The event takes place next June, and Carlos is one of 1,000 Harley riders who will ride 7000 miles beginning in the Florida Keys and ending in Homer Alaska. The plan is to complete the trip in 14 days. There are two other riders from the area; a retired Brockton officer and another man from Maine who will take part as well.
Vieira rides a 2007 Harley-Davidson Street Glide Patriot Edition, one of only 166 made, for which he had to show his Marine Corps discharge papers in order to buy. He has never been on a ride this long, but plans to ride for 18 to 20 hours a day and complete the trek in 10 days or less. Most of the traveling he plans to do at night to minimize traffic and keep the engine cool.
While Vieira claims to be a year round rider, and can tolerate temperature extremes, I think he is in for a surprise. The trip includes 62 mountain ranges and eight deserts. I’ve traveled 2400 miles in eight days in such terrain and know how demanding it can be. His plan to sleep from noon to 2:00 p.m. might be advisable while traveling the desert. However, my experience with traversing mountain ranges is that weather extremes happen moment by moment and can become treacherous in an instant. Large animal encounters such as elk, are almost a certainty too. Does he really want to be doing this at night?
The article in the Eagle-Tribune does not tell us how familiar Vieira is with the continental landscape. New England does not prepare one for the long open stretches of prairie, the intense heat of the deserts, and the mountains here are but pimples compared to the Rockies. With all that said, man oh man is America beautiful! I wish him well on his trip, but if I were he, I would want to see this magnificent country in the light of day.
Read more about Carlos Vieira’s plans here.
Carlos Vieira
(from the Eagle-Tribune)
1 comment:
Hmmm 7,000 miles 10 days = 700 miles per day...approaching IB Rally proportion. I sure hope he has done quit abit of LD riding. The First 700 miles is a snap, the second 700 will not be that hard, but harder than the first and each one after that become harder than previous one. Riding year round does not prepare one for the miles. I wish him well as well
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