Leather pants, t-shirt, long-sleeved armored shirt, jacket, thick safety vest, and thick boots—not the typical wardrobe for an 82-degree day in June, but my favorite outfit by far. As we headed out for our ride, I thought of the irony of “bundling up” on a near summer’s day. But later when I saw a young lady in shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt ride by on her motorcycle, I shivered. There is such a hubris in assuming one is in total control, especially on a motorcycle. I prefer to get a little sweaty every ride and protect my skin should the unexpected happen and I come off the motorcycle.
Today’s temperature and breeze worked together to make the riding pleasantly cool. I realize different people have different comfort zones when it comes to body heat and temperature, but as I felt the wind chill at 30-mph, I wondered at the t-shirt and shorts wearing riders who are cruising at higher speeds. Don’t they feel chilly? I realized more so on today’s ride how the safety gear also keeps me comfortable on most of our rides. Sure, we’ll get to 90+ degrees with 80% or higher humidity and the gear will feel like too much. But on days like that, I think we just need to cruise more, especially on the 35-mph road to cool off.
I was lucky to get the chance to ride at all. Friday afternoon super sever thunderstorms moved through the area dumping a ton of rain and causing wind damage to one of my oak trees. At one point there was zero visibility, just a grey sheet of rain in front of me. I was worried the roads might still be wet and was expecting to at least dodge a lot of puddles. But the bright sunshine on Saturday dried up all but the deepest puddles and gave us a perfect day for riding.
My ride was far from perfect, however. I had three missed shifts; twice, I went into neutral, and one shift I skipped over second and went to third gear. At least I was fully aware of these missed shifts and was able to correct. One correction I made was to pull in my clutch. I did this automatically, and the benefit of pulling in the clutch is that it’s one way to help slow the motorcycle down. It’s also helpful because with the clutch pulled in, I can correct the gears.
Friday’s storms gave a softness to the green grass and leaves on the trees. More day lilies have bloomed giving bursts of orange and yellow flowers throughout the ride. I saw several cabbage white butterflies and many dragonflies gamboling about. One dragonfly was flitting about on a collision course with my helmet when he adjusted super quickly mid-flight and zoomed to safety. One more smile on a ride full of smiles.
Flutterby Biker 