The Best Way to Spend Valentine’s Day

No fancy dress up, no heading out to a candlelit dinner, no champagne although I did get beautiful flowers that included roses. No, I got what I really wanted for Valentine’s Day—a gorgeous, sun-filled day in the upper 50s and a chance to ride.

All week long, Bill and I had been checking Saturday’s forecast, and as we got closer and closer to the weekend, the forecast kept improving with clouds disappearing Thursday and the temperature hitting over 55 by Friday night. Three weeks is a long time not to ride one’s motorcycle, and I was happy that both the weather and my health cooperated to let me out on my R Nine T.

It wasn’t just the weather suggesting that Punxsutawney Phil might have gotten it wrong. I spotted a small flock of Canadian geese as we headed over to the garage, lots of birds flitting in and out of trees, mallards in the river, and a robin zooming by. And Bill and I weren’t the only ones out taking in this spring-like day. The playground at the school was packed, some kids even wearing short sleeves and shorts in celebration of a warmer day. I was comfortable in my flannel turtleneck, leggings, and leathers, no lining needed in my Schotts. I wore my mid-weight gloves and realized I could’ve worn the light weight ones with the heated grips on, but I need more practice in the thicker gloves. And I have improved my throttle work with only one accidental roll on during the ride.

My riding skills evinced a three-week hiatus. My on-street U-turn hit the grassy berm on the first turn. And I messed up my two-parking space turn in the gravel lot, having to stop, push the motorcycle back, and regroup. I even dabbed once during a U-turn. I think in part I was a little extra zoomy during the ride having waited three weeks for the chance to zoom again.

The best part of the ride was knowing I was with my sweetheart and that he was having as much (if not more) fun as me. Looking ahead, the warm weather is planning to stick around, so hopefully I’ll stay healthy and there won’t be another hiatus in our motorcycle rides. Valentine’s Day is a day we reflect on love, and I can honestly say I absolutely love riding motorcycles!

two red and white motorcycles with hearts

Just a Warmup

Today we’re under a sever weather alert due to high winds and extreme cold. My phone said the temperature was 25 but felt like 7; the car said 31, but whichever temperature gauge was correct, it was too cold to ride. Bill and I are so tired of not being able to ride, we’ve already checked the forecast for next Saturday in hopes winter will let us ride again.

Even though it is extremely cold, I am seeing signs of spring. My daffodil shoots are up and the buds have formed. I also spotted three robins on this bitterly cold day, so nature is trying to bring spring about. And the sun was very bright as Bill guided the motorcycles onto the driveway to start them up and let the engines warm up. The battery tenders have been doing their jobs; both the Rocket and R Nine T started right up, and at least I got to enjoy the engines rumbling. But I will have to wait until next week and hope for a warmup for my actual ride. Bill joked about us losing our riding skills, but I pointed out my skills seemed sharper after my health layoff, and his skills came right back even after decades without a ride. Even so, once we can ride again, we’ll have fun reworking our skills.

Idling

The cold of winter does not stop us from gearing up and riding our motorcycles. Normally. We’ve ridden when temperatures dip down into the low 30s, but the line is drawn when temperatures are well below freezing. When the high temperature is 25 degrees with a wind chill of 7, I don’t need the R Nine T to flash a snowflake at me to tell me it is way too cold to be out on a motorcycle.

Last week’s ride was cancelled due to illness; I was fighting the flu and losing in the early rounds. By Sunday the flu had knocked me completely out, and I could only lie in bed and dream of motorcycles. This week’s ride was cancelled due to winter. The snow was arriving late enough in the day to allow us to ride, but even with our quality cold weather riding gear, sitting out exposed and generating wind on a day that already feels like single digits would have been stupid. And one thing one does not want to be when riding a motorcycle is stupid.

I’ve managed to recover from the flu and can finally get off the NyQuil. Looking ahead, next Saturday is promising to be in the 30s, so I’m hoping for a chance to ride. And I’m hoping on Monday Punxsutawney Phil won’t see his shadow, spring will arrive early, I’ll stay healthy, and we won’t have to miss any more rides!

Mix and Match Ride

Our weekend is mix and match weather—partly sunny skies and 60 degrees followed by rain and highs in the mid-40s. Luckily, the sun was out enough to let us ride, and I had both my warm and cold weather riding gear. I had my Klim summer jacket and summer gloves on, but I wore my long sleeves and Klim wool jacket underneath. And I was perfectly comfortable throughout the ride.

The buzzards and crows were acting up with the weather, flitting and circling about. The day was warm enough that I wondered if it might confuse a butterfly into making an appearance. It didn’t, or course, but the nice day brought the kids out and the dog walkers. The impending storm, with snow forecasted, caused people to be out, and we encountered traffic everywhere.

My ride went really well. I was glad to have the light weight gloves on as they give me the best feel for the throttle, clutch, and front brake. I figured if my hands got chilly, I could turn on the heated grips. But with the sun shining down on us for most of the ride, my hands were fine. I made an interesting emergency stop. As Bill was leading us around on the on-street U-turns, he stalled the Rocket in front of me. I saw Bill dab his left foot and realized I would need to stop in the midst of my turn. So I straightened my wheel quickly and stopped with no wobble or need to dab. I was a little disappointed because my turns were set up really sharply, but then I realized that I had the opportunity to practice a rare skill.

I also had good U-turns on the gravel lot. I’m almost ready to go inside the wooden board two parking spot section and see if I can stay inside the wood. During the fast shift-down turn drills, I wanted more roadway to accelerate because I really enjoy that drill.

When we started the ride, I looked for clouds and saw some building in from the north. About halfway through our ride, the clouds quickly overtook the sun, so much so I wondered about rain. The forecast hadn’t shown any rain for today, but I thought maybe the storm might have arrived early. No rain came, but the temperature began to fall as we ended our ride. As we headed home, the temperature had already fallen 10 degrees, so I was glad I had my mix and match layers.

Of course, the big question in my mind was what would next week’s ride be like? Will winter return? Or will we be gifted another spring-like day to air out our motorcycles? I can’t wait to find out.

large cloud overtaking the sun — Photo by Samir Smier on Pexels.com

If You Don’t Like the Weather, Wait a Week

One reason we don’t winterize the motorcycles is the precariousness of the mid-Atlantic coastal weather. Last week we were bundled up against the cold with our motorcycles warning us of icy conditions. Today’s ride was 74 degrees, so the summer gear was on and my R Nine T was smiling (well, I was smiling on the R Nine T). The rain had passed by earlier and, while there were a few damp patches of road in the shady spots, most of the roads had dried out. The sun even peeked out enough to require sunglasses. I can already sense the days are beginning to lengthen as the sun is higher in the sky and not shining right into my eyes.

I was grateful for my 50/50 tires. There had been some roadwork during the week, and I rode over several patches of gravel. I had my guardian angel bell attached under the chassis, and I hoped since I had my helmet vents open and the visor cracked, I might hear a jingle. But no such luck; I only heard the roar of the boxer cylinders. But I felt its protection as I worked on my turns in the gravel lot. The slight slips of the tires as I came around did not cause me worry as I balanced the motorcycle.

My turns went extremely well during today’s ride. My on-street U-turns were all pavement. And I really enjoyed our fast braking into turns drill, feeling the acceleration and then the dive as I hauled on the brakes then let up. I can understand why people love to race motorcycles.

Bill and I weren’t the only riders out enjoying the day. As we were conducting our fast-braking drill, a rider on a bright yellow Harley-Davidson Pan America rode by giving us the motorcycle salute. That was the first Pan America I’ve seen on the road, and I liked the color as the bright yellow nearly matched the bright yellow on my R Nine T.

It was still winter as far as the animals were concerned. I spotted some vultures up riding the thermals, and we had one squirrel crossing. But other than the ubiquitous crows, there was not much wildlife about. The camellias are blooming, adding their reds and pinks to the browns and greens.

Unbeknownst to me, as we were heading back to the garage, Bill put me to a test. We have a left turn out of the fancy neighborhood into my parents’. There was a car ahead turning the opposite left from us and Bill turned in front of that. But by the time I came to the left turn, there was another car coming up from behind and moving around the left-turning car. If I were crazy, I would’ve accelerated and zoomed into the turn in front of the car, but instead I slowed down into first gear and waited for the car to pass. Afterwards, as we were taking off our gear, Bill told me I had done what he had hoped I would do—deal with the intersection on my own and not just follow him blindly.

It can be a danger when riding with another or others to fall into trailing mode and just do what the leader does. Luckily for me, I have a leader who’s very conscientious of my limited riding experience. However, I am practicing my riding skills every week, and I will be out next week, when winter returns, working on my motorcycle skills.

My R Nine T Thinks I’m Crazy

Happy New Year! And happy semiquincentennial year for the USA! I look forward to an exciting year ahead with lots of amazing rides.

Today’s ride, however, was amazingly cold. In theory the temperature was 41 degrees, but with the wind chill and the cloud cover, it felt much colder. I had finally added the lining to Rev’It Factor 4 thermal lined waterproof pants my warm neck sleeve. I did wear my Klim liner gloves underneath my mid-weight gloves, and Bill led us on a shorter ride.

When we head out, I check my odometer to see how far we go. Today, when I looked down, I saw a flashing 37. After a moment, I noticed the flashing snowflake to the right, and I realized the motorcycle was telling me it was too cold to ride. This happened once before during a ride (Even My Motorcycle Thinks It’s Too Cold to Ride) when my BMW flashed between 34 and 37 for the temperature. Today, it held mostly steady at 37 but did dip down to 36 and rise to 39. The point of this warning is that there is the potential for ice on the roads. Now, we haven’t had any rain in over a week, so ice wasn’t a risk. But as smart as the R Nine T is, it isn’t smart enough to know that (yet).

So despite the cold and the gray skies (the sun made an attempt to shine through but gave up rather quickly), I was mostly comfortable as we rode. Except for my fingertips. Because I have learned to pre-load the front brake, my index and middle finger are on the brake lever and not on the heated grips. Several times during the ride when I was on a straightaway, I brought my grip onto the heated grips to defrost my fingertips, but I found the position uncomfortable and I appreciated the irony.

Four and a half years ago when I sat on the Kawasaki Eliminator, the idea of not having all five fingers on the handlebars was unthinkable. But over the years, I’ve learned how to pre-load and now, pre-loading is the natural, comfortable riding position and five-finger grip on the handlebars feels wrong. But pre-loading in cold weather riding is incredibly uncomfortable, so I started thinking why doesn’t someone invented heated brake and clutch levers for motorcycles? Perhaps because they are made of metal usually, it’s not really a good idea, but a heated brake and clutch lever would make winter rides a bit more enjoyable.

As it was, I rode with the occasional attempt to defrost my fingertips. There were Christmas decorations still up for those you remember that the twelve days of Christmas are from Christmas to the Epiphany. Two interesting ones are a giant bear and a giant penguin seemingly made out of fur like a stuffed toy. But I realized that in fact they are inflatables with the fuzzy surface which makes more sense as they are at least fifteen feet tall.

We did have one crazy street crossing squirrel who darted out in front of us coming and going. And I did spot a falcon being chased by some crows, but mostly it was a quiet ride. I did get to wave to a few people who waved at us, a man out raking leaves and boy about twelve years old. I remember being fascinated by motorcycles as a kid, and I’m very happy that I’ve allowed myself to learn to ride because it is in trying new things that we keep sharp and have fun! My new year’s resolution for 2026 is to not sweat the small stuff, and to help me with that resolution, I plan on channeling my motorcycle riding vibes. I will be creating many positive vibes this year.

Motorcycle dashboard showiong cold weather. — Cold weather warning on the Triumph Rocket display.

Itchy Nose Ride

Today’s ride was wintry for sure. The sky was gray and the wind was bitterly cold bringing the temperature down to below 40 degrees. But I was bundled up well and my heated grips were working, so I was mostly comfortable except for chilly fingertips.

Even under the gray skies, I managed to spot a white egret flying overhead as we started off and two more in the low tidal waters at the park. I also spotted two ospreys, one in each neighborhood, as we rode, and the squirrels were busy in the yards but keeping off the roads. Yet there seemed a quietness as we rode, that winter stillness that seems to settle over the land.

I noted that despite spotting a few pink winter roses and some newly planted purple pansies, there was a brown hue to the landscape as we rode by. The pines and other evergreens and grass are greens muted by the winter brown. One of the joys of riding my motorcycle is experiencing the seasons from the saddle and enjoying their unique features.

About midway through the ride my nose started itching. Now while riding a motorcycle, it is possible to take a hand off the handlebars. With cruise control some riders even take both hands off the handlebars. So theoretically I could take my left hand off the bars, lift my visor, and bump my nose with my gloved fingers. But I didn’t want to open my visor in the cold air.

To distract myself from the itch, my mind went to how in today’s society, so many needs are immediately met. Are you hungry? Uber eats will deliver nearly anything you want. Feeling ill? Medicine is on its way, or you can get a virtual appointment and a prescription without getting out of your pajamas. But riding my R Nine T, dressed in my safety gear with its extra layering for the cold, scratching my nose was not a simple task. And what if I just endured the inconvenience of an itchy nose? Would the delayed gratification feel better? Or, as did happen, would the itchy nose cease to itch? And am I better person for having endured it?

I realize how silly this is, but my ride did distract me from the itchy nose. During a U-turn in a cul-de-sac, I was letting out the clutch to increase my speed a little. I was , in the full bars to the left, front wheel turned, and the bike wasn’t accelerating. I tried a little throttle, and I only got engine revving. I had mis-shifted into neutral and had to quickly shift into first and accelerate to maintain the motorcycle in an upright position. Luckily, the boxer engine saved my balance and let me save the turn. And I soon forgot about my itchy nose.

As the ride ended, I had a new focus as I dismounted—the bathroom. Eventually, due to my recovering from a cold, I did get to scratch my itchy nose.

And, in the immortal words of Monty Python, “now for something completely different,” my motorcycle Christmas gift. Bill surprised me with Dream Apparel’s motorcycle bell. The bell says, “Never ride faster than your angel can fly.” It is a guardian angel bell to protect me from road gremlins. Next week, we’ll get it affixed to my motorcycle. I don’t know if it will protect me from itchy noses though, but I’m willing to keep riding to find out.

All Is Calm, All Is Bright

All was certainly bright as we headed out on our solstice eve ride. Yesterday’s rain had cleared away, leaving behind cloudless skies and lots of sunshine. In fact there were several times the sun was a little too much due to the lowered angle in the sky, but Bill quickly led us off those roads. The calm was the animals. I didn’t see any squirrels and only two crows and one buzzard. The only excited animal was a dog aggressively barking at a flock of geese. But even the geese calmly went about munching their lunch.

My ride was much smoother than last week. No mis-shifts during this ride and a smooth start. My on-street U-turns were all pavement. And I really enjoyed the acceleration into trail braking drill. I think Bill was having fun too because he led us into a second parking lot to do some more.

As we head toward Christmas, I want to wish everyone taking time to read this a very merry Christmas and please know I appreciate your time—and your likes! One more ride for 2025!

Mis-Shift Bookends

When I start the motorcycle, I hold the front brake. Today I experienced why. Ever since I fell off the Ducati Scrambler taking it out of the garage, Bill has put both motorcycles down at the street. He usually shifts it back into neutral before turning off the engine. But we all have moments of distraction, and for whatever reason, the R Nine T was left in first.

Now when I turn the key in the ignition, the clock lights up, so I saw the green “N” light up for neutral. However, later I realized that once the bike was started, the “N” was not lit up. The reason I hold onto the front brake is for just this mis-shift as I found out. Without realizing the motorcycle was in gear, I let off the front brake as I situated myself and the bike leapt forward before stalling. If I hadn’t had my fingers on the front brake when I started the bike, the motorcycle would’ve leapt out from under me. Luckily, because I hadn’t engaged the clutch, the motorcycle stalled, cutting off the engine.

It took me a while to collect all my thoughts as to what had happened. I’m not trying to throw Bill under the bus because I should be ensuring the motorcycle is in neutral as I start it. My mishap was a minor one, but the feel of the 500 plus pound motorcycle lurching forward away from me was quite a wake up, and I will add checking for neutral to my start up just as pulling in the front brake is part of the routine.

The ride itself was wonderful. We were blessed with a day of sunshine and mid-50s, and I was almost too warm wearing my leather jacket. But there was enough wind to keep me comfortable. We added a new skill to work on, something MotoGP racers do at a phenomenal level. The skill is to downshift and apply the brakes going into a curve then accelerate out of it. Now I’m doing this downshift from second to first and slow speeds, but it is a skill that teaches me a greater feel for the brake. In fact the first part of the drill was practiced in the garage where I sat on the R Nine T pushing it forward with my legs and slowly applying the front brake. So I was pushing against the brake until I had pulled it in enough to stop the bike.

Due to road construction, we were rerouted for our ride, so I was able to see different Christmas decorations including my new favorite—the Deercraft Carrier. That one just edged out the Grinch in his Christmas PJs. I also spotted a few maples showing off their autumn colors—one a gorgeous golden brown and the other still a bright yellow. But mostly I see the bare tree branches against the pale blue sky. The crows were busy flitting everywhere as were the squirrels, but the latter at least were flitting in the grass.

Again, due to the road work, we rerouted our return to the garage. As I pulled in the driveway, I lost acceleration and looked down to see I had shifted into neutral. Luckily, I found out my legs were strong enough to hold the motorcycle in place even in my parents’ steep driveway as I corrected the shift into first and rode into the garage. One of the fun aspects of riding motorcycles is that the bikes always have new challenges and new lessons to teach, and I can’t wait for next week’s learning.

Santa's sleigh blow up with three reindeer on gray "Deercraft Carrier" platform.

Gearing Up for Winter Riding

I am amazed at people’s ingenuity, and one place that ingenuity is on display is in motorcycle gear. In the early days of motorcycle riding, smart riders figured out to wear goggles to protect their eyes and leather to protect their skin. Bill will tell me how in his earliest days of motorcycle riding, the only gear he had was a Bell helmet, but he knew to wear a leather jacket, jeans, and boots.

Now some people in the summer can be seen on their motorcycles in shorts and t-shirts, but that is a choice. In the MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) course, they teach riders to dress for the slide. Leather is still one of the best skin protection for the slide, but thanks to the invention of Kevlar, riding jeans can be substantive enough to protect the skin.

But in addition to the safety features of motorcycle gear, there is also the weather adaptability. My leather riding pants have a detachable lining, so I can add a layer for warmth when needed, like on today’s 42-degree ride under gray skies. My leather jacket also has a removable lining for warmth adjustability. I also have three different sets of riding gloves that offer differing degrees of warmth, but all offer protection should I take a tumble.

Luckily (knock on wood) I have not needed the slide protection of my gear. I have needed the warmth protection, though, and it seems I will be needing it for quite a while now as winter seems to have arrived early this year. Next week, I’ll start wearing my balaclava under my helmet to keep my chin and cheeks warm.

We shortened our ride some because the roads still had wet spots from the cold rain that fell on Friday. I didn’t go on the gravel because of the damp, and the skies were dark enough I could see the beams from our headlights. The squirrels were busy, but they stayed out of our way. I spotted a large vulture in the air at the beginning of the ride, and I saw the birds flying away from the water, but I didn’t see any white-feathered heads. Of course, in our shortened ride, we didn’t ride as close to the water.

The best part of the ride was that I was mostly comfortable with just a little bit of cold fingers due to pre-loading, but it wasn’t as bad as last week. And I know I’ll be fine for next week’s ride too.

zipper on black pants — Zipping the lining up at the ankles of my leather riding pants.