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Ride/Route Memory

1597 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  ncgt1000, 
Bill_Anderson
I have found that I generally retain a very good photographic memory of rides such that years afterwards, I can trace one on a map and repeat it at a later date without the aid of a GPS or map. I am not just talking about local rides; but multi-day, multi-state rides covering hundreds if not thousands of miles.

I never thought that I had any unusual ability or special talent. I just assumed that everyone could do this until I met riders who cannot even recall our local roads that we have traveled on day rides, not to mention routes of multi-day rides across state lines.

One of our regular participants in multi-day road trips is (in)famous for asking someone at the end of each day to trace the day's route on his trip map, as he has absolutely no idea where we have ridden. He has also forgotten local roads, which is why we joke that he will never get bored with riding as his every ride is a new experience.

A second example: one of the riders on my ill-fated group ride to Weaverville, CA in 2009 later asked me about the route. She could not recall where we had stayed, not to mention the towns we had ridden through or the roads we had traveled.

So........ how about you, our trusted members of Ducati.MS. Can most of you recall roads and routes you have ridden, or do I have some kind of freakish photo-moto memory?
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steveb64

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#2 ·
I'm not as freakish as you Bill... ;) But I can remember quite big chunks of road, corner by corner. I think for me, the main 'imprinting' method is how fast I'm going. This is relative to the bike... For instance, when I did my trip in India, I was on a bike that had a top speed of 100kph, and most of the riding (2500kms) was at around 20-30... But there's big chunks that are embedded in my memory. On the other hand - there's bits I just CAN'T remember the name of. :(

And I'm forever turning the wrong way at intersections... :eek: Car or bike.

Race tracks - one meeting (NOT race!), and it's "there". I can play it (the whole track) back in my head.
 
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ncgt1000

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#3 ·
I understand what you're talking about, Bill. From about 1976 to 1985, I rode 2 week vacation trips across North America. I can still remember a lot of those roads / routes. One many of those trips, I'd pick a black an white US route number and just stick with it, which makes it easy to remember! Then there is the Trans Canadian Highway which took several trips to get all but the eastern most 400 miles across Nova Scotia, also pretty easy to remember the route! However, there was a lot of randomly picking a road just because - "Hey, that looks like a interesting (route|direction|sight|sign) pick one or two.

One trip coming east through Montana after leaving Glacier Nat'l Park all I can remember is the food stop - "Eats", not the 2-lane road it was on. I'd love to visit that place again, if it still exists. The memory picture of that restaurant off in the distance I have in my head is beyond description.

Now I have an upcoming opportunity to re-run some of those routes and let my bride experience them for the first time. I'm really looking forward to doing just that.
 
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