Why does it seem that weekly weather patterns are such that the bright, sunny days are all during the week, and the rain comes for the weekend? We’ve had rain forecasted for Friday and Saturday for the past two weekends and have rain forecasted for next Saturday as well. Our luck has held, and we’ve been able to work in a ride, though today’s ride was shortened by falling rain.
Despite two summery days of temperatures in the mid-80s, by Saturday more winter-like weather had returned with highs supposedly In the low 50s but with the strong northeast wind, staying in the low to mid-40s. I returned to wearing my Rev’It Factor 4 Trousers with my lined leather jacket for warmth. I was excited for today’s ride as the R Nine T would hit the 1000-mile mark (and beyond), at least I was hoping it would if we could ride. As I walked down the driveway to the motorcycle, I saw small rain drops on the gas tank and looked over at Bill. We decided to head out and see if these were just random sprinkles and, for a while, they were.
I realized we were racing against the impending rain, but even with that realization, I was not prepared for how fast Bill took off from the first stop. Now his Triumph Rocket has much greater torque than the R Nine T (221 ft. lbs. compared to 85 ft. lbs.), but he hasn’t really laid it down until this ride. I let him take off and stayed in my comfort zone as I accelerated out of that first stop and several more on the ride. One mistake Bill has warned me about repeatedly is trying to keep up when riding with others. The more experienced rider should keep the pace at what the less experienced rider is comfortable with. Usually, Bill does this, but I think he had the urgency of the coming rain adding impetus to his throttle. I stayed true to my riding skills and let him head off. Since we are riding through neighborhoods, he isn’t going to go too fast, and there are enough stops for me to catch up. And I knew he would check his mirrors for me and realize I was lagging.
I did have time to appreciate the lushness of the greens now more evident as the leaves on the trees open and fill in. The gray skies gave a muted beauty to the dogwoods and azaleas, the whites, pinks, and purples of their flowers beautifully contrasted against the lush greenery. I was lucky enough to spot a bright pink peony bush with gorgeous large flowers in bloom, but I didn’t see any butterflies.
I hit the 1000-mile mark at the end of the long road, and we stopped and took a picture of the odometer. I’m only responsible for 300 of those miles but, had I continued riding my 310 or the Scrambler, I would’ve made it to 1000 on my own. Soon after the photo op, I heard rain drops hitting my helmet. Because I could hear the drops, I realized that this was the beginning of harder rain, the rain we would have to stop riding for. So we started to head to the garage.
During our return ride, I almost crashed during a turn. Now I’ve discussed trail braking and how I’ve been working on this skill, and it was this skill and keeping my head that helped me avoid the crash. As I turn, I downshift and use engine braking as well as the brakes to help slow the motorcycle. Entering the left-handed turn, I realized I was turning with more speed than I wanted. In rapid succession my brain registered too much speed, the curb my fast turn was taking me on a collision course with, and the fact that the bike did not engine brake. I continued applying the front and rear brake with more pressure on the rear brake as I worked to straighten up the bike while I also glance down and saw that I had over shifted down into neutral instead of second gear. I believe I was able to recover the turn and control the too-fast motorcycle because of my trail braking practice and because I focused on correcting the motorcycle and did not focus on what had gone wrong. Instead of crashing the front tire into the curb and possibly flying off the motorcycle, I turned wide into the gutter but recovered and safely brought the R Nine T back to the garage.
Later after our ride as we debriefed, Bill said he had forgotten to mention mis-shifting in a turn. This was a lesson experience taught me, and this lesson reinforces just how important training basic skills is. More training means more riding, and I am very happy about that.
Flutterby Biker 