Together Again

After the crazy week we had getting two of our motorcycles inspected, our Saturday came together perfectly, letting us both get back on the road. A pleasant June day with lots of bright sunshine set us up with perfect riding weather, and we set off quickly, Bill now also sporting a Helite Turtle Airbag vest.

We adapted our route out of the neighborhood as there was clearly a swim meet still in progress. The roads were a little busy today and we had a few run ins, but that was toward the end of our ride. We rode to the end of Witchduck and spun a few turns in the court before heading into the neighborhood. The scent of the magnolias was heavy on the air though I didn’t see too many butterflies about enjoying them. I worked on keeping close to Bill’s bike and noted just how different his R Nine T accelerates versus Scrambler. My turns were nearly in tandem, but I still had to accelerate quickly to close the gap that formed between us. That’s what 36 extra horsepower will do for acceleration. But I got to enjoy the cooling breeze as I zipped along to play catch up.

We spent extra time making our circles and S-turns in the courts. I didn’t mind as Bill was making up for two lost weeks. Our race up the fast road was cut short by a man backing his truck up right into our path. Luckily, we saw him in enough time to safely stop but, as Bill pointed out later, that is an example of how drivers on the road ignore motorcycles.

When we hit our parking lot where we practice standing up and dropping to a stop, we pulled over and parked. Bill had to adjust the tether for the vest as it didn’t allow him to stand up. I sat holding his helmet and trying to cool off my thighs during the adjustment. And I appreciated when we stood up as that brought my toasted thighs away from the engine heat.

After a few minutes of this practice, we headed into our lot to practice straightening up and stopping from a curve and our quick stops. This went well, but by this point, I was thinking about my turn on the R Nine T which quickly arrived.

The R Nine T was not as nice to me today as it was three weeks ago. At first, I couldn’t shift into first. Next, I stalled the bike as I tried to find the friction zone. Now I should’ve kept the bike in first on the restart, but out of habit, I had shifted again into neutral. I had a devil of a time finding first and made a huge mistake. I thought the issue might be with the shift-lever, so I brought my whole boot and full leg weight down and was quickly scolded. Bill pointed out that the shift lever is not designed to take full body weight and the key was in the clutch. I worked on slowly letting out the clutch until the bike shifted into first. I then ended up over-revving on the throttle as I again sought the friction zone. With a lot of dabbing, I was able to get the bike moving. Happily, once I found the friction zone, I was able to stay in it.

Today I got to do a bit more in my R Nine T ride. Instead of just doing slow S-turns, I was able to cruise down the field to the baseball diamond. Bill had asked me to not shift, so I stayed in first, and enjoyed the woods beside me and the feel of the bike. I especially enjoyed the boxer engine which very notably does not roast my thighs. Before I can take the motorcycle out on the road, Bill wants to get more road biased tires. But this delay is good as it will allow me more time to get comfortable with the dry clutch, finding the friction zone, and shifting to first.

On our way back to the garage, we had two run ins with inconsiderate drivers. One driver was in a minivan and turned across our path as though we weren’t there. The other driver was in a small SUV and had swung into our lane to move around a parked pickup truck. She made no adjustment to share the road as we came closer to passing. We just slowed to near stops and let these clueless drivers pass. Just more evidence as to why we don’t want to be out in full on traffic.

As for my nature watching, I did get to see one Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, a rabbit, and a blue heron hunting in the low tidal water. I’m pretty sure another butterfly flew over my head, but all I saw of him was his shadow. I’m hoping as we move further into summer, we start our rides earlier as an earlier start will give us more nature to enjoy as we all try to avoid the hotter parts of the day.

The Great State Inspection Adventure

Now that I’m on summer vacation, we decided to take the bikes in for their annual state inspections. Both BMWs were past due and both were in two different cities. So our first adventure was to take the R Nine T to Southside Harley-Davidson for its inspection.

Our adventure was slightly derailed (pun intended) by a freight train stopped on the tracks. I turned around and went the circuitous route that avoided the tracks. This was smart as we could see the train was still not moving after 10 minutes.

But once we went over that hurdle, it was smooth sailing to get to the garage and get the bike. We arrived at Southside early enough to be second in line. Supposedly inspections started at 12:30, but it wasn’t until 1:15 that a couple of guys wandered out and took a look at the motorcycle. We kept cool by wandering inside the dealership and checking out the Harleys. I was hoping to see the new Nightster, but they don’t have one yet. We did get to see the 2022 Street Glide ST that Bill was interested in.

That was the simple adventure. Today I was taking the 310 over to Honda of Norfolk for an inspection. As I neared the dealership, the gates came down announcing another freight train’s arrival. I was second in line, so I had a good view down the tracks of the train. I watched for the end of the train, but as I waited, I realized the train was slowing to a stop. I turned around and headed home to try again later.

After about half an hour, I headed out again. As I rode up the main road, I caught a glimpse of orange in the distance and I knew this wasn’t flowers. Sure enough, the train was still at a standstill on the tracks. Back again home to wait even longer. Now the adventuresome part of returning home is prepping the bike to head back out for the next attempt. My driveway is two strips of concrete with a grassy hump in the middle. And I don’t have enough space to do a U-turn in front of the garage. So I end up needing to rock the bike back to increase my turn radius. Unfortunately, this is an uphill battle and even on a 375-pound bike, hard to do. I managed the first turnaround, but Bill was kind enough to take over the second one.

Nearly two hours after my first attempt to take the 310 in for inspection, the third try was successful. As I crossed the train-free tracks, I realized the turn was sooner than expected, so I was coming in a little too fast onto a large patch of gravel—a prime slippage surface. Luckily, I was able to steer wide as I slowed and was just fine. The inspection itself lasted 15 minutes with a 5-minute wait, so the true battle was getting past the train to get to the inspector. As I was leaving the dealership and waiting to turn onto the main road, a city police officer drove by, and I was very glad I had the shiny new up-to-date inspection sticker on display.

Now we are both set for Saturday’s ride, and I added a few more miles onto the 310 to get it closer to 600.

https://images.app.goo.gl/9Y8TEZ3oHgEqZStR7

Solo Cruise Part Deux

It was a day made for cruising. The 100-degree Friday gave way, via a violent thunderstorm bringing in a cold front, to a gorgeous 79-degree sunny day with a northerly breeze. The breeze blew the scent of magnolia blossoms into my helmet, and I spent most of the ride with a silly grin on my face.

Unfortunately, circumstances did not work in our favor to allow Bill to get the R Nine T inspected in time for today’s beautiful ride. So I headed out on my own. The road work had finished over by the first historic house, and I enjoyed a spin in the gravel lot. Then I headed over to the school parking lot to do some slalom practice using the bus parking lines.

Into the ritzy neighborhood, past the gaggle of geese starting to cross the road, I noticed the spectacular hydrangea blooms. The flowers ranged from white, to pink, to fuchsia, to sky blue, to deep purple. Mixed in with the hydrangeas were bright orange day lilies, white magnolia blossoms, and even early crepe myrtle blooms. We’ve been lucky to have lots of rain and the flora clearly appreciate it. At one point I rode up to a low hanging magnolia branch to sniff the flower, something easy to do on a motorcycle. But it led to me almost dropping the bike.

One point Bill has emphasized to me about stopping on roadways is the unevenness of the roads and the need for care. My branch led me to the side of the court where the street dipped down toward the gutter. I was lucky. Because I was focusing on the flower, it would’ve been easy to forget myself and let the bike fall. But I fought the weight and managed to keep the motorcycle upright by pulling my left leg in closer toward the bike. I also managed to startle a Banded Hairstreak butterfly that fluttered out of another flower and crossed in front of me.

I continued my ride and continued to enjoy the hydrangeas, noting an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail also enjoying the blooms. I had the opportunity to practice the head movement to help steer in a wide turn; it worked like a charm and I found a few more places to practice it. I also worked on my rear brake stops and foot placement and did a much better job transitioning my hand onto the front brake. My standing stops also went smoothly as did my straightening out of a turn stops.

It was difficult to bring my ride to an end. Had Bill been riding with me, we would’ve ridden for another hour at least. But I took pity on him having to just sit around and wait and headed back. I did a fabulous job of parking the bike next to the lonely R Nine T. Next week for sure we’ll ride together and, I’m hoping, I’ll get another turn on the BMW.

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Solo Ride

Last week’s ride was more motorcycling badassery. We were lawbreakers, unintentionally but, as Thomas Jefferson said, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse in any country.” So this week I rode alone to keep us on the right side of “Johnny Law.”

I’m having fun, but we did inadvertently break the law last week. Our beautiful riding Saturday this week came to an abrupt end when, as I was moving around the R Nine T so Bill could check the oil level, I spotted the annual safety inspection sticker—5/22. The state inspection was past due which meant no riding until we get it inspected for this year. The oversight came because we got the R Nine T last June and the registration renews in June, so we thought the safety inspection would be June too. However, our beautiful bike had sat in the dealership for a month before our purchase. Had we bought both BMW bikes at the same time, we’d have been better aware of our deadlines.

We left my parent’s house with the thought that riding was out for this weekend. But by a happy twist of fate, Bill left his glasses in my folks’ garage and didn’t realize it until we had arrived home. This slight mishap led to a new plan for me to ride solo on Sunday as we had to go back over and get the glasses anyway. I offered to let Bill cruise first, but he chose to let me have all the riding fun.

The late morning was hot and humid and wit the Ducati I sit on top of part of the motor, so it was uncomfortably warm when stopped or doing slow-speed maneuvers. I chose to do long stretches of cruising to maximize the cool air washing over me. I didn’t speed, but I did ride down several roads to their end just to stretch out the cooling sensation.

Because this was a solo ride, I mostly was able to work on my rider awareness. I always try and work on awareness of the road and other drivers, but riding behind Bill makes it easy to rely on his awareness a little too much. Everything went well, though I noted a lot of people roll through stops. I did have to watch out for one car’s wacko turn around, but otherwise traffic was light. I avoided the church parking lots as church was still in session and there were cars in the lots. I did get to practice in the gravel lot and had one slip that almost caused me to put my left foot down. I look forward to riding the R Nine T on the gravel and feeling how it handles.

I did take the time to practice my standing and stopping and surprised myself by how well that went. But the hospital lot was out for straightening and stopping drills as that lot doubles as overflow parking for the church across the road. I didn’t mind much, though, as I got overly warm doing my drills.

It seems it was too hot and humid for both the butterflies and the dragonflies as I didn’t see either during my ride. That or I was paying closer attention to the road and missed seeing them. I did see some critters though. A small rabbit leapt across a driveway as I roared into a court. And I spotted an osprey delivering building materials for a nest. I had the most fun when I entered our quiet little viewing court and saw a small Eastern Box Turtle making his lethargic way across the court. He stopped as I rode into the court and kept an eye on me as I circled around. I stopped to get a picture of him as he resumed his slow trudge, enjoying the fact that a motorcycle makes it easier to stop on the side of the road and take nature photos.

I headed home in perfect time as large, dark clouds rolled in. I was able to finish up my ride and get home before the storm hit. Next weekend marks the start of my summer vacation and I’m looking forward to the new riding adventures that await!

Eastern Box Turtle crossing the viewing court.

Finally! (Sort of)

I finally got to ride the BMW R Nine T Urban GS—sort of. But since that came at the end of the ride, I’ll explain in a bit.

As I sat on my Ducati waiting for Bill to mount the R Nine T, my Mom’s neighbor walked by. She immediately was drawn to the R Nine T, appreciating the beauty of the motorcycle. She asked if it was my brother’s bike and said she used to ride the pillion on her old boyfriend’s motorcycle when she lived in Canada. After walking around admiring the R Nine T, she politely asked me what I was perched on, but it was clear the BMW motorcycle was the big draw.

A lovely 80-degree day with lots of sunshine for our ride greeted us this Saturday. Gearing up was quite warm, but once the ride started, I felt almost chilly from the cool breeze washing over me. We rode again straight down the long road, letting the cool air waft over us and enjoying the lovely day. Yardmen were loading up their riding mower with lovely rose bushes at the end of the road as they continued their month-long landscaping project.

The magnolia blooms scented the air as we headed on our usual neighborhood ride, checking in on the progress on the two houses under construction. We stopped the bikes in one court as Bill noticed some plastic barriers up leading down to the water and posited a boat ramp may soon be under construction. As we checked out the water which was conspicuously missing all waterfowl this week (usually we see some ducks and an egret), a duskywing butterfly fluttered right between us right at eye level. It fluttered too fast for me to get a clearer look to know which kind of duskywing it was; I did see the grayish/brown body and new this was a new butterfly.

Our ride continued with lazy loops in the churches’ parking lots and on the gravel lot. My tires slipped again on the gravel, so I have begun to wonder if the softer ground makes the tires slip more. The R Nine T has 50/50 tires, meaning 50% for on road and 50% for off road, so it has a better grip.

As we rode, there wasn’t much traffic. But whenever we were at a stop sign, we had to wait for several cars to pass. At one stop we waited as 7 cars went by, very unusual. But I didn’t mind as I could practice my stops and my looks. It was at once such stop that spied a spicebush swallowtail dancing along in the air.

One MSF skill we’ve added back to our practice is the swerve. On some of the streets, there’s some leftover yard debris on the side of the road—sticks, leaf piles, pinecones. We ride straight at the debris and then apply pressure to the left handlebar to swerve the bike around the obstacle. This is great practice for swerving to the left, but it doesn’t give us the chance to swerve to the right. So when we were in the large church parking lot, I aimed at the parking space stripes to swerve right.

This week we did remember to practice riding while standing and then stopping suddenly. I need to work on my right foot position so I can start braking with the rear brake while still standing. Otherwise, it went really well.

We also continued our straightening up out of the curve and stopping practice and the straight-line quick stops. I had one bauble where I put my right foot down on one of my quick stops. I need to work on a quicker reaction time so I can use my head shift to help me use the correct foot. More work for next week.

Now we did not start the ride by letting me putter on the R Nine T on the grass because as we drove into the neighborhood, we saw cars in front of and to the side of the school. These weren’t the cricket players, so we felt constrained in using the field. Our thinking was we’d do our neighborhood cruising and swing by the school to see if the cars were gone at the end of the ride. No such luck. I feared my R Nine T ride was going to again be postponed. But as Bill signaled his turn, I began to hope we were heading to the back of the school field. Sure enough, at my dead-end practice street, we turned left and rode up past the Armco onto the grass.

Now the R Nine T has what is called a dry clutch. This means the clutch is similar to that on a manual transmission automobile. My Ducati Scrambler and BMW G310 GS both have multi-plate wet clutches. In terms of riding, this means my two bikes have a more forgiving friction zone. But that was what Bill wanted me to practice—getting a feel for the dry clutch and friction zone. So I began my ride dabbing my feet and stalled almost immediately. I restarted, got moving very slowly, hit a depression in the ground and stalled the bike again trying to give it enough with just the clutch to get out. I realized I needed to add a bit of throttle but carefully as Bill always talks about how the bike just wants to go.

After the second restart, I found the sweet spot in the dry clutch’s friction zone, put my feet up on the pegs, and began my slow circle cruise around the young magnolias. I loved riding the R Nine T and was really tempted to roll on the throttle and ride up the field. But I was the good student and did as my instructor asked. Plus, with people in the school, we didn’t want to overstay our welcome. And that just gives me something to look forward to with next week’s ride.