A very brisk autumn morning greeted us; the sun was bright and the hawk was up and cruising (I actually saw the hawk on my drive over to my riding road). It has gotten too cool for butterflies, though and, if I’m not careful in my layering, it will get too cold for me!
As we arrived at my little dead-end street, I started pulling out the KamelKones to set up an offset slalom. Of course Bill took over and did it for me as I did my warm up ride out to the park and back. There was a Toyota 4 Runner parked against the Armco, so I was a little limited at the dead-end. At first there were 5 cones set out, and it was a struggle to make it through the third one. The last one took me toward the SUV, so I was too shaky on the slalom to ever get through the fifth cone. Eventually, Bill took that cone away, so I only had to navigate the four. I had forgotten how much more physical the riding is when you are trying to move the bike through the slalom.
I struggled for the first 5 run throughs, running over the third cone repeatedly. Because I hadn’t ridden the slalom in months, I was forgetting to use my body to move the bike. Once I remembered to shift my body, I stopped running over the third cone and successfully navigated the slalom. But I was getting tired. It is so much more physical riding when you are twisting the bike back and forth in a tight space. I told myself to enjoy the workout, but I was happy when I told Bill it was time to get his bike and do our cruise.
The difference between the slalom and cruising is that in the slalom, I am in first gear, feathering the clutch, gently twisting the throttle, and keeping my right foot on the rear brake. All of that while moving my body to manipulate the bike; it’s a bit of a workout. On the other hand, when we’re cruising, once I’ve shifted up to fourth gear, I’m just holding on, maintaining the throttle, and steering a bit until time to slow down for a turn or a stop. So is it any wonder why most motorcycle riders cruise?
As I was warming up on the bike and doing my little neighborhood cruise, I quickly realized that my three shirts (including one thermal), Alpinestars body armor jacket, Klim Induction Pro jacket, and Helite turtle vest were not enough to keep me from feeling the wind chill. After my slalom practice, I added my zip up hoodie and was warm enough for our joint cruise albeit feeling a little constricted. My winter riding jacket comes at Christmas, so I have to find ways to layer up for the next four weekends of riding. I wonder if my flannel lined jeans will fit under my motorcycle jeans. Maybe the size 34 was a good idea after all😆
At the very end of practice, I stopped the bike at the bottom of my parents’ driveway which has a fairly steep incline. Bill wanted me to work on feathering the clutch up the incline. I immediately stalled on my first attempt. What I have to do is release the clutch and crank on the throttle all while the bike is trying to roll backwards. It’s a little disconcerting, that backward rolling, but once I relaxed and recognized the need to twist the throttle and release the clutch to counteract the backwards roll, I was able to successfully ride the bike up into the garage. It was a great high on which to end the lovely day’s ride.
Flutterby Biker 