Storms and Bikes

My friend Duncan and I have been interested in storms and motorbikes for many years. Back when I was living in the UK we often talked about doing a biking or storm chasing trip to the US.

On a visit to the UK last year, we got together and decided it was time for less talking and more action.

To cut a long story short, we ended up booking a storm chasing trip with Tempest Tours and then hiring bikes from Eagle Rider. Both companies are not cheap, but come highly recommended.

We flew to Denver and met up with the Tempest Tours guy’s the next day. Over the next 6 days we chased storms and travelled through Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota. Most storms tend to get going from late afternoon, so we typically started out mid-morning in order to drive to where the storms were forecast to occur, then spend the rest of the day chasing them. It was often close to midnight before we found a hotel to stay in.

The storm chasing lifestyle is not particularly healthy as one spends a great deal of time on the road with food stops often consisting of grabbing something from the nearest service station. Americans seems to have a particular obsession with cheese and it was surprisingly difficult to avoid the stuff; even the popcorn was cheese flavoured!

We had a safety briefing at the start of the trip. Our guide explained that the most dangerous part of the tour was traffic, followed by lightning and then by a distant margin tornado’s. This proved spot on, as on the first afternoon, while standing by the side of the road looking at a developing storm, we were very nearly hit by a car; there was a sickening screech followed by a loud bang causing me to look around only to be confronted by a rather large SUV rolling towards me, which certainly quickened the pulse somewhat. Fortunately, the driver wasn’t too badly injured, but had to be extracted by the emergency services. We also saw a great many lightning strikes, including a couple which landed within about 20 metres of us.

Safety wise, Tornado's were the least of our worries.

Our fellow storm chasers were a nice bunch, with special mention going to Kathy who was terrific fun to be with.

We witnessed some awe inspiring super-cells, but alas, no tornado. We saw plenty of rotating clouds and got very close to seeing a tornado. At one point we were probably looking directly at one, but it was shrouded in rain (two were reported as touching down within a mile of where we were standing).

Both Duncan and I found the storm chasing incredibly exciting and very addictive, and I can well see another trip being on the cards.

Mammatus cloud

We finished the trip back in Denver and then the next day picked up some bikes and hit the road. Duncan had a Harley Road King, which I thought was a heavy old barge, but which he rather liked. I had an Indian Scout, which I thought was much more fun to ride, but was less comfortable and had a miserable fuel range.

The wheels.

From Denver we rode south over the Rockies and then down to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Parks.

It was even hot up here. This one and the next six where taken going over the Rockies.

This and the next one were taken at a place called Shiprock in New Mexico after we had dropped down from the Rockies.

Painted Desert NP.

Petrified Forest NP.

From here we headed west to Flagstaff, taking in a little bit of Route 66 on the way. After this we visited the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and the Arches NP before eventually heading back to Denver.

In this part of the US there isn't much left of Route 66, which has largely been subsumed by Interstate 40. This was taken in the very pleasant little town of Winslow in Arizona.

You know where.

Ditto.

Near Monument Valley (as are the next two).

Mexican Hat.

Somewhere between Mexican Hat and Moab.

This one and the pictures below were taken in the Arches NP. It was incredibly hot, so all we did is take some pictures and then jump back on the bikes. Walking anywhere was out of the question and it was pure survival by this point.

Below are a couple of video clips taken from the Indian. The image quality isn't the best as I have compressed them down quite a bit in order to fit them onto the blog, but it gives you an idea.

North from Kayenta.

Arches NP.

From a biking point of view, heading over the Rockies on route 550 and route 180 from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon were particular highlights. The former for its spectacular scenery and twists and turns and the later for being such a laid back, cruisy route with an almost complete absence of traffic.

Scenery wise, the Rockies were great but the desert was just awe inspiring with the section between Kayenta (just south of Monument Valley) and Moab being particularly fine.

For me, the major downside was the heat, with a somewhat smaller grumble about the traffic.

At times the heat was well above 40°C, which I found very uncomfortable on the motorbike, as above a certain temperature the wind-blast no longer cools you down. It’s difficult to explain it to non-riders, but riding a bike can be one of the most intense, visceral, life-affirming experiences imaginable and I usually pity poor car drivers in their sanitised cages. But in this instance, how I envied their air-conditioned luxury.

There was a fair bit more traffic than we expected, even out in the desert. This though was mostly down to us as we tended to stick to the bigger roads due to the long distances we had to cover each day.

Overall, the biking was a blast, with the heat, and discomfort and long distances not detracting too much, and if anything, actually adding to the overall experience.

It is highly likely that we will do another biking trip to the States. For anyone else doing something similar I would recommend avoiding the desert areas in the height of summer, and taking your time. With more time you can travel on the smaller roads and avoid the traffic and better appreciate what you get to see.

A quick note on Americans. The US state gets a pretty bad rap these days. From my somewhat left looking world-view, much of this is thoroughly deserved. Individual American’s, aside from an unnatural obsession with cheese, are a different matter. I met a great many people on this trip, the vast majority of whom were super friendly, open and generous and were the true, and somewhat surprising highlight of this trip. And this is coming from a miserable bugger like me.