Episode 028 - Top 5 Motorcycle Roads of Iowa - Best Motorcycle Raods - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkEWCF1Z6ck

Transcript:

(00:00) do you know what the best thing to come out of Iowa is Todd no I80 [Music] West hello and welcome to best motorcycle roads I'm Tom and I'm Todd we have over 65 years of combined motorcycling experience in 30 years of planning and riding motorcycle trips we're here to share with you everything we've learned over those years our goal at best motorcycle roads is simple make your next motorcycle trip the best it can be we'll dive into technology planning packing roots and everything in between from essential prep to

(00:41) Unforgettable Roots we've got you covered before we Kickstart today's Journey we ask you to sign up for our BMR Rider alerts it's our way of keeping you in the loop with the latest rides tips and stories we promise no spam only the essentials to enhance your motorcycle Adventures join the BMR crew today we'll put a link in the show notes this segment about motorcycle gear reviews and tips we call the toolkit let's talk Tire plug kits and inflation all right not the uh money kind but air inflation that kind of inflation um yeah

(01:17) in every toolkit I mean you're going to find people out there that say never plug a tire right that's dangerous it's a motorcycle you know save your life well that's great but I don't think you should ride it back on the rim either so um you know I think at times in emergency situations we'll leave the other times off the off the discussion but you're going to have to patch a kit or plug plug a tire um once in a while so there's a lot of different ones out there um I had recently ordered one from

(01:48) AOS Stitch um that duth company makes pretty high quality things that's a usually you can buy just a full uh tire repair kit so what comes with that is the plugs the glue that you kind of add on there there's kind of a reamer that you ream it out with and then a funky hook to get your plugin there so you can get it out there's kind of a little escape hatch um so that all comes with it and then now kind of the new kits instead of people used to carry an inflator like a you know like a full-on inflator like 12vt plug it in you know

(02:22) like fill it up inflator um and I think that's still the case there's some really high quality ones out there the time I think is why people slow to doing that and kind of moved to the CO2 cartridges so this kit comes with the the plug kit plus um CO2 with like an adapter to put it on the um the valve so basically what you end up doing then is get that done get it up to Snuff you don't maybe get it completely crazy get to the next stop where you can check here and fill it up at the right levels and everything like that so so

(02:55) yeah that's kind of the thing now I mean they're in the $40 to $60 range but boy oh boy I mean you've been involved in a in a in a motorcycle trip where you guys had to get to a you know get to a shop to repair it luckily even they did it the next day yeah um this is one of those things at least get you a couple days down the road and uh things like that so there's an AOS Stitch is a high quality one there's also one um off excuse me Amazon Dino plug tubist tire repair toolkit both in the same range

(03:26) both include all the things that you need to do to get to them so mhm um it seems pretty straightforward I haven't had to do that yet have you me either no not gunwood yeah and one of the things that's a good tip to is if you are going in if you have bad tires on your bike um I would highly recommend you try it too because it's looks great looks like a practice run you mean yeah I would do a practice run sometime you know you want to be super careful sidewalls are are never a place you want to really get too

(03:56) crazy about again emergency situation you may have to do some things but but yeah if you would happen to be taking your bike in to get the tire fixed I would it would be a good idea to just go ahead and drive a nail or screw something through your tire M cuz that's what happens try try plugging it and see if you can get it to plug um because it's a little bit of a you know just like many things you don't want the maybe have it be your third time you know and you can put a couple of them in there yeah that's a good idea yeah it it

(04:25) works well yeah ridewise is the section we focus on planning and safety tips for today today's ride ridewise excuse me we're going to talk about um gravel roads uh because we have a lot of gravel roads in Iowa and sometimes um we've got some places where a paved Road will suddenly shift to a gravel road without much notification right and you find yourself on you know doing 40 or so miles per hour and all of a sudden you're on to gravel uh that can be a little scary especially if you haven't

(04:55) ridden your motorcycle on gravel before uh the the the stion when you get on the gravel if you have to uh is a real floating sensation like the bike doesn't feel like it's planted on the road in a track like it's rolling around on marbles oh wait yeah it is on marbles right so it it'll really start to float on you the front tire and the back tire kind of going in different directions um what what you need to do really is is Don't Panic to start with don't be heavy on the gas uh the throttle don't be

(05:26) heavy on the brakes but uh kind of loosen your grip on the handlebars and just kind of take it slow you can pin the gas uh the gas tank with your knees and maybe get up on your feet a little bit just to because it's going to be a little bumpy um but then be real smooth with all your actions and I would look for the track where tires car tires have been so you know if you can get to the left or get to the right just find that more packed down area U so it'll feel a little more like you're on a solid

(05:55) surface and then uh again just real real gentle on the throttle gentle on the brakes I wouldn't even use the front brake you know in in most cases um and you'll you'll you'll be still be able to control it um and and then you know if you do have to come to a stop just again be careful as you're pulling away because a a motorcycle tire will spin real quick and gravel so um you know just look for the spots that have been you know driven by cars and trucks and that and you'll see those packed down

(06:26) areas stay out of the very center um and that you know the center of your lane cuz it kind of builds up a little taller right there and stay away from the shoulder CU it'll be real loose in that area yeah um and then you know your best bet is to always have your helmet on you know have some gloves uh you know hope you've got your your thick pants with maybe a knee protector whatever but some elbow pads in your jacket uh anything else Tom that you can think of um I think you know if you're cornering if

(06:54) you're going through corners um I think it's good to kind of be leaning forward you want more weight on the front than the back um you know that's a giving your front tire more weight so it's more traction and the back tire gives it a little more loose and then I guess I was just going to mention too it's not just gravel roads especially in the midwest there's a lot of Chip seal roads in Iowa oh yeah and um you know they repair them in the summertime when we want to ride motorcycles and the repair is spray down

(07:20) oil and put down it's smaller gravel but it still can be dangerous you know and a lot of times those patches are happening in the corners so yeah and it seems like the last 10 years they don't even put up a sign that says that there's right you know patched road ahead so that cost you come up fast on it at times you know and and you can have this situation um if if you're in a state that gets snow yep because they plow in the winter and then they'll they'll sometimes get off to the shoulder and throw you know a bunch of

(07:53) goel into the road so especially in the in the spring early spring when you're out riding you can all of a sudden come upon some gravel on the road on you know paved Road that'll have gravel on it because the snowplow has tossed it up there so until a lot of cars have driven and and pushed it off or rain um you can you can come up on some gravel just on a regular paved Road well like you said I mean no one likes take their bike on gravel but if you have a bike that's a little easier to clean like just getting

(08:19) out on the gravel and riding a little bit it just helps yeah practice a little bit yeah no that's a great idea and in this episode we're going to talk about some Gra roads that you might have to use if you wanted to go see the bridges medison County EXA so in that case you may have to go practice it it'd be good if you did um it's not nice to get your bike all full of gravel dust but and two uprighting is even more tricky higher Center gravity you know just now you're trying to stop on a gravel road put your

(08:49) feet out I mean it it's it can be touchy it can be a little sketch right yeah the next segment is what we call the mile marker it's our story segment in the mile marker today Todd we're going to start uh episode one of a six-part series which talks about the top five best roads of Iowa Missouri Illinois Wisconsin Michigan and Minnesota so 651 65 I don't know but no yeah I'm kind of excited to talk about this I mean of course these will be a little controversial everyone has their opinions of what the best roads are for

(09:24) that I would say comment below and let's argue about it um because the more roads that we get to ride the better yeah but uh if you've never really rode in Iowa you know the landscape I guess is like the weather right if you don't like it Go 10 miles I mean Iowa has to have some of the most diverse uh Terrain in the country it's got to be top five I mean we have planes that are just as flat as can be I know up in north central Iowa you can I've been up there and I'm like what's that light up

(09:53) there oh that's this town it's 20 M away it's like what you know where we live over here in Eastern Iowa you can't see a mile without a tree or a hill getting in your way but uh you know and then as you go towards the Mississippi River it Bluffs and you know it's not a mountain I get it it's not but it's it's very you know hilly windy tight and then in in Southern Iowa it's the same thing and we'll talk about one unique thing that only Iowa has uh in one of the parks on

(10:19) the west side so yeah so uh I guess let's dig into what we think the best ones are there was so many I threw in a bonus one Todd and that was the one you mentioned mened in the ridewise the covered bridges Scenic byway um Madison County Iowa is famous for the historical Bridges uh you know Bridges of Madison County that also happens to be where John Wayne's birthplace museum is and when's the best time to ride I think fall I feel like I repeat myself as we go but fall fall fall yeah just because

(10:51) the leaves you know are turning and it's just a beautiful thing um other tips just for this section and i' like to hear what you think too but just photos you see them on the Internet with these covered bridges are just they're cool um there's some of these Bridges though that are only on um gravel roads which you mentioned um I I've never actually been down there to see them have you I've just seen one uhuh otherwise I've seen pictures but I've only gone to one yeah so they're cool I mean it's uh it's

(11:18) kind of a neat thing I know that there's places where you can read and learn more about it but it's uh it's an interesting it's it's just an interesting cool kind of quirky thing that that's down there um number five is kind of another unique um thing from Iowa they call it the the white pole Road Scenic byway and what this is it's not a really long stretch of material uh Road 26 miles or so but uh they originally called it the great white way it was the 20th century early 20th century highway highway 6 um

(11:52) and and what they did was the the headlights of vehicles are so bad back then they actually painted the light poles White so that you could kind of stay between them because I think also if you can imagine the roads of this time were not much different than the not roads I mean it was just the place most people drove yeah um that's adir County um Jesse James historical site is there and then there's a freedom Rock uh for that for the county amendo Freedom Rock was really cool a lot of counties and Iowa have freedom rocks and they're

(12:23) kind of painted uniquely for that area I would say spring and fall again just kind of avoid the heat there's nothing technical about this at all it's almost straight um and again like it's it's short but there's a lot of neat little places um historical sites along the way and and another thing is if you're just traveling through the area this is literally probably less than a mile north of Interstate 80 so it's a nice maybe slowing it down just kind of taking it taking it easy uh trip that

(12:53) that someone can do there MH so I've traveled this before it's just it's cool I mean it's kind of just nostal and again nothing super special about it but it was just like when you see these polls you're like oh that makes a lot of sense do they do they keep painting them yeah they do they do okay well I'm pretty sure that the poles that we see now are not the poles that were there then and I'm sure that cuz they're pretty wide they're pretty out out but it's kind of the the thought of it you

(13:18) know you kind of just get the idea I've never drove it at night but I'm sure that that you can definitely they light up um our number four pick for Iowa roads is historic Hill Scenic B highway so this actually in Southeastern Iowa's um they call it a very historic and picturesque area it's not um it's just where kind of the the hills start as as you get to the river um but some of the neat things to see here is Lake wapo State Park um there's a historic district in Benton Sport and then

(13:51) American Gothic house is actually located down down here you see a lot of American Gothic in Iowa since that house was originated here but this is the one so uh so to see the original um the best time for this particular area is in summertime there's some like local events that happen so you can get involved but uh there this used to be a really heavily traveled area the stage coach um so that's in Franklin and then they have some there's the hershler winery so what's really neat for me when

(14:20) I go into these areas is the like Amish and menite businesses there's a lot of heavy Amish and menonite um people that live down there and so just look for cheese and fresh pies you know homemade pies always a great thing to see but fure oh yeah that would be more difficult to get on the bike but I'm sure they would ship it to you uh number three is L Hills Scenic byway this is kind of like I know before we've talked about the driftless this is kind of like Western I was driftless it's most unique thing that you'll ever

(14:55) see so what is Les Hills um in Western Iowa in that River Valley um it's just a very unique landscape and what it is is silt I believe they believe is from the glaciers that melted and laid in this area near the river um and then in the winter times there' be a little less winter so then the this silt would get wind blown and it built up what looks just like like the the the bluff areas that you've seen everywhere but what's really weird about it as you're driving through and it's just all dirt Earth Black Earth

(15:32) all the way up in this and you're just like huh it's the weirdest looking thing I mean it it looks natural and then you see it and you're just like no that's just dirt you know and from what I've understood this is the only placees has ever happened in the world um this is there's no other place that it's happened so not a lot of towns not a lot of action out there it's just a good ride um and so uh preparation Canyon State Park there's a Nature Center in Hitchcock and then uh there's p pisna is

(16:03) a little town that's there like I said this is all about the scenery there's nothing to see here except these wild looking Hills um but bring a camera because it is interesting it's winding and it it's weird the the path it takes and then I've never stopped there but it looked like Dave's old Home Cafe in pisna was a place that you can maybe stop and get some more information about the area there's a historical marker in in the town of pis as well so so uh this lus is it l or Los I think it's l lus

(16:34) okay and it's spelled l o SS correct less l l l mhm yeah pretty crazy yeah our number two road is one we've talked about so many times a great River Road of course easy to find look for the Mississippi River stay on the west side because we're talking about the top five I Iowa but just a great mix of riverv viws charming town and we've talked about it a number of times the Lock and Dam systems are just amazing um there's a national Mississippi River Museum the Effigy Mounds National Monument um uh Native

(17:11) American area and then Pikes Peak state park is also at the very top of it and that is quite quite a view as well again fall that's scenery weather is better and just watching for the Wildlife there's a lot of there's tons of pull-offs on the Iowa side to stop and see mhm little towns here and there he weaving in and out of some pretty neat places and some pretty good Bluffs in some of those spots yeah I know one year when we were riding through there was a you know a little bit of a landslide that looked like maybe a house was going

(17:40) to get taken as well so mhm yeah you can see Eagles oh yeah a lot of eagles the eagle population is really um grown yeah um and they're helping with that so yeah mhm and then our favorite are number one maybe not the uh best uh longest road for sure um but it's maybe the best unknown Road I and technically it is kind of start of the Great River Road so it a little bit of a cheap but c9y um there's a church just north of Balltown there's about a quar mile from that is where this officially starts

(18:10) it's only 13 miles and eventually turns into Iowa 52 which is officially the Great River Road but boy you know we've rode this a couple times I've rode it a few times it's a very unique Road it's just a beauty it's it's fantastic the views are amazing uh it it windes a lot the the condition of the road itself it a little help yeah it needs a little help it wasn't the best correct uh paved road yeah it was a little bumpy it might have been concrete too I'm trying to remember but uh yeah the condition of

(18:43) the road needed a little work but uh yeah it's fantastic and I would say it's like the perfect motorcycle road only because it's not like um you know Tail of the Dragon tight Corners I mean you're it's a workout it's a hard you're thinking it's just the most relaxing 13 M of motorcycle road just sweeping curves and nice and oh my gosh look over there there's the Mississippi River you know we're 75 ft above it and then pretty soon you're right by it you know yeah it's just cool yeah and what time

(19:13) of the year you ride that one well fall anytime um yeah I mean it's just fall I mean you are literally overlooking tens of thousands of trees on the Wisconsin and Iowa side and you just can't help it I mean it's just awesome and there's not a lot of pull-offs if I remember correct not on c9y specifically um before it and after it but again it's only 13 miles so um I actually I don't think there is one um but by Balon there is a beautiful pulloff that's just iconic the podcast can be found on best motorcycl roads.com

(19:49) podcast all the information you need will be there uh but you can subscribe on Spotify Amazon music apple pocketcast and YouTube this is the interactive segment we will be looking for input from you uh we want you to send us your questions and suggestions for roads topics and anything else you have on your mind today's roadside Q&A comes from Pat Uh Pat was asking if we do any Adventure writing in Iowa or the surrounding states I don't have a an adventure bike myself but you have I've had one I'm a terrible writer so

(20:23) therefore it kind of kicked me out but while there is some in Iowa I would say the majority of Advent writing is probably over in Wisconsin right in the Midwest for sure yeah there's a couple of groups that are mid uh that are Iowa advv is maybe another reason way they say it I know over by soy Iowa there's a group and I think there's another one maybe it is Wisconsin there's a lot of guys that will do gravel rides um in Iowa like when you think of ADV in Iowa it's mostly gravel riding um some level

(20:53) B so Iowa has level B basically means non-service it's technically a road but they don't grade it they don't gravel it it's just basically a mud Road mhm um so some guys will ride those as well um but yeah there's H some more up north in Wisconsin for sure but yeah there's some groups of people a lot of people ride ADV R uh bikes um you know and and there's some fun roads I mean there's some great roads I with our gravel I know out Western and I don't remember exactly where it is but um there's a

(21:23) gravel road and then in the middle of this four-way intersection there's a big old tree and there's an I forget what the name of it is now but yeah um you have to re do a research on Gravel Road Iowa tree tree in the middle of the road um it's kind of a quirky thing but it is definitely out on the middle of a gravel road and we talked about The Bridges of Madison County gravel roads some you know River some of the River Roads around here there's some extra roads that are gravel that are really that are

(21:49) really cool and then there's a lot of places to camp in Iowa that are off of gravel roads as well if you're into that advv camping I mean then there there are some trails that people work on in Iowa to ride advv on so they'll have a ride and some will be down gravel and then some will be on private property that they get permission to ride across so yeah there's a lot of options yeah it's just scary for me right Pat I hope we answered your question now it's time for The Last Mile it's kind of how we close

(22:18) out the episode and talk about what we liked maybe didn't like about the uh episode Todd what do you got for today well I think in the the very first uh place in in the mile marker you were talking about the freedom Rock and that got me thinking about all the the counties in Iowa there's 99 counties in Iowa I don't think they all have freedom rocks yet but that's the goal um that's that would be kind of just a fun ride if you ever you know veterans um these Freedom rocks are being painted by one

(22:47) artist and uh so they move these giant uh yeah uh Boulders into each of the counties and then he comes and uh paints and it takes him you know or something um they're all done you know with with veterans in mind and that kind of stuff and they're really neat if you if you have the time and and kind of want to set up a route that might be a lot of fun just to agree go go see the freedom rocks in the counties we have one in Johnson County happens to be here in in Shen yeah they're they're really neat I

(23:20) think each one of them works with the local veterans to kind of kind of make it that County's own like I think which is probably the coolest part about it for me um anyway yeah yeah and how about your reflection um a couple things I think just [Music] um the the L Hills is cool if you haven't seen it I mean it's easily something that you can plan a route through it's not a destination but if you can get there sometime to see it it's really cool just to see how that works um or how that has worked over

(23:51) time and then I think um as I think about just some of the uniqueness in you know Amish and menite are not unique just to Iowa but but there is a lot of cool Amish and menite uh folks and what I find most interesting is when when I run into them when they're out and about um they're just always fun to talk to they're they're curious people they like to talk they're not hidden or or silenced or anything they're just it's just fun to learn about them and and what they do so if this episode revved

(24:23) up your day don't keep it to yourself like subscribe and share it with your crew we're all about the Thrill of the ride and the bond it creates keep the spirit of Adventure alive and remember bikes friends and endless roads the stories ride forever take care [Music] [Music]