As pretty much everyone in the country knows, we’ve had some hot weather this week.  We’re pretty much at the height of the triple H summer—hazy, hot, and humid—with many days building into afternoon thunderstorms.  So we strategized for Saturday’s high of 96 degrees by getting up and heading out before 8:00 AM.

            I got a little nervous as we drove over and saw raindrops begin falling on the windshield.  Luckily, no storm developed until later in the afternoon, and the clouds gave us some extra cooling at the beginning of our ride.  I was wearing a plain white cotton undershirt and, with the 82 degrees and cloudy skies, was comfortable for most of the ride.

            Due to the earlier start, I was able to see a small gaggle of Canadian geese beating the heat and getting an early breakfast.  We also saw several squirrels acting squirrelly, in the road and not sure which way to go for safety.  And there were many dragonflies about maybe breakfasting on mosquitos who got too early a start on their day.

            Because we had gotten up earlier than normal for a Saturday, Bill led us out for cruising and we avoided slow speed maneuvers.  I took this as an opportunity to figure out a way to shake out my right hand.  I forgot to switch Alpinestar jackets with Bill, a strategy he suggested last week to see if my jacket is cut tight and causing the numbness.  Since we stayed on the roads and cruised, I didn’t get my chance to park the bike and work my hand.  I certainly didn’t want to cut our ride short, so I found a solution.  As I come to a stop, I use the rear brake (foot only) which means my right hand is temporarily idle.  Once I come to a stop, get my left foot down, and know the bike is stable, I pull in the front brake usually.  My strategy was to shake out my right hand as I came to a stop before pulling in the front brake.  It helped, but I came to the realization that I would not be able to do a long ride on the R Nine T if it didn’t have cruise control.

            I found myself during the cruise thinking quite a bit about motorcycle types and riding positions.  The R Nine T is what is known as a retro bike but it has a bit of naked bike styling to it.  A naked bike is usually a sport bike without a faring (a faring is like the body work on a car that helps create aerodynamic wind flow).  One of the main complaints about the sport bike riding position is that the rider has to lean forward putting pressure on the wrists.  The R Nine T riding position has me leaning just slightly forward, so it doesn’t put a lot of pressure on my wrists.

            However, I’m not on a cruiser like Bill’s Triumph Rocket 3.  The cruiser position (think most Harley-Davidsons) has the rider sitting upright with the legs forward (though Bill opted for the mid-range peg position).  Cruisers are meant to be ridden for long periods of time on the straight highways of America, so they are built for rider comfort.  My thoughts, though, were mostly wondering again about the comfort of the BMW R 1250 GS. 

            Of course I can’t blame the R Nine T outright for my discomfort.  My left hand doesn’t get numb.  One theory as to why my right hand goes numb is that my right arm (I’m right-handed) muscles are larger and this causes my Alpinestar sleeve to pinch.  I’ll see next week because I’ll remember to try Bill’s jacket.

            I also hope next week I’ll still get to enjoy the spectacular colors of the crape myrtles.  The summer thunderstorms have really benefited these trees as they are heavy with their pink, purple, and white blossoms.  I hoped to see some butterflies among them, but all I spotted was a black butterfly zip by too fast for me to clearly identify it.  I’ll be on the lookout for it and more on next week’s ride.

A beautiful summer day in the mid-80s is quite a gift.  Having checked the forecast for Saturday earlier in the week, I had been especially looking forward to today’s ride.  All week we had temperatures into the 90s with building humidity that resulted in daily afternoon thunderstorms.  But Saturday was partly cloudy with a high of 85, what should be a beautiful summer’s day for riding a motorcycle.

            The ride began well enough, with a comfortable coolness coming from the wind generated by the ride.  Bill did have to tighten up the battery connections again to get the Triumph Rocket to start but, after last weekend’s lesson, that was a quick fix.  We headed out with cloud cover and cooling air, but my left shoulder was hurting.  Somehow the clasp on the Alpinestars armored jacket was pressing into my front shoulder most uncomfortably.  I reached in to adjust the strap, which I could do because I kept my jacket zipped only halfway to increase air flow.  But it kept digging in.

            I couldn’t understand the issue.  The strap was not the one I had undone to get the jacket on and then secure the plating.  My best guess was that it had gotten twisted when I put my gear away last week.  Had it continued to press in painfully, I would’ve stopped riding, dismounted, and fully adjusted my gear.  But after shifting it around four or five times, it became just a little uncomfortable and completely endurable.

            We rode the twisty road, and I worked again on setting up my entries into the curves.   These went great giving me time to enjoy some scenery.   I saw some beautiful tall phlox in a gorgeous fuchsia shade along the twisties. 

            Having not done much with slow speed maneuvers last weekend, we spent quite a bit of the ride zooming into courts and cul de sacs to work on U-turns and S-turns.  It was during all of this turn practice that I noticed my right hand again becoming numb.  As soon as we got to the shady parking lot, I parked the bike and worked on loosening up my sleeve.  I don’t actually know what causes this numbness; it is a fairly new development that I’ve only noticed as I ride the R Nine T.  I’ve tried various undershirts thinking that my sleeve may have twisted underneath the safety gear and caused pressure on my arm.

            During today’s ride, I began to wonder if the numbness is due to my pre-loading my front brake.  I would think the pre-load and rolling on the throttle would be enough motion through the hand and arm to prevent any numbness, but something is causing it.  I have wondered if it might be the riding position of the R Nine T.  I don’t sit entirely upright, like I did on the 310, Scrambler, and GSA; I ride with a slight hunching forward.  However, if the position was causing the numbness, I would think I’d experience some numbness in my left hand as well.  Bill has suggested that my Alpinestars jacket may be causing the numbness because of the change in my arms.  I workout and lift weights, in part to better help me handle motorcycles, and I am beginning to see some muscle definition.  So Bill’s theory is that definition is creating a new tightness in the sleeve and leading to the numbness.  Next week I’m going to try wearing Bill’s jacket and see if that prevents my right hand from falling asleep.

            I did have a distraction from the numbness and that was, the heat.  Even though the day was cooler, the humidity worked on me to the point where I began to feel a little sick.  I’ve decided that the t-shirt I got that is supposed to wick moisture away from my body doesn’t breathe well enough.  I’m going to try wearing a plain, white, men’s undershirt underneath my gear and see if that works to keep me more comfortable.

            I tried something new while we worked in the hospital lot.   Because I was feeling the heat, I didn’t want to spend too much time on slow U-turns.  Earlier in the week, Bill had mentioned that I should try and lock up the brakes so I could feel the ABS (anti-lock braking system) kick in.  I asked him how I would know if the ABS was activated, and he explained that I would feel a shudder in the motorcycle, like a “chiggering.”  To keep cool and still work on my riding skills, I sped along in the lot and grabbed hard on the brakes.  I felt the ABS activate three times.  Why should I do this?  As a skill, understanding the feel of the ABS can help me in an emergency braking situation to not freak out and, heaven forbid, stop braking.  The practice also let me work up a cooling breeze to help with the heat.

            Despite the discomforts of the ride, I did have a good time.  I enjoyed seeing some tall sunflowers in bloom and caught a strong whiff of fragrant air from a mimosa tree.  And I was quick enough to spot not only a couple of cabbage white butterflies, but two small Fritillary butterflies, one of which fluttered by six inches from my helmet.  My riding skills are becoming second nature allowing me to enjoy these natural sites while keeping aware and riding safely.

It was a warm mid-July morning with the promise of more thunderstorms at some point in the day as we planned to head out for our ride.  We didn’t get far at first, but eventually we did get going. 

My parents’ driveway is very steep; walking up it I can feel my calf muscles straining.  Plus, ever since I dropped the Ducati Scrambler in the driveway, Bill has been the one to back both motorcycles out of the garage and park them down on the road.  He starts with the Rocket and then the R Nine T.  I visit a bit with my mom, change into my Daytona riding boots, while he does this. 

On this particular morning, I was helping my mom scan some documents and had popped out to let Bill know that I wouldn’t be long.  Bill was sitting on the Rocket having backed it out of the garage in preparation for riding it down into the street, but instead of riding, we waved me over.  The Rocket wouldn’t turn over.  The dashboard lit up as it should though the fuel gauge didn’t move, but when Bill again hit the starter, it gave a whine and nothing.

We haven’t owned the Rocket even a year yet.  It is a beautiful motorcycle, a dream bike in man ways, but it does have technical issues with the key fob.  Many riders report connectivity issues with the key fob, having the bike say it is out of range in the middle of a ride.  Bill has had issues in closeness of the fob for the engine to engage, but it always did engage until today.  We pushed the motorcycle back into the garage, and Bill went out and bought new batteries for the fob.  Still no turnover, so I called the Triumph dealer to speak to a mechanic.  The only practical suggestion to come from the conversation was to check the connections on the battery because they may have “vibrated loose” according to the mechanic.  Bill did so jiggling them as he checked for tightness; they were tight.

It seemed as though our ride was shot, but Bill pressed the ignition switch one more time and was rewarded with the grumble of the engine igniting.  Since the battery cables weren’t really loose, we think he jiggled them enough to let the starter connect.  It is a good thing to know when a motorcycle acts up to check the battery cables.  We keep all of our motorcycles on battery tenders.  These provide a constant charge to the bikes’ batteries, useful because they are not ridden every day like our cars are driven every day.  But even with the tender, the connections on the battery that respond to the starter can vibrate out of place—all part of learning the character of a motorcycle.

Speaking of character, once we got going, I came to the realization that of the three main motorcycles I’ve ridden for some period of time, the R Nine T is by far the easiest to ride.  Once I developed my comfort level with the clutch, I’ve not had many struggles.  There’s been that odd day when I had some missed shifts (and almost crashed), but I see that as character that comes with the bike.  The balance of the motorcycle is phenomenal and has helped develop my confidence in making Uturns.  It has the power to let me easily keep up with Bill on his Rocket, and it looks fantastic.  Looking at the bike, it embodies the essence of what a motorcycle should look like.  In its retro styling, it harkens back to the motorcycles of the 1940s and 1950s, and with the exception of the weird numbness I get in my right hand, the riding position is great.  I still find myself thinking about the R 1250 GS, and I do still believe that is my dream bike.  But being “stuck” with the R Nine T is a pretty good place to be.

Speaking of good places to be, even with the cloying heat, the ride was wonderful.  My shirt was stuck to my back within five minutes of us zooming off.  With our late start due to the start up issues, we went for a quick ride that was mostly cruising.  The cruising allowed the air to circulate enough to keep me mostly comfortable.  I also had decided to try wearing my Klim riding jeans instead of the Rev’It leather pants, and I do think those kept me a wee bit cooler.  I was rewarded on the ride with three different butterflies—the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, one Cabbage White, and a small Black Swallowtail making me even happier that this ride did happen.

I had a get together this weekend with friends I hadn’t seen in quite some time, some since before the pandemic.  With this event, the weather, and feeling a little under the weather, riding our motorcycles will have to wait until next weekend.

            I do have some motorcycle news, however.  We’ve had an offer on the BMW G 310 GS at our price ($4950).  Once the cashier’s check arrives and clears, we may have one of the two motorcycles up for sale sold.  I had to go back on CycleTrader and buy a new ad for the Ducati Scrambler.  Unfortunately, once a listing has been live for 24 hours, they don’t let the seller edit the full listing.  I had listed it as a Ducati Desert Sled Scrambler Fasthouse, and Bill pointed out that someone searching for a Ducati Scrambler has to wade through 10 pages of results before ours showed up.  Once I put it in as the Ducats Scrambler, it came up with only one other motorcycle being sold out in California.  I did get an offer on the Ducati, but it was way under what we’re asking, so I refused it.

            I do hope that we manage to sell both these motorcycles, and I hope we can give more serious consideration to purchasing the BMW R 1250 GS.  At this rate, though, I should be able to test ride the new 1300 model coming out in the Fall.  If I’m lucky, the upgraded engine will be a big hit, reducing the demand for the 1250 and bringing those prices down.  That would really make me happy.

            It was a week of taking care of the BMW motorcycles.  Bill got to do most of the riding as I started my summer job.  I was bummed at not getting to take the 310 in for its annual inspection while Bill took the R Nine T.  Instead, Bill rode the 310 over to the Honda dealership for that inspection, and then the next day, he rode the R Nine T over to the Harley dealership for its inspection.  Both bikes passed, but when we did an oil check on Saturday, we realized the R Nine T needed some oil.

            Because of this oil need, we had to postpone our usual Saturday ride.  For one thing, we had to get the proper oil to add, and we had to get the tool that opens the cylinder head for adding oil.  When one buys a motorcycle, it comes with a small toolkit.  This toolkit usually fits under the seat.  Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the R Nine T toolkit was back at the house in Bill’s tool chest.  So we headed back home to pick up the toolkit and buy some oil.

            Our first stop for the oil was back at the Honda dealership.  During the inspection earlier in the week, Bill visited with the owner of the store.  He was there again Saturday, so we had a nice little stop but no luck on the oil (15W x 50).  However, the Honda shop owner suggested we try Cyclegear.  Now we have shopped at Cyclegear for motorcycle clothing gear, but we would not have thought of them for motorcycle oil.  Thanks to the suggestion, we found the oil we needed—Motorex, an oil manufactured in Switzerland.

            Back we went to my parents’ garage.  One of the suggestions for checking and changing the bike’s oil was to ride it for a couple of miles, let it sit for five minutes, and then check the oil.  This warm up ride was my utilitarian ride.  I geared up and headed out on my own.  Since I knew the curvy road would get me at least a mile of the ride, I headed up it.  What was interesting was I realized I relied more than I thought on Bill selecting our approaches into the curves.  Riding solo gave me the opportunity to work on that skill.

I rode until the odometer moved from 1143 to 1146 to ensure I had covered at least two miles.  Back at the garage, we waited the suggested five minutes, Bill checked the oil level again, and then added the oil.  On the R Nine T, the oil fill “line” is a red circle; the oil should be near the top of the circle without going over.  Well, despite adding only about half a cup of oil, it went over the top of the circle.  Now oil needed to be drained which necessitated finding a large enough allen wrench to open the drain plug.  Luckily Bill didn’t have to go all the way back to our house; he could run over to his Mom’s house and get the needed tool.

            I haven’t mentioned the weather yet, but it was the first day of July, and the day was a typical July day—hot and humid.  The temperature was in the upper 80s, but with the humidity, the heat index put us up in the 90s, and Bill was stuck working in the garage with only a small fan to cool him off.  My Mom needed help on the computer, so I got to hang inside in the air conditioning.  But he got the excess oil drained.

            By now it was four o’clock in the afternoon, very late for us.  I was pleasantly surprised when Bill said let’s ride.  Due to the lateness of the day, the heat and its impact on Bill working away in the hot garage, we went for a zoomy, short ride.  I love how the wind cools me off as we zip along.  One perk of the late afternoon ride was I got to see two pairs of osprey up circling as they hunted.  We sacrificed our slow speed practice which I didn’t mind on the warm day.  And the final perk was my suggestion.  Usually after our ride, we head home and cook a delicious blueberry French toast brunch.  However, I was hot and tired and in no mood to cook, so I figured Bill for sure had to be hotter, more tired, and more not in the mood to cook.  My suggestion was we head over to Kanpai Sushi and get our usual dinner and save the French toast for tomorrow.

            It was a day where we learned a lot about the motorcycle and about our bike resources.  I learned I need to think more purposefully about my ride even when I’m following behind Bill.  And I relearned to always be grateful for every opportunity to ride.       

      Happy Independence Day!  Have a wonderful day celebrating our awesome country’s birthday!