The Indian summer we experienced during the week didn’t last into the weekend. Heavy winds pushed in an almost 30 degrees drop in temperature and a steady overnight rain that lasted well into Saturday evening. Luckily, the strong winds blew throughout the night, drying the roads off to allow for our Sunday ride.
According to my phone’s weather app, the “feels like” temperature was 49 degrees on a 61 degree day. The wind was blowing the clouds mostly over the sun, so gearing up for the ride was a little tricky. We had taken our gear over on Saturday on the remote chance the roads weren’t wet over there, so I had the Klim jacket. I managed to gear up almost perfectly for the day. I wore tights under my jeans, my flannel turtleneck, and my thermal overshirt under the jacket. The only think I forgot was my neck tube, but I managed to dig out the neckline of the turtleneck for a comfortable ride. I thought I might need the grip warmers, but my Barkbusters hand guards provided enough wind protection.
The cloud cover made the day gray and wintry in appearance. The mums and twice-blooming azaleas added splashes of color alongside the varied Halloween decorations. The most vivid decoration I spotted were two fuchsia colored fuzzy large spiders. Most of the blow up decorations weren’t up due to the gusty wind. Even most of the wildlife was dark for the day—crows, grackles in flight, and squirrels. I did spot the snowy egret again in the river near the road, and a streak of blue darted in front of the Rocket as a bluejay crossed the road.
The wind made for a lively ride. On a motorcycle an aware rider is constantly scanning, and any movement catches the rider’s eye as it could be an obstacle or a potential collision. Most of the movement were leaves being blown about, but one motion was a young woman coming around her SUV into the road to get to the driver’s door. I made a quick swerve to avoid her and realized that I missed her on my initial scan.
I did avoid the clumps of pine needles on the road remembering last week’s tire slip. The scent of the needles suited the autumn day perfectly. I relaxed in my U-turns and had two really great on-street turns. The only way to improve on them now is the get to full lock. I didn’t line up my two-spot turn in the gravel lot well enough to make it, so I had to stop the R Nine T and push it back to try again. I made it on the second attempt.
Despite the gray day, I really enjoyed my autumn ride. Hopefully, we’re fully into fall now and there’ll be plenty of lovely rides ahead.
