Free Wheelin'

Over this winter we have been watching several Rock & Roll and music documentaries, covering a large swath of the many genres that make up the soundtrack of our lives.

In many of them, the artists are asked about their "Process." How do they write the songs and music that they do?

For those scratching their helmets and wondering where I am going here, and why - a process is a procedure, something you do in order to achieve a certain result. Some people try to carefully follow all the steps in a process. Other people just wing it.

Sometimes it is a bit of both.

I think songwriting, and writing in general, is a bit of semi-learned art.

Musicians need to know how to string a bunch of chords or notes together, and the writer’s words; and with both the words and notes must compliment each other in a melodic fashion or it ends down light piss…

You catch my drift?

I think that sometimes musicians find a great chord progression – something that taps the mind and spirit, and then maybe some words with meaning and soul follow along. Writers hope for the same.

Perhaps we can use the 'Process' for other things – like Route Planning.

Instead of picking up a guitar, sitting down at a piano or computer screen, when you open a map to look at how to get from Point A to Z – you consider the rest of the alphabet as well.

Motorcycle rides are much like music. Some are easy, flowing, and with a nice easy tempo. Other rides are frenetic, fast, and sometimes loud too. It all depends on what the rider making the ride is looking for, where they have to go, and what is in between.

We first heard the phrase Road Whisperer a few years back from a group of riders we met at a small hotel in West Virginia. They were singing the praises of one of their riding party that seemed to be able to put together some of the, in their minds, best rides ever.

This crew was all from one of the Plain states, so anything West Virginia tossed their way was going to be friggin’ amazing – but many riders really do not want to take the time to go searching for better routes, leaving it for somebody else to do the thinking.

Others seem to thrive on it – thus the Road Whisperers out there.

I talked with their guy who, when asked how he found all the good roads for his friends, looked around and leaned over in a slightly conspiratorial manner and whispered, "I look for the tinier roads along rivers, and a bit larger through the valleys and over mountains… it’s all there, on the maps, but they are just lazy, and I love doing it.”

He began to tell me his process, and how he keeps most of this to himself, thus creating and keeping his mystique and importance to the group.

He was like their Road Shaman, and like so many Shamans he wasn’t doing anything magical, but he had a process and it worked.

All the others looked up to him with admiration and followed his lead. It was like some sort of weird Cargo Cult. 

Shucks, some of the technology we take for granted would have made us gods (or at least Ancient Aliens) not all that long ago.

So, as we roll into 2025, Backroads' actual 30-year mark, consider working on your navigation skills, to work on your process.

You do not have to be a Shamanesque Road Whisper, but if you have a great day to ride why would you stay on larger, usually more crowded roads, when you could be on the real backroads?

With a little patience and diligence, your process will probably develop itself.

See you on the road.