One of the interesting aspects of motorcycle riding is watching how dogs react to the bike.  A few dogs ignore the motorcycles as they zoom by, but not many.  At the very least dogs attentively watch our passing, and several dogs will aggressively bark and give pseudo-chase.

            My mind went to dogs on this ride as my brother’s dog, Buddy, was out admiring our motorcycles pre-ride.  Really, Buddy was waiting for the word to cross the street and come get his doggy treat that my mom gives him on his visits, but I liked the image of Buddy from over the handlebars and the silly idea of him checking out the Rocket and R Nine T as the two bikes waited for our ride.

            I managed to gear up early enough before Bill did, so he suggested I head out for a little bit on my own.  I rode the R nine T around one block, and then headed up one of the main roads through the neighborhood.  As I came to where I wanted to turn left to get back on my mom’s street, a Jeep SUV zoomed up and had clearly planned to run the stop sign but saw me and came to an awkward stop splayed across the right side of the road I needed to turn on.  So I had to turn onto the left side while shaking my head at how crazy someone would drive in a neighborhood with lots of pedestrians.

            And there were lots of people out enjoying the gorgeous sunny, warm day.  We passed a woman walking her little whippet three different times, and each time the little dog stopped walking and watched our passage.  There was another gentleman walking his dog (I didn’t recognize the breed), and this dog was oblivious to us.  There are three houses we ride past that must have invisible fences where the dogs race to the edge of the yard, barking at us, and following us as far as they can.  I heard that dogs react to motorcycle riders like this because of the odd movement.  There’s a human shape up top, but the movement on the motorcycle does not look natural to the dogs.  I also have learned that if a dog gives actual chase while riding a motorcycle, the key is to change speed.  Stopping quickly will cause the dog to overrun the bike, and as the dog regroups, it is easy enough to speed up and away or change direction.

            Luckily so far in our rides, we’ve only been barked at.  And I do enjoy seeing the dogs out and about as I ride.  On this ride I also saw several of the cabbage white butterflies and had no sooner wondered what had happened to the young Tiger Swallowtails, when I spotted a large yellow flutter up among some tree branches.  There was a large surprise for us toward the end of our ride.  As we came around a curve, a huge turkey vulture swooped in front of us and looped around for another swoop before heading up and away from our motorcycles.  It clearly was enjoying its dead squirrel feast.

            As for my riding skills, I enjoyed the smoothness of my shifting gears.  I also worked some more on entering a curve.  I had a struggle with the on-street U-turn and had to ride onto the grass.  I believe I had too much speed going into the turn, so I couldn’t turn as tightly.  But even in making a slight mistake, I got to practice the change in surface from road to grass.  I enjoy my learning as much as I enjoy my riding.

Cool, windy, and wet Memorial Day weekend for us, but the wind kept the rain at bay long enough for us to ride.  Because we ride neighborhood streets, the wind isn’t much of a factor, but it would’ve been had we tried to ride on the highway.  As it was, the wind kept the butterflies away, all except one determined little cabbage white fighting his way to the clover that I spotted near the end of our ride.

            As we headed out toward the curvy road, we have a yield sign where we make a left turn.  Approaching the intersection, there was a white pick up coming up the road we were going to turn on.  He indicated he would turn left at our street, but as he did so, he slowly took the turn and I realized he was looking over our motorcycles.  They are two of the best-looking motorcycles on the road.  Before the looks of admiration were reserved for Bill when he rode the R Nine T; the 310 and the Fasthouse never drew many looks.  But now that I’m on the R Nine T, I draw looks but so does the Triumph Rocket.  I think the two bikes complement each other quite nicely.

            Later in the ride, as we waited at a stop sign to turn, a driver in a blue Toyota SUV slowly rode by again admiring the beautiful motorcycles.  It is fun to know I’m riding a great bike that handles well and looks amazing.

            I didn’t focus on any particular skill on this ride.  Instead, I let myself enjoy the ride and enjoy how my riding skills have progressed to keep the ride safe.  Halfway through the ride, I realized I was leaving the stops in sync with Bill without consciously focusing on doing so.  My riding skills have improved so much that I found myself trying the tight turns from a stop and having little trouble–at least at first. 

            A tight turn from a stop means there isn’t much road to turn onto so the arc of the turn is constrained.  In order to navigate this tight turn, I need to turn the wheel to full lock, lean the motorcycle in the direction of the turn, counterbalance with my opposite foot applying pressure on the outside peg, and go.  My first few attempts were very successful even though I forgot to load the opposite foot peg.  I judged my success on whether I stayed within two feet of the parking space line I was using as my marker.  After my successful tries, I had several that didn’t go so well; I kept straightening the wheel too soon.  So that just means more to work on.

            While I didn’t get to see too many butterflies on this ride, I did get a lovely surprise.  Bill led us into a small parking lot beside one of the churches to another tight U-turn.  We had a bit of traffic to wait through to turn back onto the main road.  As we waited, I saw some rustling in the ligustrum bushes across the street, a large rustling caused by what I thought might be a crow.  But instead, an upset kestrel flew out and right past me.  Seeing that kestrel made up for the missing butterflies.  But I do hope to see many butterflies during next week’s ride.

Our luck finally gave out and we were met by rainy drizzle as we headed over to ride.  We had some spanakopita to deliver from the local Greek church fundraiser for my mom, so the trip wasn’t a waste of time.  She also needed some help on the computer, and by the time I finished assisting, the crown of the road was looking more dry than wet.  I suggested to Bill we go do our grocery shopping and see if the roads continue to dry out or if there’s some more rain on the way.  The delay worked, allowing the roads to dry enough to allow us to ride.

            With the cloudy skies and the breeze, it was quite cool on the bike making for a very comfortable ride on what was supposed to be an 80 degrees day.  The challenge for today’s ride was dodging puddles which was easy as the roads really had dried out.  There were damp patches that we had to ride through, but we weren’t riding on wet roads.

            Since the weather was ideal for ducks, I saw several mating pairs here and there throughout the ride.  I also saw a gaggle of geese, both Canadian and white, with eight goslings being shepherded between them.  A few cabbage whites were flitting about, but I only saw three during the ride and one super quick Fritillary zoom by.  One lucky wren managed to zip by in front of Bill’s Rocket without getting hit, and we had to stop for several squirrels acting squirrelly.

            The hydrangeas are in full bloom, and I enjoyed the cool blue and bright purple blossoms.  They added more colors among the red and white roses and yellow and orange day lilies.

            During the ride, we passed a Harley-Davidson rider heading the opposite way which gave us the chance to exchange the “two-wheels life” wave.  It is traditional among motorcyclists to not wave but to hold out two fingers down towards the clutch as they pass.  This sign really is appropriate as there is a mindset that goes with riding motorcycles that only other riders appreciate.  This mindset gets me out of the house every week excitedly looking forward to my chance to ride.  As summer arrives, I’m hopeful that I can find even more opportunities to enjoy the “two-wheels life.”

            Hints of summer greeted us on Saturday as temperatures hit the low 80s with a chance of thunderstorms later in the day.  As we warmed up the motorcycles before heading out, I felt sweat rolling down my back, but once we started moving, the breeze kept me comfortable.  And as long as we were cruising along, I enjoyed my ride.  But the slow speed maneuvers were awful.

            Our first circles went fine; however, when we turned into a new court to get away from traffic, my turns went wide as my speed wasn’t slowing like I wanted.  I realized soon after that I had stayed in second gear, so on my other slow turns, I double checked that I was in first.  Yet still I went wide on most of my turns and felt uncomfortable on all of them.  I even had a near miss of a curb in one parking lot.  It was at that point I accepted that I was having an off day.  This acceptance allowed me to relax and not worry about wider turning.  Even still, I stalled the R Nine T when starting from a stop late in the ride, something I haven’t done in months.

            I counted ten cabbage white butterflies during the ride, and I saw dragonflies for the first time—a sign the mosquitoes will be here soon.  The best part of the ride was smelling the honeysuckle blooming alongside the road.

            My redemption came on Mother’s Day.  We took the BMW G 310 GS and the Ducati Scrambler out for photographs.  I felt for sure I would struggle with the wet clutch on the 310 and stall the motorcycle.  But I was happily surprised to have no issue with the clutch.  It was an odd feeling to ride the little 310 as there is quite a power plummet from the R Nine T.  I also struggled to shift in my Daytona boots, but I managed.

            As we headed home from our short ride, I realized that my ease of handling on the 310 was due to my greater riding experience especially my figuring out the dry clutch of the R Nine T.  After my struggles yesterday, it was a great feeling to realize I have improved as a rider.  My improvement is due to practicing those slow speed drills, and I can’t wait for next week’s ride.

            Happy Mother’s Day to my wonderful Mom and to all my readers who are Moms!

It so happened that today’s ride fell on the 17^th International Female Ride Day, and I did my part to show women enjoying motorcycles and riding.  It didn’t hurt that it was a gorgeous spring day for riding. 

            I was also celebrating my second year as a rider.  Two years ago, on May 1 and 2, I rode my first ever motorcycle, a Kawasaki Eliminator 250 small cruiser, as part of the MSF course.  Soon after, we purchased the BMW G310 GS, and I was riding.  A few months later, we got the BMW R Nine T Urban GS for Bill to ride.  Eighteen months later, that became my motorcycle as Bill began riding the Triumph Rocket GS.  In between the two BMWs, I rode a Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled Fasthouse, a bike made for cold weather riding.

            On today’s ride I found myself wondering if my skills riding the dry clutch on the R Nine T would make me a better rider on the 310 or Scrambler.  Or would I struggle relearning the friction zones of those motorcycles.  I also wondered if I would feel as confident in my tight turning drills or would the two more top-heavy bikes give me problems.  Oddly enough, I don’t feel concerned about transitioning to the R 1250 GS, and I believe that is because both the 1250 and the R Nine T have the boxer engines keeping the center of gravity lower. 

            These thoughts played through my head as I rode.  The day was so beautiful it was sheer joy to be out riding.  The roses are gorgeous, and I forgot to mention the colorful clematis I see including one bunch of deep purple, bright pink, and white.  I also forgot to mention seeing my first magnolia blossoms last week with even more flowers open this week.

            There were so many cabbage white butterflies flitting about, I lost count after ten.  I did have one zoom across my path.   I saw what I think was an American copper and for the first time one of the Sulphur butterflies; these are difficult to distinguish from the back of a motorcycle, but it was a yellow butterfly, so it fits several of the Sulphur family.

            Today’s ride also marked us scaring some young goslings, the first I’ve seen this year, as they hurried across a yard with their dutiful parents.  In a shady glen by a pond, I saw two large white geese hanging out with some of their Canadian cousins.  And again I zoomed past a mating pair of ducks grazing too close to the side of the road.

            As for my skills’ practice, I continued to work on my no look turns which are getting easier.  I also worked on smooth, synchronized take-offs from stops, meaning I left the stop at the same time as Bill.  But I also found myself waiting a beat longer at a few stops so I could ensure that I’m checking for clear roads and not just relying on Bill’s vision.

            The neighborhood road construction gave us a new challenge.  There was an actual one-foot down ditch in the road that could have been a nasty jolt if entered unprepared.  I enjoyed the little bit of off-roading and look forward to my third year of riding.

Happy IFRD!

An all-day rain on Friday and thunderstorms and rain on Sunday, yet Saturday was an ideal day for riding.  So I should not have been surprised when I spotted no less than 7 cabbage white butterflies enjoying the day, and these 7 were during the ride and not counting the 4 others I saw on the ride over.

            I actually was a little chilled as I set off having left my zippers part down thinking I would get too warm.  I rode with my visor down to stay comfortable.  But with the sun shining and little wind, it was a wonderful day for riding.  The rain from Friday gave a muted softness to grass, trees, and flowers.  The irises and roses still dominated the landscape though I did see some young peonies newly planted.

            I worked on my no-look turns again and had more success on the left turns.  I made the angle of the turn wider and made three successful no-look turns to the left.  Additionally, I was able to practice my sudden stops when a squirrel rushed out in front of Bill’s motorcycle.  These little guys do seem to like the Rocket.

            The day was so beautiful, Bill led us on some different little jaunts.  For example, we revisited my little practice street to do some U-turns, and we circled about in the school lot a few times.  I really enjoy U-turns on the R Nine T as it handles beautifully. 

            We stayed out riding a little longer than usual, but hunger finally drove us in.  On a ride like today’s, I understand how a motorcycle rider heads out for hours of open road, fresh air, and great fun.

We headed out under gray skies trying to get a ride in ahead of looming thunderstorms (see picture below).  Temperatures were in the 70s with some strong winds, but otherwise a good day for riding.  The roses are blooming everywhere, but the flower of note on this ride was the iris.  The irises are in spectacular bloom in bright yellows, vivid whites, deep purples, and even a lovely shade of light pink.

            I had a training agenda in mind for this ride.  Earlier in the week, we had watched Motojitsu’s video on “5 Things Never to Do in the Twisties” (https://youtu.be/DcMlzhQIgp8).  So I wanted to work on my entries and exits into curves and turns, body awareness, and continue my trail braking practice.  Entering curves was something covered in the MSF course, but the practice course is a parking lot with orange cones, so visibility is great.  On the road curves can be blind.  Now my route is pretty open and most curves are easy to see around, but there are a few blind turns.  The rule of thumb on entering curves on a motorcycle is to go as wide out as possible on entering the turn.  This approach means if the road curves to the left, I start my entry from over to the right side of the road.  If it is a right curve, then I enter the turn from near the center line.  By entering the curve from a wide start, I maximize how much of the lane is available to me in the turn.  As I lean around the curve, the motorcycle “eats” up the lane which brings me to the second concept of riding through curves.

            Once I’ve ridden into the curve, when do I straighten the motorcycle?  If I straighten up out of my lean too soon in the curve, I can run the bike off the road.  The rule on when to straighten is once the exit is clearly visible.  This rule is another version of looking where I want the bike to go.  So common sense would suggest that I don’t straighten the motorcycle until I see the road ahead where I want the motorcycle to go.  However, in curves the bike is leaned over, and for some riders that may be nerve-wracking.  Because they are uncomfortable in the lean, they wish to straighten up as soon as possible.  Luckily for me, leaning the R Nine T is super fun, so while I ride toward the curve’s exit, I can enjoy the lean.

            Now I am riding mostly on 25-mph roads, so my lean isn’t anywhere near approaching knee-scraping, but another mistake riders can make is entering the curve at too high a speed.  I did have that mis-shift episode and can say that entering a turn at too great a speed is freaky.  But as long as I’m operating the motorcycle correctly, I do slough off speed as I enter turns and curves.  A related mistake riders make in the curves is grabbing the brakes.  My trail braking practice is in part for this purpose.  It allows me to gradually apply the brake and add contact between the front tire and the road so if I do need to brake suddenly in a curve, I don’t have to grab the brake while the bike is leaned.  A leaned over bike losing acceleration is a target for gravity.

            The fifth mistake has to do with body position while leaning the motorcycle which is more technical than I am ready for.  I could lean my body more with my motorcycle, but at my slower speeds, it isn’t too much of a factor.  I made a huge leap in my practice on looking opposite while turning from a stop.  Well I made the leap making right turns.  I managed to keep my head turned to the left and just darted my eyes to the right as I began moving.  I did try this technique with left turns, but I realized it isn’t as simple.  When turning left, obviously I have to cross the lane of oncoming traffic.  Because of this, the turn has to go wider than my nice, tight right turns.  So I realized that I need to figure out how to get comfortable looking to the right while turning the bike on a larger radius.

            As I got ready to make a right-hand turn, I noticed a cabbage white butterfly flitting about a foot away from my right hip.  I saw another (or the same) Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and what I think was a small Spicebush Swallowtail.  I really love spring-time rides even with the constant threat of April showers.

            Maybe it was due to Tax Day, but for some reason, I had an uncomfortable ride.  It wasn’t the weather; we had a perfect day for riding—sunshine, temps in the 70s, little wind.  But within two minutes of heading out, hair blew into my right eye, and my discomfort was underway.

            I had pulled my hair back in its usual ponytail, but I forgot to use the hairspray; once my hair is back, I spray the top and sides to help prevent strays from blowing into my eyes.  No sooner had I stopped and rubbed the hairs out of my right eye than some hair blew into my left eye.  The right eye was almost painful, but the left eye was just uncomfortable, so I could keep riding.

            The glorious sunshine accentuated the bright pinks, purples, and whites on the azaleas.  The dogwoods are mostly green leaf now, but the roses have begun to bloom to continue the beauty.  As beautiful as the scenery was, I couldn’t fully appreciate it as my left elbow began to ache.  The ache in my elbow emphasized the R Nine T’s riding position, slightly hunched forward, and I found myself longing to be riding the 1250 GS with its upright riding position.  I think my elbow issue was caused by some extra activity this past week.  I helped throw out the old cabinets from my kitchen, and I may have tweaked my elbow as I tossed debris into the trash bin.  Whatever the cause, I found myself steering the motorcycle one-handed while I rested my left arm.

            My eyes, my arm, and soon my leg added to the discomfort.  I was wearing the Rev’It Ignition 3 leather pants; I’ve had issues with the built in knee pads before, but today’s discomfort was new.  I wear knee pads underneath the pants which until today has helped alleviate the discomfort.  But today the knee pad twisted underneath somehow causing a persistent pinch in my knee. 

            Despite these myriad discomforts, I did manage to focus on my looks while turning.  At the first stop, a right-hand turn, I found myself straightening the bike out as soon as I looked from the left back to the right.  It occurred to me that the solution could be as simple as looking longer in the opposite direction from my turn to keep the wheel turned.  I held my look longer and turned my head when I was ready to start straightening from the turn.  It worked really well to the right, and I even had some success with my left turns as well.

            I also managed to spy a duck couple next to the road and two Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies.  I had a couple of odd shifts into neutral, but none of these were while I was decelerating for a turn thank goodness.  I hope I can figure out why these mis-shifts are happening as they are a recent development.  I think I am either too light or too heavy on the shifter.  Whatever the cause, more rides are needed to solve this mystery which makes me quite happy.

            Why does it seem that weekly weather patterns are such that the bright, sunny days are all during the week, and the rain comes for the weekend?  We’ve had rain forecasted for Friday and Saturday for the past two weekends and have rain forecasted for next Saturday as well.  Our luck has held, and we’ve been able to work in a ride, though today’s ride was shortened by falling rain.

            Despite two summery days of temperatures in the mid-80s, by Saturday more winter-like weather had returned with highs supposedly In the low 50s but with the strong northeast wind, staying in the low to mid-40s.  I returned to wearing my Rev’It Factor 4 Trousers with my lined leather jacket for warmth.  I was excited for today’s ride as the R Nine T would hit the 1000-mile mark (and beyond), at least I was hoping it would if we could ride.  As I walked down the driveway to the motorcycle, I saw small rain drops on the gas tank and looked over at Bill.  We decided to head out and see if these were just random sprinkles and, for a while, they were.

            I realized we were racing against the impending rain, but even with that realization, I was not prepared for how fast Bill took off from the first stop.  Now his Triumph Rocket has much greater torque than the R Nine T (221 ft. lbs. compared to 85 ft. lbs.), but he hasn’t really laid it down until this ride.  I let him take off and stayed in my comfort zone as I accelerated out of that first stop and several more on the ride.  One mistake Bill has warned me about repeatedly is trying to keep up when riding with others.  The more experienced rider should keep the pace at what the less experienced rider is comfortable with.  Usually, Bill does this, but I think he had the urgency of the coming rain adding impetus to his throttle.  I stayed true to my riding skills and let him head off.  Since we are riding through neighborhoods, he isn’t going to go too fast, and there are enough stops for me to catch up.  And I knew he would check his mirrors for me and realize I was lagging.

            I did have time to appreciate the lushness of the greens now more evident as the leaves on the trees open and fill in.  The gray skies gave a muted beauty to the dogwoods and azaleas, the whites, pinks, and purples of their flowers beautifully contrasted against the lush greenery.  I was lucky enough to spot a bright pink peony bush with gorgeous large flowers in bloom, but I didn’t see any butterflies.

            I hit the 1000-mile mark at the end of the long road, and we stopped and took a picture of the odometer.  I’m only responsible for 300 of those miles but, had I continued riding my 310 or the Scrambler, I would’ve made it to 1000 on my own.  Soon after the photo op, I heard rain drops hitting my helmet.  Because I could hear the drops, I realized that this was the beginning of harder rain, the rain we would have to stop riding for.  So we started to head to the garage.

            During our return ride, I almost crashed during a turn.  Now I’ve discussed trail braking and how I’ve been working on this skill, and it was this skill and keeping my head that helped me avoid the crash.  As I turn, I downshift and use engine braking as well as the brakes to help slow the motorcycle.  Entering the left-handed turn, I realized I was turning with more speed than I wanted.  In rapid succession my brain registered too much speed, the curb my fast turn was taking me on a collision course with, and the fact that the bike did not engine brake.  I continued applying the front and rear brake with more pressure on the rear brake as I worked to straighten up the bike while I also glance down and saw that I had over shifted down into neutral instead of second gear.  I believe I was able to recover the turn and control the too-fast motorcycle because of my trail braking practice and because I focused on correcting the motorcycle and did not focus on what had gone wrong.  Instead of crashing the front tire into the curb and possibly flying off the motorcycle, I turned wide into the gutter but recovered and safely brought the R Nine T back to the garage.

            Later after our ride as we debriefed, Bill said he had forgotten to mention mis-shifting in a turn.  This was a lesson experience taught me, and this lesson reinforces just how important training basic skills is.  More training means more riding, and I am very happy about that.

            In addition to warmer days, sunshine, pollen, blooming flowers, and butterflies, spring can bring blustery days.  Winds were 25-30 mph with gusts between 40 and 50 mph; Bill questioned whether we would be able to ride.  I was hopeful; the rain from overnight had mostly dried out with more showers later in the afternoon predicted.  We had a short window for our ride if we wanted to take it.

            During the week, Bill had cut down the legs on a bench for my mom, so I suggested we take the bench over and decide about the wind as we drove.  My main concern was with branches; if we saw branches and yard debris on the roads, then the ride wouldn’t happen.  But luckily, there were only very small branches and cherry blossom petals blowing about.

            We headed out into the wind and, as I first sat down on the R Nine T, I felt the wind from the southwest trying to blow me off the motorcycle.  I realized I had one more thing to be aware of as I rode.  With that awareness at the forefront of my mind, I leaned in on the curvy road with a bit more caution.  I worked on my entry point on the curve.  In the MSF course, I learned to go as wide of the apex as I could to set up the most vision of what was on the other side of the curve.  I did this and marveled at how much of the road is eaten away by the curve.  What I mean by this is as I headed into a right-side curve, I moved toward the center line to maximize my view, but as I finished the curve, I was over toward the curb.  I realized I had not been giving entry and exit points of the curves much conscious thought other than to look for oncoming traffic or pedestrians.

            I believe riding roughly the same route every week allows me time to develop thoughts such as the application of lessons learned almost two years ago.  Were I riding out on main thoroughfares, my mind would be much more greatly engaged in seeing ahead potential issues such as cut offs or collisions.  I do watch out for cars such as the white Porsche nearly launching out of its driveway into our path; the driver saw us in time, but I had already started slowing in case I needed to stop.  But I love that I can work through the basic skills taught in the course and come to my own understanding of how those lessons work for me in my riding.

            As I was working on my tight U-turns, the ones in the hospital lot that I always compare to the dreaded “box” of the MSF course, I wondered about my skill improvement.  While I didn’t get to full lock on any of the turns, I did tighten them up to about 16 feet; the box is 20.  I was playing with the clutch and began wondering if I would be doing as well on the Ducati or the 310.  I would like to find time to ride the other motorcycles and see how using the dry clutch in the tight turns compares to the wet clutches on the other bikes.  I do have some time off coming up and will see if I can find time for more riding.

            I hadn’t thought I would see any butterflies on our very windy ride, so I was surprised when I caught sight of two young tiger swallowtails bandied about.  I am looking forward to spotting more and more butterflies as my spring and summer rides continue.  The wind kept me cool during the ride, but one gust hit the right side of my helmet and pushed it against the side of my head.  The wind also worked to strip the cherry blossoms, but the dogwoods and azaleas are approaching full bloom.  I can’t wait for next week when I get to enjoy more springtime beauty and more opportunities for learning as I ride.