Do you like to ride motorcycles - or do you RIDE?

A couple posts back I mentioned that I got the bike ready for a trip to South Dakota. In case you weren't paying attention I do live in a suburb of Chicago (is Round Lake too far to be considered a suburb?). So that isn't exactly your ride around the block...

Above, that's me leaning against my faithful steed, a 1999 Suzuki Bandit 1200S. and the background is The Badlands National Park in SD. The other bike is a 2002 CBR600F4i which my friend rode from Seattle, WA. Yes, he's crazier than I am.

I'm by no means someone who can ride like the Iron Butt riders, but I like take at least one decent length trip per season if I have the time.

Since that photo I've added even more gear to make long distance travel even easier. I have two large side cases, some forward mounted foot pegs and a GPS. What's so nice about this particular bike is that even when it's loaded up, I always have plenty of power on tap to get this sucker into the triple digits with ease. Maybe a radar detector should be next.