Our ride was late today, after 1:30.  In part we delayed a bit waiting for the day to get as warm as it could.  But we also ran a few errands beforehand.  By the time we mounted the bikes and headed out for our ride, my stomach was rumbling louder than my motorcycle.

            One reason for the delay was our stop at CycleGear.  I asked for some kind of insulated pant to wear for my winter rides, and we were hoping the Rev’It style Bill found online would be available at CycleGear for a try on.  No such luck; in fact we couldn’t find any Rev’It gear in the store.

            However, the trip was still beneficial.  Our route to our next stop was roundabout, but it allowed us to scope a future riding route.  In particular we wanted to see if the new Lesner Bridge had a large grate.  The bridge only has two small expansion grates, so less chance of slippage.  This route would be my first out into real traffic, so we are being careful in our approach.

            After delivering some Christmas cards to a friend, we finally headed over to my parents’ garage to ride.  The sun was mostly out with a chilly wind blowing.  I had prepared by wearing my fleece lounge pants under my riding jeans.  I also had on a wool blended thermal, so I was comfortably warm on the bike.  I again had a struggle to shift into first, but I may have found a solution as later in the ride I had another struggle for first.  Instead of playing the clutch in and out and shifting as I do, I simply let the clutch all the way out slowly then pulled back in before shifting.  That worked on the second struggle, so I will experiment next ride to see if it is the solution.

            Once I caught up to Bill, we headed onto our twisty road.  I was better able to use trail braking on the twists.  It may simply be a matter of training my grip to become comfortable with the preload position.  I also took breaks to let my hand rest, and these breaks allowed me to work on the preload throughout my ride.

            I was able to focus on some training objectives, but I wasn’t able to really enjoy the Christmas decorations as my mind was on my rumbling tummy.  Usually on our ride days, I eat a slice of peanut butter toast and that holds me through the ride until we head home for our delicious brunch of blueberry French toast.  But since we didn’t head straight over for our ride, my PB toast had to keep me full longer, and it was not up to the task.  At several points during the ride, I had to refocus away from my hunger.  At one turn, I came in too fast but, because I had been working on preloading the brakes, I was able to slow my speed and straighten the motorcycle, preventing me from going too wide.

            That wider than I wanted turn shook most of my thoughts of food out, and I was better able to focus on my ride.  I didn’t have any full locks on my turn practice, but I had fun doing some first gear turns without the friction zone.  On my other motorcycles with the more typical wet clutches, I have to keep feathering the clutch in the slow speed practices or the bike will stall.  With the dry clutch much like a manual transmission car, once it’s running in first, it will stay running in first.  I like this as it allows me to rest my left hand which tires more easily on the R Nine T’s clutch.

            Since the R Nine T only has an analog dial showing speed, I have no idea how long we are out on our ride.  It was probably only an hour or so as we didn’t ride through all of our usual route.  Even so, next week I’ll hope we don’t have any errands to run.  Next week my thoughts will be on the cold—the high for Saturday is supposed to only reach 33 degrees—yikes!  I’ll find out just how good my heated grips really are.

Who hasn’t had “one of those days”?  A day where everything is just off.  Maybe you oversleep and are late for work.  You’re wearing two different colored socks.  Perhaps you spill your coffee down the front of your shirt after you’ve arrived at work.  I had one of those days on my ride.

            Weatherwise we lucked out.  The roads had dried off and, despite the accu-weather forecast for a mostly cloudy day, we had bright sunshine throughout our ride.  The temperatures were in the low 50s, so I was wearing my Rev’It gloves.  I also chose to again wear my Daytona boots; I figure I should get used to them in preparation for the GS.

            The ride didn’t begin right away as I again struggled to find first gear.  I remained calm and remembered what Bill had told me about playing with the clutch lever until it shifted.  I found first much more quickly than last time and was off.  But I wasn’t the only thing off.  I couldn’t find the sweet spot on the foot peg where I needed to be so the front of my boot would slip under the shifter.  I struggled through several miles of the ride before I found that if I have the middle of my foot arch on the peg, I can readily slip my toe under the shifter.

            Additionally, I could not comfortably preload the front brake for trail braking practice.  Last week, I was surprised how easy the preload was, but this week every time I tried, it was awkward.  Preload is when the rider has one to two fingers on the front brake lever pulling in the slack so the brake is “preloaded.”  Preloading is a safe riding technique, and it is a skill I work on.  But I am beginning to believe the design of the grips and distance to the brake lever and clutch are adapted to men’s hands.  I am a tall woman with long fingers, but I can’t comfortably ride with a preloaded grip even with the levers adjusted to the closest position.  Perhaps motorcycle companies should consider a female-friendly handlebar option.

            After the ride as Bill and I were debriefing, he asked me if I learned anything on today’s ride.  My response was “no.”  But I realized later that wasn’t entirely true.  I learned that even as I was unable to work on the skills I wanted to, I was able to enjoy the ride because I could work around the issues.  Even though I couldn’t trail brake in the curves, I could still enjoy the feel of the bike as I leaned it side to side.

            As for my boot, I knew I could place it where I needed to shift correctly, so I just kept working at it until I found the spot.  But I was able to shift with the only issue being a mis-shift into neutral when my boot brushed the shifter as I adjusted it on the peg.  But I have enough riding experience to stay calm and ride through what I am discovering are minor problems for me to solve.

            I did think some of the discomforts were due to the very tough week I had at work.  I was physically tired, my left-hand cramping on the clutch lever, but I adjusted and adapted.  At one point I stayed in first gear during my slow U-turn drills, clutch out, making larger circles so I could rest my hand.  But I made it through the ride, enjoying the sunny day, the glimpses of roses stubbornly blooming, the geese scattering away from the roar of our motorcycles.

            In the hospital practice lot, we dismounted to take pictures of the motorcycles in the bright sunshine.  Looking over, Bill spotted a yellow-leafed tree and asked me to move the R Nine T in front of it for a photo (see below).  The bare branches show as well as winter approaches.  I will need warmer leggings to wear under my jeans and see if I can find a flannel turtle neck, but with my heated grips, I find myself looking forward to our winter rides.  And this is a good thing as next Saturday we’ll see a high of 48, assuming the accu-weather is more accurate.