Cannonball

You probably have a good idea that I like old machines, by this point...

And that I like old machines being used as intended, rather than collecting dust in some garage or museum even more.

Roughly fifty folks are about to take off on a race across the country - on motorcycles made before 1916.

Let that sink in...

3300 miles on motorcycles coming on one hundred years old.

How many things in your life were made before 1916?

Anything?

Something?

Maybe some little thingy, that you just look at.

Something sitting on a shelf, for you to covet and show to friends?

The Vintagent provides better details than I would attempt, over here.

Shinya is documenting his trip, on an old Indian, here.

The word epic get tossed around rather a lot lately, usually in an exaggerated way.

Riding across an entire continent, on a motorcycle made a hundred years ago...

That is epic.

Edit:

Not to be outdone, there are a bunch of loons driving/riding old iron from Beijing to Paris, right now, too...

Jalopnik tells the story over here.

Actual race progress reports can be found here.

OK, Peking to Paris in a ninety year old car makes the Cannonball seem almost reasonable, right?

I mean, most racers can at least speak the same language as the locals, if you don't count some weird southern drawl...

I salute you, as well, Silk Road crazies....