Longhaulpaul's Chasing the Cure

15,000 Miles of Smiles

My June road trip began with unexpected coronary surgery and a two-wheeled dash from New Hampshire to the Arctic Circle in Alaska. The second part of this trip of a lifetime was heading south through hellish heat in Vegas and Los Angeles. After 10,000 miles in less than two weeks, I would finally get to rest a few days in sunny California. Relax, wash my clothes and do some much neglected maintenance on my motorcycle. Part three, and the final leg of my June journey to raise awareness for Multiple Sclerosis included stops along the California coast and Oregon before boomeranging back across the country to New Hampshire where I had a life and a wife anxiously waiting my return.

A friend who had just relocated from Rhode Island to Huntington Beach offered up his home and garage space for the weekend. Kevin Nixon, who was the marketing manager at Twisted Throttle; one of my very first sponsors, was now the marketing manager for AIMExpo, one of the largest international motorcycle shows in the world.

 

 

I had picked up some spark plugs, oil and a filter at a Yamaha dealer earlier in the day and was anxious to get to work, finding out why my bike was barely running, burping and sputtering, unable to idle. I do have to admit I beat the crap out of my motorcycles and gear, after all, I ride more miles in a month than the average rider puts on in years. I don’t pay attention to regular maintenance schedules and wait for stuff to break or fall off before attending to it. My bike had been having rough running issues for about 20,000 miles and I just kept applying band-aids. Sometimes a back flush of the fuel pump helped and sometimes fresh spark plugs would get me a few more thousand miles down the road. This time it was pretty serious, it was barely running and when I reached Kevin’s driveway, it conked out all by itself. “Done”, it gasped out loud. I could not fault the machine, I had truly beaten it to death and yet it still managed to get me to my destination. Kevin was still at work, but had left me a key.

I pushed the tired bike into the garage without much worry. I decided to let it cool off a bit and retrieved a cold adult beverage from the house. I searched boxes marked kitchen stuff I saw in the corner of the garage for a bottle opener. It was pretty obvious a single guy had recently moved in because the boxes were still sealed with packing tape. I ended up peeling off the bottle’s cap with a screwdriver and took a long swig. The two weeks of hard pavement pounding miles were over, I had made it all the way to the west coast and I finally had a moment to relax, reflect and regroup.

I eventually got back to the task at hand, removed the fuel tank accessing the heart and lungs of my 1200cc riding companion. I extracted the fuel pump from the inside of the fuel tank and flushed out the dirt and gunk from the little fuel filter sock inside. After reassembling it, I set about removing the ignition coils and spark plugs. 10,000 miles of high speeds and nasty roads clearly had an effect on the motor’s state of tune. I replaced the oil filter and drained the thick, black oil that stunk of adventure into a container I found in the garage, hoping it was not my host’s favorite salad bowl. The four spark plugs looked a little rough, so I replaced them all as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the time my friend arrived home, I had the bike back together and running like new again. I never had any doubt, I picked this Yamaha bike for a reason. Even with 88,000 strenuous miles on the clock, it was a faithful companion.

 

We rode a few blocks to the Pacific Ocean for dinner, enjoying the sights and sounds of the famous Surf City beach, a beer and a bunch of fish tacos. On Saturday I slept late, did laundry, worked on updating my social media sites, talked about motorcycles, my journey and headed off to a local dirt track to watch some exciting motorcycle racing. Sunday we met up with a few of Kevin’s friends and took a casual ride up the coast to check out a few motorcycle hang outs. We don’t have many motorcycle cafés on the east coast, so it was a real pleasure!

 

 

 

 

Monday came quick and I had two important meetings on my agenda. Networking had finally paid off and some of the movers and shakers at Yamaha Motors had heard about my quest and expressed interest in meeting me. Yamaha headquarters was only a few miles away and I had left a message on Friday afternoon that I was only in town until Monday morning and if it were possible I would like to get a few minutes of their time. This was not an opportunity that I wanted to miss or mess up. I had been trying to get noticed by Yamaha for two years and this would be the first real connection that could lead to a manufacturer supporting me.

The other connection I wanted to make while in Southern California was to finally meet the man who gave me my first national voice, ABILITY’s Chet Cooper. We had communicated back and forth for years, but I always said when I get to California, we would have to meet up. When I did not hear back from Yamaha, I called Chet to see if he had any time available on such a short notice to meet up that morning.

I was giving Chet directions to my friend’s place when  the GM of Yamaha Communications called on my other line, and I toggled between them. Chet was already heading over to where I was, and Yamaha said they could meet with me in about an hour!

 

 

 

Of course, Chet wanted to ride his prized chopper with me to the Yamaha corporate offices in Cypress. As I had just met him, I had no idea how this might turn out, but agreed to us going together.

We met with three of the top guys from Yamaha and they wanted to see my motorcycle. I hadn’t washed it, it wreaked of dead bugs and was covered in dried Alaskan calcium crud from the famous Dalton Highway. Not washing the bike before presenting it to potentially my biggest sponsor ever was a gamble that paid off as soon as I saw three camera phones unilaterally being whipped out.

 

“You just came from where?” One of the smartly dressed men asked.

“Arctic Circle.”

“How many miles on this bike in two years?” As he continued the questions.

“88,000.”

“What have you had to do to the motor, any major work?” Asked the group’s leader.

“Uhmm, why don’t you ask me if I have ever checked the valves.”  I replied.

“Holy &*^%!” As they clicked a few more photos.

“Yep, when I couldn’t find a manufacturer to sponsor my journey, I chose a bike that wouldn’t need factory sponsorship. The Super Tenere has been the perfect tool for me.”

“So, Paul, what can we do to help you?”

 

It was a short sentence, but one I had never thought I would hear. I was unprepared and had no answer ready. I stuttered and muttered, falling back on all the miles I was riding, my fundraising, my website popularity, but never really answered the question.

What did I want from Yamaha?

 

 

Chet was quick to chime in, explaining all the press I was getting and my columns in ABILITY, and how a sponsorship from Yamaha would make a great feature story in the magazine.  I should have said Chet was my agent instead of my publisher!

Thankfully I was able to put together a more legible proposal later on and have had many great conversations with Yamaha since. They are now supporting me in a variety of ways, including some publicity and a rather heavy package is heading my way as I write this! (Stay tuned!)

 

 

Chet and I rode back to Huntington Beach and I invited him to stay for dinner. I had gone shopping earlier and filled my friends fridge with goodies. Chet, Kevin and I then had a great evening exchanging stories over an array of grilled meats and vegetables. Good times!

I gave a presentation to a group of people living with MS the next day in San Luis Obispo, and the following day in San Francisco. I rode along the Pacific Coast Highway, visited elephant seals and another great sponsor of mine, Bill Mayer Saddles in Ventura.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last stop on my three-week speaking tour was Eugene Oregon which just happened to be where my wife’s mom and sister live. They both attended the dinner and were able to hear me share my MS story for the first time. I spend my last night on the west coast with family.

After an amazing adventure encouraging others to continue chasing their dreams, the bike was pointed east very early the next morning for the last three days of my incredible June trip.

 

 

 

The Wheels Out West for MS tour added 15,000 unforgettable miles to the Yamaha’s clock, but by now, I couldn’t wait to get home, wrap my arms around my wonderful wife and get my hands on some toenail clippers!

I think everyone should take a trip of a lifetime, at least once a year!

– Longhaulpaul

 

Please like, share, comment, and check out my new promotional video:

 

 

If you are interested in having me speak to your school, organization or company, I have cobbled together below a video sample of some of my different presentations. 2016 will be a busy year, book your dates now!