Yellow leaves are intermingling with the green on the cherry trees. The crape myrtles are beginning to mix orange, red, and brown with their green leaves. And the Canadian geese are flocking in larger and larger groups. Our relatively mild August is moving swiftly into autumn as the summer wanes.
But summer is not going quietly. We had a return of the heat this week, though the worst of the heat hit midweek. Saturday was in the mid-80s with plenty of sunshine, just enough to feel the lingering summer heat. I opted not to wear my Alpinestars jacket which kept me mostly comfortable throughout the ride. It also allowed us some slow speed maneuver practice without overheating.
As I headed up the driveway to open the garage, I noticed the shadow of something flying overhead. When I turned around to see what it was, I was pleasantly surprised to see it was a black swallowtail butterfly flying over us. As we prepared to gear up in the garage, a tiger swallowtail flew directly toward us and even entered the garage before turning back from the shadow. At the beginning of the ride, I also spotted a little yellow Sulphur and what I believe was a Henry’s elfin butterfly in the culvert near the park.
During the ride, I focused some on my counter steering. I hadn’t been consciously thinking about it in my recent rides, but I enjoyed the sensation of the counter steer as I moved down the twisty road. My engine braking shifts have really smoothed out, and I find riding my motorcycle to be an almost sublime experience. Even in a mistake, as when I rode into the grass while making my first on street U-turn, I knew that I had stayed too close behind Bill and needed to adjust so as not to overtake him. I was able to correct on the second on-street U-turn though not one of my tighter turns.
When we got to the footless stop Yield sign, I worked the bike down to a “0” on the clock. I wondered if I could do the same with a digital clock such as the R 1250 or R 1300 GS has. On a boxer engine, I believe I could rather easily.
We had a beautiful, surprising sight when we rode close to the river. It was low tide which I had noted earlier due to the odor of the mud. As we approached the cul de sac, a large gray heron down in the riverbed took flight, albeit low over the water, startled by our motorcycles. The benefit of seeing it flying so close was gaining an appreciation of its nearly six foot wingspan. The startled heron settled about 100 feet upriver from where he was. Leaving the cul de sac, I looked down at the water and saw the head of another heron who chose to remain still rather than fly away.
I got to practice sudden stops when not one but two squirrels ran in front of the Rocket both heading left to right across the road. I also worked on my emergency stops in the hospital lot. I still have some shuddering from the antilock brakes, but as we enter more fully into fall, I will be able to get more practice.
Heading around on our final route back to the garage, I was slightly startled when a juniper hairstreak butterfly flew up at my face from the right. I love the up-close nature riding a motorcycle provides. It can be annoying if there is freshly mown grass blowing up into my raised visor. But I wouldn’t trade that inconvenience a second for the joy I feel out and about in nature on my motorcycle.
Flutterby Biker 