Month: January 2022

Maybe Next Weekend

We seem to be in a weather cycle where the week starts cold, gradually warms up, then goes cold again for the weekend, adding in some precipitation to make the roads hazardous.  This Saturday’s snowfall was not as heavy as the week before, and many of the main roads are drivable, but there’s too much risk of icy patches on the neighborhood streets for our ride this weekend.  And we are super bummed out about it.

            However, a look ahead to next week’s forecast shows a hopeful break in the pattern.  We’ll have the gradual warm up from today’s high of 37 to a high of 59 by Friday with an 80% chance of rain for Friday.  Saturday will be cold, again, but partly cloudy with the same again on Sunday.  So as long as the Friday rain comes and goes early enough to let the roads dry, we’re looking forward to two days of motorcycle riding next weekend.  It will be cold winter riding, but with the right gear, the cold is manageable.

            I can’t imagine what it’s like for riders who put their motorcycles up for the winter and wait months for the spring weather before riding again.  I’m going stir crazy having missed two weekends; I can’t imagine going two months—or longer—without the fun and freedom of cruising on my bike.  I would love to hear from a seasonal rider who does put the bike up for the winter.  What do you do in place of your motorcycle rides?  Maybe you live where there’s enough snow for snowboarding or skiing or some other adventurous fun.  Maybe you work on your motorcycle, completing any needed maintenance, upgrading some features on the bike.  Or do you just put motorcycle riding out of your mind until the warmer weather arrives?

            Of course one big distraction is watching Youtube videos on the new releases in motorcycles.  We are awaiting the arrival of the 2022 BMW K 1600 GTL at Adventure BMW which should be arriving in February.  They already have the 2022 1250 GS and 1250 RT in stock, so we’re hoping when the 1600s arrive, we can head over for some test rides.

            We also watched the big Harley-Davidson announcement where it is clear HD is trying to broaden its appeal with the new Low Rider S and Low Rider ST.  They are also going a little retro with the flame paint jobs on the CVO (custom vehicle operation) motorcycles; we like the CVO street glide in the Envious Green Fade, but I’m not ready for an 800+ pound motorcycle just yet.  Now we’re seeing videos from people disappointed in the HD announcement having expected a whole new bike.  But Harley gave us the Pan America and the Sportster just last year, and they are hinting at a new bike later in the year, so I thought the announcements were great.

            We’re not turning into homebodies, though.  Even though it’s too icy and wet for the motorcycles, we do take out our bikes for some training.  I work on my U-turns on the bicycle and was doing some fantastic S-turns in the parking lot of the Greek church.  I also rode through some piled up snow, feeling the slip of the rear tire on the ice, just a little.  And I’ve been working on riding the bike in a straight line down the parking lot lines.  This is rather difficult, but I’ve learned not to pedal as the pedaling causes the bike to rock to the sides.  I’ve also worked on using a soft grip which I need on the motorcycle, especially when we’re riding on gravel or dirt roads.  Keep your fingers-crossed that we will be back on the motorcycles practicing all of this and more next weekend!🤞

“A bike on the road is worth two in the shed.”

Anonymous–https://wanderingbiker.net/motorcycle-quotes/

Old Bike, New Roads

Another winter ride this week with temps at 34 with a 10+ degree wind chill but, dressed properly, it was easy to enjoy the cold ride.  This week I was back on the BMW G310 GS as illness caused us to stay at home.  That meant riding around my neighborhood, so I had the fun experience of returning to my first bike while riding new old roads.

            My first challenge was to get the motorcycle out of my garage.  This entailed removing the lawnmower and my bicycle, backing the motorcycle out, making sure the motorcycle was stable, returning the lawnmower and bicycle to the garage, and closing the garage.  That was the easy part.  I then had to turn the motorcycle around pushing it forward and back over my lawn as my driveway is just two narrow strips of concrete surrounded by bumpy lawn.  It was a bit of a workout, but I managed to get the bike turned toward the road.

            After some assistance getting my new Rev’It gauntlets on, I was ready to ride.  I duck-walked the bike down to the street having to navigate it between our cars and the neighbors’ cars.  I made it to the street and, with a wave to Bill, took off.  The first striking difference between my neighborhood roads to that of my parents’ is my roads are much narrower.  In the Pembroke neighborhood, two cars can pass each other even with cars parked on either side of the street.  In my neighborhood only one car fits on the street where the cars are parked on either side.  That just meant I needed greater awareness of oncoming traffic.

            My neighborhood is also much smaller in scope, so I had many more stops and much shorter roads to cruise along.  I didn’t mind as I had the fun of seeing my neighborhood from the motorcycle.  I went cruising about close to home, staying within a quarter of a mile of the house.  I drove into the Greek church parking lot to practice U-turns, but there were too many curbs in the lot for me to practice any slaloming.  So I took off for more exploring.

            Now my neighborhood is intersected by what is a popular through street connecting two main roadways in the city.  But it is a nice long street that would allow me to cruise for almost a mile.  So I headed out onto the road, but I quickly realized there was too much traffic.  As soon as I could, I turned left back into the neighborhood and went exploring.  Now I’ve lived in this neighborhood for more than 20 years.  Yet it was only today that I discovered how connected the roads were, cutting through to a connector to Wards Corner.  It was quite a pleasant discovery, and I had fun driving around back in the neighborhood.  I decided that I could brave the busy road if I was heading back toward my house because I could always turn right if the traffic got too busy.

            Of course as I was heading back up the busy street, I turned left instead, up this narrow, quiet little road that looped back to the main road.  I saw a patch on the side of the road for a little “off-roading,” but I only looked as this was my first ride around the neighborhood.

            Now I did have some issues returning to my beginner bike.  I stalled the bike twice in traffic; once because I was still in second gear and once because I didn’t twist the throttle enough.  There is a big difference in how much throttle the G310 needs over the Scrambler.  There is also a big difference in how much easier it is to find neutral on the BMW, so easy in fact I went into neutral when I wanted to go into first at least four times.

            I returned to the Greek church’s lot to do some S-turns, and these went well, so well that I felt I could handle the box in the MSF course should I ever take the course again.  I tried slaloming around the curbed bits, but their length prevented that from being a challenge.  So I headed over to the nearby high school’s parking lot which, for whatever reason, has large orange cones set up.  These made a perfect slalom, and I enjoyed weaving through them.  And the slalom was a perfect end to my new ride on my old bike.  I headed home, dabbed the bike up to the garage, reverse engineered the lawnmower and bicycle to park the motorcycle, realizing as I did so that it was cold outside.  I had felt a little cold air on my throat at the beginning of my ride because my neck tube had shifted down when I put my helmet on.  But I was having so much fun and concentrating on my new traffic patterns, that I completely forgot the cold temperatures.  It took the cold wind blowing as I walked toward the house to remind me.  I am an all season rider after all.

Back on the BMW G310 GS for this week’s ride.

Riding Naked in January

            Yes, my title is a big tease, but I couldn’t resist.  The title came to me as we cruised up a long straightaway on this cold day.  For those who don’t know motorcycles, a bike like my Ducati Scrambler is what is known as a naked bike.  The term refers to the lack of wind protection provided by fairings and windscreens.  But it wasn’t too bad a ride on this 37 degree day; we had full sunshine, no clouds, and little wind except what we generated zipping along on the bikes.

            Of course I was well layered.  I had on seven layers of shirts including the Alpinestars jacket, two pairs of leggings under my jeans, and added the protection of my beautiful new Schott’s leather jacket to keep me warm and comfortable.  The only part of me that got chilled were my hands and this was because my new Rev’It gloves would not go on.  They have a piece that cinches the glove around the wrist once it’s on; however, this piece is affixed to the Velcro adjustable strap and it was tightening up as I was struggling to put the gloves on.  I finally gave up and wore the classic leather gauntlets that are almost as old as I am.  These were fine on my short jaunts through the neighborhood, but on our longer cruise, the wind got to me.  When we took our little break on the gravel lot, I held my hands down by my engine to warm them up.

            As for my riding practice, things went really well.  I worked on smoothing out my shifting and accelerating on the Scrambler, my U-turns, and my stops—both fast and “normal.”  And I had a blast.  I even managed to find neutral all five times I tried for it, so I am making great progress on learning my new bike.  One thing I noticed on the Ducati different from my G310 is the seat.  On the BMW I felt “sat” in the seat meaning I was down and not moving without some effort.  In contrast on the Ducati, I feel a little more slippage.  What I learned from this was that I needed to grip the bike more firmly with my thighs.  Because this bike is a Scrambler and made to go off-road, there needs to be more flexibility in the seating position as off-road trails require more adjustments on the motorcycle.  It makes me more excited for when we finally do find some dirt roads to ride down.

            For now I can enjoy knowing I have entered an even rarer group of people—those who ride motorcycles in all seasons.  I’m happy I had such a good ride today; it was hard enough missing one week of riding; I can’t imagine going months before my next ride.  Luckily, I don’t have to wait.

“The older I get the more I understand, How important it is to live a life most people don’t understand.”

https://motoringjunction.com/featured/top-32-motorcycle-riding-quotes/

Window Shopping

It’s been almost all about motorcycles this final week of 2021.  All except the riding unfortunately; we’ve been under a misty, damp fog since Thursday that built into rain showers New Year’s Eve and early New Year’s day.  So my motorcycle fix has to come from all the research we’ve done this week on possible new bikes.

We’ve been looking at potential cruiser bikes for long country road cruising and are considering the BMW R18 Bagger or the BMW K 1600 GTL for Bill.  As for me, I’m discerning the differences between the BMW R 1250 RT versus the BMW 1250 GS and deciding which one would suit me better.  I have a huge disadvantage in that I have never been on a long cruise at 35-45 mph, so I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for.  But I’m leaning toward the GS as it seemingly does both road and off-road equally well.

            I have learned this week that I am not as intimidated by the weight of motorcycles as I was at first.  I learned a simple but extremely effective technique for lifting a motorcycle off its side stand.  That trick is to rotate the front wheel to the right before trying to lift the bike.  It is so effective in shifting the weight that when I first tried it with my Scrambler, I had to catch the bike from falling to the right.  This technique is so effective, that I used it on the 1250 GS when we visited Adventure BMW, and I used it to straighten up the Triumph Rocket when we stopped by Sunrise Cycles.  With the Rocket I brought the wheel to the center which was enough to allow me to easily straighten the almost 650-pound motorcycle!  I did not get on the R18 at Adventure, but I will on our next visit.

            We were able to see the T120 Triumph Bonneville Gold Line edition at Sunrise Cycles, the local Triumph dealer—as well as Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki.  The hand-painted gold line is beautiful on the British racing green tank, and it gives us some hope that they will get the Triumph Scrambler XE Gold Line in the gorgeous looking Baja California orange color.  While we were there, we also looked over the Suzuki Hayabusas they had (3) and the classic Kawasaki Ninjas.  And I came to realize that motorcycles don’t seem as large as they first did when I began my riding journey.  It could be that I am getting used to riding and being around motorcycles.  Or it could be that, after having looked at both the BMW R18 Bagger and Transcontinental behemoths, all other motorcycles seem much dwarfed in comparison.  I prefer to believe the former, however, as it reflects much better on me as a rider.

Happy New Year to my Readers! I wish you all good things in 2022.