People ride for all sorts of reasons – transportation, relaxation, just pure fun. It’s probably been true to some extent from the advent of motorcycling. But you have to imagine that in 1914 and 1915, it must have been more about transportation and maybe about fun than it was about relaxation. Ah, but there was the rush of excitement.
Imagine having to pedal your motorcycle to get it started, and manipulate a half-dozen levers.
Imagine having to pump oil in and let it work its way through the motor just about every time you stopped. Imagine riding across country at top speeds of maybe 45 miles per hour on roads that were probably at best rutted and at worst non-existent. Imagine riding a rigid frame just one notch above being a bicycle, adjusting your chains, brakes, clutch, valves, points, you name it after riding for just a few days.
Doesn’t sound too relaxing when compared to the way most of us ride today, but it was always a mechanical adventure wrapped around the rush of the open road.
Still, at least one couple decided that reliving some of that history now would be fun. Sturgis Motorcycle Museum Hall of Famer Cris Sommer/Simmons and her husband, Doobie Brother Pat Simmons left the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame on August 20th heading for the 110th Anniversary Celebration of the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company. The pair finished their ride at the Harley-Davidson museum in Milwaukee. Accompanied by Cris’ brother Mark in a chase van, the two mapped out a route that avoided busy highways as their bikes have a top speed of only about 50 miles per hour.
The evening before Cris and Pat took off, the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum held a send-off reception for them and their bikes. Effie is Cris’ 1915 Harley named after pioneering motorcyclist Effie Hotchkiss. Effie has a history of long-distance riding as she was the bike Cris rode in 2010 in the first Motorcycle Cannonball. Vinnie is Pat’s 1914 Harley named after the man who sold the bike to Pat. Vinnie is new to long-distance riding as is Pat. Both bikes got to spend the night inside the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum before the couple – accompanied by a few friends – left on the first leg of the journey.
Throughout the run home, the two rode at a fairly leisurely pace. The first day from Sturgis to Pierre was actually one of the longest days at about 175 miles.
“Watching the couple make their way across the center of the country has been a delight, said Christine Paige Diers, Executive Director of the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum. “Cris has posted frequent updates on facebook, and we at the Sturgis Museum feel blessed to have been chosen by this amazing couple as the place to start this historic ride.”
