Despite an early start, the temperature was already mid-70s as we mounted up for our weekly ride. Summer days are getting closer.
One thing I’ve noted about my riding skills last week and this week is that I am much better at taking off in sync with Bill. Before, he would head out and I would stall or sputter out slowly as I was getting a feel for the bikes and for riding. Now I find myself capably feathering the clutch and accelerating so that I am just a little behind the R NineT. To me this reflects my growth as a rider in that I have become much smoother at starting off on the motorcycles.
We headed back into a neighborhood we’d been avoiding because of the road construction and, as we arrived at the turn into the first road, we noticed an Eastern Chicken Turtle out in the road. Due to the noise of a truck that had passed and our bikes, he was snug in his shell but not in the best place. We rode on and I wondered because I fully expected Bill to stop the bike and move the turtle. Into the neighborhood we went, finding the road torn up still and a large mountain of dirt laying on the side of the road. But we got to take a spin in the gravel lot of the historic house. We quickly rode toward the neighborhood exit, finding the turtle had moved onto our road with about half the street left to go before finding safety in the grass. This time Bill stopped his motorcycle, got off, and gently lifted the turtle and placed him in the grass in the direction of the river. Turtles out sunning themselves is another sure sign of summer.
When Bill had stopped his motorcycle, I tried to shift into neutral to give my hands a short rest but the Ducati is fighting me again and not letting me find the magic “N.” Luckily on this ride, we didn’t stop much. We headed over to the ritzy neighborhood and kept cool by riding straight down to the end of the road. This turned us around and let us hit our usual roads from the opposite direction. I noticed the dogwood blossoms had fallen as the green leaves pushed through. The azaleas were in their last blush of bloom, but the irises were open and I saw beautiful whites, purples, and pinks.
On this warmer day, I expected to see a lot of butterflies to make up for last week. Alas, it was not to be. I saw only two cabbage whites the whole ride. But I am realizing I may see fewer butterflies as I don’t do my dead-end street practice any more. My little practice road was next to woodland, so the trees and flowers attract the fluttering insects. And while we are riding through neighborhoods with large yards, we are riding past so I’m not “hanging out” where I can notice and observe the butterflies. I hope the butterflies will become more plentiful.
We didn’t have any rude drivers this week, but we did have unusual traffic patterns. Several times when we were trying to turn left, a plethora of cars would come by. But the roads themselves were rather clear of cars. We did our usual gravel parking lot practice, and I enjoyed the slipping sensation of the tires on the shifting gravel. The downside to our S-turn and U-turn practices is the heat, and on the Ducati, the heat is more intense than on my little 310. This is because of the exhaust location. My Scrambler has two small exhaust pipes down beside my right inner leg. So I feel not only the heat off the engine but also the exhaust heat. It’s fine while we’re riding straight out, but it can be uncomfortable when doing slow speed maneuvers.
We had a bonus ride in the gravel lot by the neighborhood pool. Bill had headed down the road planning to turn around, but there was a guy on a bike on the side of the road in the way, so we headed into the pool’s lot. The neat thing about this old gravel lot is that there’s dirt and grass mixed in, so there’s more to navigate. And because we turned around inside the pool lot, I had the chance to hit my little stretch of “off road” coming out.
One last little obstacle to overcome as we put the bikes away. Bill had entered the garage a little wide and motioned for me to stop. So I stopped at the apex of the steep driveway. The challenge to move the bike forward into the garage is to feather the clutch while releasing the brake and not rolling down into the street. To move the bike forward, I apply the rear brake (right foot), release the front brake (right hand), feather the clutch (left hand), roll on the throttle (right hand) while lifting my foot of the brake. It worked perfectly and, as an added bonus, I shifted right into neutral once I parked inside the garage. I may have learned a few things in almost a year of riding after all.
Flutterby Biker 