage points).

Ah, the South Rim. That’s where I took the big photo at the top of this blog and it shows none other than world-famous concrete consultant and moto-journalist Joe Gresh. It almost looks fake, like I had a cutout of Gresh and pasted it into the photo, but it’s not. He’s just a very photogenic guy.

You can approach the South Rim from either the east or the west via state Route 64 running along the canyon’s southern edge. On my last trip, we came in from the eastern end, paid our fees to enter the park, and a helpful Ranger explained that there were a series of viewpoints along the way. We hit every one and each was beyond stunning. It’s hard to believe what you see when viewing this magnificent region, and it’s easy to understand why the early Spanish explorers concluded it was impossible to reach the Colorado River a mile below. You can see all the way to the North Rim (10 miles away as the hawk flies, but a full day on a motorcycle). On a clear day you can see 100 miles.

The Tower at the eastern edge of the South Rim.

There’s an ancient tower of sorts on the easternmost viewing spot along the South Rim and we had an interesting experience there on the CSC Destinations Deal tour. Our good buddy Orlando left his gloves on this new RX3 while we were taking in the view, and when we returned, we caught a thief red-handed trying to steal them. Or rather, I should say red-beaked. It was a big old crow (a bird, not the whiskey) and he was trying to make off with one of Orlando’s gloves. We all started screaming at that big old blackbird, and it dropped the glove and flew away. That was a good thing. It was super cold that morning and Orlando would have had a tough time continuing the ride without both gloves.

Good buddy Rob giving a Grand Canyon elk a drink on the CSC Destinations Deal ride. Don’t try this at home, kids.

The earliest known Grand Canyon habitation occurred during the Paleo-Indian period nearly 12,000 years ago, but the emphasis here is on “known.” Archeologists are still discovering ancient stuff down there. Geologically, the Grand Canyon started about 20 million years ago. The Colorado River, flooding, ice, wind and seismic shifts worked their magic to create the 277-mile-long, 15-mile-wide, and mile-deep Grand Canyon.

Fine dining in Williams’ Red Raven restaurant, right on Old Route 66. That’s me and good buddy Paul after a wild boar hunt.

Hey, here’s one more thought: If you’re doing the South Rim, it’s something that you can take in in a day. Most folks stay in Grand Canyon Junction just outside the entrance to the South Rim, but that’s a real touristy area and if you don’t like McDonald’s or pizza, your dining choices are limited. My advice is to stay in Williams, about one hour south. It’s just off I-40. Williams is a bit touristy, too, but the hotels and restaurants are a cut above what’s in Grand Canyon Junction. It’s a nice ride north to the South Rim early the next morning. Trust me on this; you can thank me later.

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A Note From Zuo

Timely, perhaps…with the reactions we received on our recent Nine Reasons You Should Ride A Chinese Motorcycle blog, I received a nice email from Sergeant Zuo, the man who led our ride across China a few short years ago.

大舅：

最近可好？我买了宗申RX3S，是老版的，排气量380cc，RX3已经8年9.6万公里了。我们国家的机动车有强制报废的规定，所以我还是再换一台摩托车吧，谁让我喜欢呢。RX3我就再怎么喜欢还得卖掉，因为我们小区车棚里我只能申请一个车位，所以还是给RX3找个喜欢她的人吧。

我们这里的疫情是好是坏，你们那里的疫情好点了吗？一定保护好自己。

有一个知道我和你是好朋友的朋友说过：“真正的中美友谊在民间。”我非常喜欢这句话，送给你。

随信寄去几张我的RX3S的照片。（我发给你的信和照片你怎么使用都行）。非常想念你，我的朋友！代我向你的爱人，家人问好，特别是你的几个孙子。

——— 左振义 2021.10.16 中国•兰州

What, you don’t read Chinese? Okay, here you go:

Uncle:

How are you doing recently? I bought the Zongshen RX3S, which is an old version with a displacement of 380cc. The RX3 has been 96,000 kilometers in 8 years. Our country’s motor vehicles have mandatory scrapping regulations, so I’d better replace them with a motorcycle. Who makes me like it. No matter how much I like RX3, I have to sell it, because I can only apply for one parking space in our carport, so let’s find someone who likes RX3.

Is the epidemic situation here for good or bad? Is the epidemic situation there any better? Be sure to protect yourself.

A friend who knows that you and I are good friends once said: “The real Sino-US friendship is among the people.” I like this sentence very much and I give it to you.

Enclosed are some photos of my RX3S. (You can use the letter and photos I sent you anyway). Miss you very much, my friend! Say hello to your wife and family, especially your grandchildren.

——— Zuo Zhenyi 2021.10.16 China•Lanzhou

Here are a couple of additional photos that Zuo sent to us:

So there you have it. That “uncle” business…I used to be a secret agent, you know, the Man from U.N.C.L.E., and…nah, just kidding. The Chinese named me Big Uncle and they called Gresh Little Uncle when we rode across China with them. The Chinese words are Da Jiu and Ar Jiu (Big Uncle and Little Uncle) and the “jiu” parts sounds a lot like Joe, so it was kind of a natural fit.

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Want to ride with us as we crossed China? Hey, it’s all right here!

Cannibalize, mayhem, and other mototerms

Gee, I was gonna buy the RX3 and then I heard they were coming out with the RX4. Then I was gonna buy the RX4 and I heard they were coming out with a 400cc twin. Then I was gonna buy the 400cc twin and I heard they were coming out with a 650cc twin. Then I was gonna buy the 650 and I heard about this new 850cc Zongshen adventure bike.

I’m going to guess the above is a thought that has trickled through more than a few minds. It’s what I’m guessing occurs everytime Zongshen announces or leaks (I’m not sure what the appropriate word should be) that they have something newer, bigger, and better coming down the pike (like the RX850 you see above). Webster defines mayhem as “needless or willful damage or violence” (in a criminal context it’s the intentional mutilation or disfigurement of another human being) and Dictionary.com defines cannibalize as “to cut into; cause to become reduced; diminish.” Both words (i.e., cannibalize and mayhem) somehow seem relevant to Zongshen’s marketing practice of announcing new models just as (and sometimes even before) the preceding displacement model enters the marketplace. You’d think it would cannibalize sales of the models currently in showrooms, especially given our brainwashed belief that more displacement is always a good thing.

But what do I know? I sell one or two used motorcycles every decade or so, while Zongshen sells something like a million new motorcycles every year. I suspect companies selling Zongs both here and in other countries sell every bike they get (I know that’s the case with CSC, and I’ve seen it to be the case in Colombia). I once had a guy write to me who wanted to buy two RX3s so he and his wife could tour Colombia, but he couldn’t find a dealer in Colombia who wasn’t sold out. He wrote to me after reading Moto Colombia to ask if I could intervene with the AKT Motos general manager (I did, good buddy Enrique obliged, and that couple’s ride through magical Colombia went well).

My advice? Buy what you can get now. The 650 Zongshen hasn’t even hit the streets yet, so don’t wait for it or the RX850 you see above. If you want to have a lot of fun for a little money, any of the available Zongs will serve you well. I put a lot of miles on my RX3 and I got good money when I sold it 5 years later.

Oh, one more word I wanted to address, and it’s an adjective: Dormant. Webster defines it as being asleep or inactive. It is a word that is not in Zongshen’s dictionary.

Epic motorcycle rides on Zongshens, Harleys, KLRs, Enfields, and more? It’s all right here!