First Ride of the New Year

            Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and the new year is off to a great start.  My holidays were great except for the Arctic blast that prevented us from a Christmas Eve ride.  When the high barely crept into the low 20s, we decided to stay snug and warm at home.

            After Christmas, our area was blessed with gradually warming temperatures, giving us multiple sunny days in the 60s—perfect riding weather.  And Bill did get a short ride in on Thursday; the Ducati was due for its annual state inspection, so we headed off to Honda of Norfolk.  While Bill patiently waited for the inspector to become available, I was able to check out the CRF250F.  This motorcycle is an off-road trail bike that we are considering.  We’d like to purchase two of these bikes and, as Bill calls it, “rag” them off-road.  Bill got his first motorcycle at the age of thirteen, and he had a large field next to his house to ride it in.  So he appreciates the riding skills one can learn on a lighter bike in the dirt.  Because it is designed to ride off road, it is a tall motorcycle; a seat height of almost 25 inches.  But the suspension is soft and sank down as I mounted the bike so I could easily flat foot the bike.  We haven’t gotten to the serious purchase phase yet, but it was great having the opportunity to see and sit on the bikes.

            Now I mentioned that we had a week of spectacular weather, riding weather.  And I was off from work the whole week.  So why didn’t we take advantage and go for a weekday ride?  Well, my Mom was having trees removed, so the yard was torn up and there were large machines all around the house that week.  Our motorcycles were trapped in the garage.

            Also, unfortunately for us, rain moved in late Friday and lingered all through Saturday into Saturday night.  Road surfaces become slippery in the rain, especially if there are oil slicks on the road.  Plus, I’m using 50/50 on/off-road tires, which means the tread is chunky, so there are gaps where the tire is not in full contact with the ground.  These gaps don’t make for the best traction on wet roads.  We began to believe there would be no ride this weekend either.

            If you search “motorcycle riding as therapy,” you’ll find over 15 million hits.  The Semel Institute for Neuroscience at UCLA found that riding a motorcycle decreased cortisol, a stress hormone, by 28%.  Even I have written about how therapeutic I find my riding (“Hint of Fall Riding” published Dec. 5, 2021).  When it became obvious that Saturday’s ride was a no-go, we headed over to Southside Harley-Davidson to see if they were as well stocked as Bayside.  They did have a good number of motorcycles, including a gorgeous red Fatboy, several Pan Americans, Nightsters, and even a few Livewires (HD’s electric motorcycle).  Bill was amazed to realize that the Harley’s didn’t seem as large now that he’s been riding a Triumph Rocket.  But looking at motorcycles isn’t the same as riding them, and I admit I was getting a bit depressed.

            Our only hope was that the promised sunshine for Sunday would show up and shine enough to dry out the roads if we were patient and planned on a much later start.  Thankfully, 2023 gave us what we wanted and the roads dried out enough to allow us our ride.  I needed the escape as my football team came out in the second half and stunk up the field.

            The Arctic storm brought enough strong winds to blow clear almost all of the trees.  But with the sunshine, warm temps (65), and most people having tomorrow off, there were lots of people out and about.  We saw several kids playing on new Christmas bikes, scooters, and skateboards.  Bill had a near run in with a screwy squirrel; I watched from behind and I swear, it was like the squirrel was playing chicken with the front tire of the Rocket.  Finally, he darted off the road and let us resume our ride. 

            I worked on keeping two fingers on the front brake as I worked the throttle.  This position is known as pre-loading because the slack is pulled in on the brake to pre-load it so that when pulled, actual brake pressure is being applied to the front wheel.  It is considered one of the safer ways to ride.  I believe I was successful at the pre-load on this ride because I was able to wear my summer gloves on the warmer day. 

            Because I found it easier to pre-load the front brake, I was better able to work on braking into the curves.  I found turning easier, and I was able to turn tighter in courts.  I only had to widen out my turns to keep clear of Bill on the Rocket. 

            One aspect of our ride that has changed some since Bill acquired the Rocket is how we now make multiple runs on the 35-mph road.  It is clear that he feels the grunt of the torque on his new bike, and I found myself wondering as we rode if we would venture out onto a higher speed road soon.  We’ve discussed some options; maybe if the weather cooperates, we can put one of those options into play.

            The one downer on our ride was the position of the sun.  Due to our rain delay, we were out riding much later in the day than usual and, being winter, the sun is much lower in the sky. Together, these circumstances meant we were riding into the glare of the sun on several roads.  My helmet does have a visor, but I had taken it off in December because when I wear my leather jacket, the collar pushes the helmet in the back and the visor blocks some of my vision.  But the low sun shouldn’t be too much of a problem as we don’t usually ride at 3:00 in the afternoon.

            After such a wet and dreary Saturday, however, I’ll take the sun even in my eyes a bit since it means I get to ride.  And the days are slowly stretching out.  It’s far too early to think about spring, but some more weekends in the 60s in the middle of winter would sure be wonderful.  Next week’s ride will be more wintry as the high is only in the 40s, but that will be my chance to try out my new winter riding pants.