(Written on November 28, 2021, National French Toast Day)
The last day of our lovely extended Thanksgiving holiday weekend was a gorgeous day to ride. Bright sunshine and temps in the mid-50s greeted us. My dead-end street, however, was not available as there were five vehicles parked—three on the Armco and two on the street. So I asked Bill if he was going to stick to last week’s plan where he rides around on his own and I ride my practice route, and he said no, we were going to go on our joint ride right from the start.
Oddly enough, even with a great start up the camber of the road, I felt a little nervous. When I thought about why would I be nervous, I recognized that I was heading out at Bill’s speed not mine. Not that Bill is racing away. It’s just that I was rolling on the throttle to keep up with Bill and not puttering around and working my way more slowly up to my 25 mph.
I also realized that the visor on my helmet is riding lower and into my field of vision. This is because of all my layers—four shirts, the Alpinestars jacket, my hoodie, my Klim jacket, and the Helite vest. They push my helmet up enough to cause the visor to drop lower. I adjusted my helmet several times during our ride, but had I been on my own, I would have stopped the bike and fully adjusted everything which is what I did last week. I’ve decided for future rides to wear a sweatshirt with no hood.
But with my adjustments, my vision was fine and I could enjoy the gorgeous fall foliage, the beautiful blue sky, the gaggles of geese, and the cute Christmas decorations. I was even able to spot a cabbage white butterfly, doing a doubletake to make sure I was seeing a butterfly and not a stray leaf. I was not as lucky as Bill, though, who spotted a bald eagle on our stop at the Lynnhaven House.
I did practice a fast stop. And I was successful in riding up the driveway from a complete stop—no stalls. I even managed to roll on the throttle enough to prevent myself from rolling back. And I found myself not comfortable standing on the pegs as standing up caused my helmet to shift forward again so my visor was partially blocking my view. My riding issues were a couple of jerks when upshifting—unusual for me. All I can think is I was a little too focused on speeding up. Something for me to work on.
The ride ended with another cabbage white butterfly flitting by as we drove out of the neighborhood. We drove home and celebrated this special day by feasting on blueberry French toast!
Flutterby Biker 