Our ride was late today, after 1:30.  In part we delayed a bit waiting for the day to get as warm as it could.  But we also ran a few errands beforehand.  By the time we mounted the bikes and headed out for our ride, my stomach was rumbling louder than my motorcycle.

            One reason for the delay was our stop at CycleGear.  I asked for some kind of insulated pant to wear for my winter rides, and we were hoping the Rev’It style Bill found online would be available at CycleGear for a try on.  No such luck; in fact we couldn’t find any Rev’It gear in the store.

            However, the trip was still beneficial.  Our route to our next stop was roundabout, but it allowed us to scope a future riding route.  In particular we wanted to see if the new Lesner Bridge had a large grate.  The bridge only has two small expansion grates, so less chance of slippage.  This route would be my first out into real traffic, so we are being careful in our approach.

            After delivering some Christmas cards to a friend, we finally headed over to my parents’ garage to ride.  The sun was mostly out with a chilly wind blowing.  I had prepared by wearing my fleece lounge pants under my riding jeans.  I also had on a wool blended thermal, so I was comfortably warm on the bike.  I again had a struggle to shift into first, but I may have found a solution as later in the ride I had another struggle for first.  Instead of playing the clutch in and out and shifting as I do, I simply let the clutch all the way out slowly then pulled back in before shifting.  That worked on the second struggle, so I will experiment next ride to see if it is the solution.

            Once I caught up to Bill, we headed onto our twisty road.  I was better able to use trail braking on the twists.  It may simply be a matter of training my grip to become comfortable with the preload position.  I also took breaks to let my hand rest, and these breaks allowed me to work on the preload throughout my ride.

            I was able to focus on some training objectives, but I wasn’t able to really enjoy the Christmas decorations as my mind was on my rumbling tummy.  Usually on our ride days, I eat a slice of peanut butter toast and that holds me through the ride until we head home for our delicious brunch of blueberry French toast.  But since we didn’t head straight over for our ride, my PB toast had to keep me full longer, and it was not up to the task.  At several points during the ride, I had to refocus away from my hunger.  At one turn, I came in too fast but, because I had been working on preloading the brakes, I was able to slow my speed and straighten the motorcycle, preventing me from going too wide.

            That wider than I wanted turn shook most of my thoughts of food out, and I was better able to focus on my ride.  I didn’t have any full locks on my turn practice, but I had fun doing some first gear turns without the friction zone.  On my other motorcycles with the more typical wet clutches, I have to keep feathering the clutch in the slow speed practices or the bike will stall.  With the dry clutch much like a manual transmission car, once it’s running in first, it will stay running in first.  I like this as it allows me to rest my left hand which tires more easily on the R Nine T’s clutch.

            Since the R Nine T only has an analog dial showing speed, I have no idea how long we are out on our ride.  It was probably only an hour or so as we didn’t ride through all of our usual route.  Even so, next week I’ll hope we don’t have any errands to run.  Next week my thoughts will be on the cold—the high for Saturday is supposed to only reach 33 degrees—yikes!  I’ll find out just how good my heated grips really are.

Who hasn’t had “one of those days”?  A day where everything is just off.  Maybe you oversleep and are late for work.  You’re wearing two different colored socks.  Perhaps you spill your coffee down the front of your shirt after you’ve arrived at work.  I had one of those days on my ride.

            Weatherwise we lucked out.  The roads had dried off and, despite the accu-weather forecast for a mostly cloudy day, we had bright sunshine throughout our ride.  The temperatures were in the low 50s, so I was wearing my Rev’It gloves.  I also chose to again wear my Daytona boots; I figure I should get used to them in preparation for the GS.

            The ride didn’t begin right away as I again struggled to find first gear.  I remained calm and remembered what Bill had told me about playing with the clutch lever until it shifted.  I found first much more quickly than last time and was off.  But I wasn’t the only thing off.  I couldn’t find the sweet spot on the foot peg where I needed to be so the front of my boot would slip under the shifter.  I struggled through several miles of the ride before I found that if I have the middle of my foot arch on the peg, I can readily slip my toe under the shifter.

            Additionally, I could not comfortably preload the front brake for trail braking practice.  Last week, I was surprised how easy the preload was, but this week every time I tried, it was awkward.  Preload is when the rider has one to two fingers on the front brake lever pulling in the slack so the brake is “preloaded.”  Preloading is a safe riding technique, and it is a skill I work on.  But I am beginning to believe the design of the grips and distance to the brake lever and clutch are adapted to men’s hands.  I am a tall woman with long fingers, but I can’t comfortably ride with a preloaded grip even with the levers adjusted to the closest position.  Perhaps motorcycle companies should consider a female-friendly handlebar option.

            After the ride as Bill and I were debriefing, he asked me if I learned anything on today’s ride.  My response was “no.”  But I realized later that wasn’t entirely true.  I learned that even as I was unable to work on the skills I wanted to, I was able to enjoy the ride because I could work around the issues.  Even though I couldn’t trail brake in the curves, I could still enjoy the feel of the bike as I leaned it side to side.

            As for my boot, I knew I could place it where I needed to shift correctly, so I just kept working at it until I found the spot.  But I was able to shift with the only issue being a mis-shift into neutral when my boot brushed the shifter as I adjusted it on the peg.  But I have enough riding experience to stay calm and ride through what I am discovering are minor problems for me to solve.

            I did think some of the discomforts were due to the very tough week I had at work.  I was physically tired, my left-hand cramping on the clutch lever, but I adjusted and adapted.  At one point I stayed in first gear during my slow U-turn drills, clutch out, making larger circles so I could rest my hand.  But I made it through the ride, enjoying the sunny day, the glimpses of roses stubbornly blooming, the geese scattering away from the roar of our motorcycles.

            In the hospital practice lot, we dismounted to take pictures of the motorcycles in the bright sunshine.  Looking over, Bill spotted a yellow-leafed tree and asked me to move the R Nine T in front of it for a photo (see below).  The bare branches show as well as winter approaches.  I will need warmer leggings to wear under my jeans and see if I can find a flannel turtle neck, but with my heated grips, I find myself looking forward to our winter rides.  And this is a good thing as next Saturday we’ll see a high of 48, assuming the accu-weather is more accurate.

(I hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving holiday!)

            The trees have hit their peak colors as November comes to an end.  Everywhere we looked on this bright, sunny Saturday, we saw the best of autumn colors.  The weather went our way again as the rain came early Friday and ended with enough time for the roads to mostly dry out for our Saturday ride.

            But it was a slow start for me.  The R Nine T would not shift down into first.  Bill warned me when he first began riding the motorcycle that it was tricky finding first sometimes.  Finding neutral is easy, but first gear can be elusive.  I had only had one experience where the bike wouldn’t shift into first back when I was practicing in the field.  My street rides had begun with smooth shifts into first.  Not today.  Bill launched off on the Rocket leaving me sitting at the bottom of the driveway. 

            I believe I have matured a bit as a rider.  I did not panic at not getting first.  I patiently tried shifting up to second.  No luck.  I did my best to roll the bike back and forth to get the gear to drop.  No luck.  I played the clutch in and out, took a deep breath, and “thunk,” the bike dropped into first and I was off.

            Catching up to Bill, we headed onto our curvy road where I could enjoy leaning the motorcycle.  The temperatures were in the mid-to upper 50s, so I was wearing my Klim summer jacket and gloves, but I did turn on the heated grips.  I forgot my motorcycle socks again, so my legs were a little chilly.

            We wanted to get gas, so we headed to the gas station.  We filled the Rocket up with three gallons and put two gallons in the R Nine T, filling that bike to the brim.  As Bill put it, “the R Nine T just sips gas.”  Here at the station was my second battle to shift into first.  Because the R Nine T has a dry clutch, the plates can fight the shifting.  Most motorcycles have a wet clutch because these clutches have a larger friction zone, are easier to shift, and make less noise.  The dry clutch sends more power to the rear wheel, thus making it easier to zoom off.  Dry clutches are most often found on MotoGP racing motorcycles.

            Anyway, Bill took off again and I didn’t.  I again remained patient while I worked the bike into first gear.  Because I was leaving the gas station pump, I had to be extra careful and extra watchful for oncoming traffic from multiple directions (front, rear, left, and right).  I was lucky in that the station wasn’t busy at that time, and I soon rejoined Bill for our ride.  Since we don’t have any helmet-to-helmet communications, I wasn’t able to let Bill know what was going on until the end of our ride.

            While the motorcycle shifting was a fight, I did extremely well with my circles, U-turns, and S-turns.  I paid attention to applying pressure on the outside peg of the turns.  I was so successful at the pegs, I was able to bring the bike into full lock on two right-turn circles.  Full lock means the handlebars are turned as far as the front end will let them.  At full lock one can make the tightest turn.  So I was thrilled that I managed it twice.

            Not much wildlife out and about.  I saw a couple of turkey vultures circling overhead and had my own near run-in with an indecisive squirrel.  And there was a trio of Thanksgiving blow ups on a front porch—a pilgrim with a pumpkin pie, a turkey, and a football turkey.  But the trees were the stars of this ride.  The maples especially had spectacular burgundy and ochre shades.  I will miss the colors when the leaves finally fall.  I will have to rely on the Christmas decorations to provide the sights for our December rides.

            I had one more challenge at the end of the ride.  My Mom was off shopping, so we had locked up the garage when we headed out.  So I parked at the top of the steep driveway and went inside to open the garage.  My challenge was to restart the motorcycle, shift into first, and use the friction zone to get it into the garage while starting on the inclined driveway.  I managed it beautifully, so as I write this blog, I am reminding myself not to get cocky!

It was a rough start to our chilly ride.  In fact it was looking like I might ride solo, but luckily, our circumstances changed.  The brand-new Triumph Rocket 3 wouldn’t start.  Actually, it wouldn’t power on much less start.  When Bill hit the starter a red dot showed on the dash and nothing happened.  The only difference between this week and last was that Bill had turned off the ignition switch down below. 

            I took out my phone and searched for reasons why the Triumph Rocket won’t start.  The older models had electrical issues with the starter but I couldn’t find anything really on the new bike.  So I called Duck over at Sunrise and learned that the Triumph logo on the key fob depressed to turn on and off the fob (the little wi-fi looking symbol).  So we tried that, no luck.  I was transferred to the service department.  Here we learned that the key fob needs to be a certain distance and no further from the TFT display to power on the motorcycle.  With Bill holding the fob on the seat, I hit the starter and the bike powered on; our ride together was saved!

            We had delayed our ride to let the temperature rise above 50 degrees.  It was still cool enough for the leather jackets though without the lining.  I made one mistake in my attire; I didn’t wear any leggings.  I had considered wearing the leggings under my motorcycle jeans, but I hadn’t had to wear them on 50-degree rides before.  The difference this time was I wasn’t riding the Ducati Scrambler, so I didn’t have the warmth of the engine heat.

            I didn’t let my chilly legs deter me from enjoying the ride.  I was on a motorcycle with heated grips.  Even with the heated grips, I made the decision to wear my Rev’It winter gloves.  If you’ve been reading my blogs for a while, then you know I’ve struggled with these thick gloves in the past.  I figured I might as well start getting used to the gloves on the different bike.  I also felt a little obligated to wear them after we had conducted a comprehensive search to find them.  On this ride I only had three throttle revs while wearing them, and two of those while I was practicing fast braking.  I consider that progress.

            As we began the ride, I found myself marveling at how well the R Nine T does in the curves; it leans easily and makes the curves enjoyable.  I felt more comfortable on the bike on this ride than last week.  I had worried that the leather jacket would feel heavy on my arms and shoulders as I reached for the handlebars, but happily, that was not the case.  I also noted how well-balanced the motorcycle is; I have only once felt a slight tipping bobble on the bike and that was early on in my field practices.

            Bill is getting more comfortable riding the Rocket as well.  We spent more time on circles and figure 8s than we had so far, and I noted I my turns were getting even tighter.  I remembered to apply pressure on the outside peg opposite the turn as we practiced.  We worked extra on speeding up and stopping as best we could.  Our church parking lots were full, and even the hospital lot was out because it serves as overflow parking for one of the churches which was having an oyster roast.  The one lot we could practice the quick stops in was extra busy as people ran their errands for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

            The squirrels were about and active again, though this ride we only had one crazy fellow run out in front of us.  I spotted two rose bushes blooming soft pink flowers along with some flowers hanging in on the two-season azaleas, but the trees are moving past spectacular fall foliage to the beginnings of bare branches for winter.  As long as I remember the leggings under my jeans, I don’t mind the upcoming winter rides.  After all, I do have heated grips!

            I could have called this blog entry “Indian Summer Part 2” because it was another gorgeous, sunny, warm day.  The remnants of Nicole passed through Thursday and Friday, and we did have to wait on the roads to dry.  Even so, the roads in the shade were still damp when we rode at noon.

            But I chose to call this “Growing into the New Bike” because I really felt the differences in the R Nine T on this ride.  When we head out onto our curvy road, I feel the different grip of the tires as I lean into the curves.  I also notice the wider rake of the front tire. The R Nine T has a rake of 28.5 degrees versus the 24 degrees of the Ducati Desert X.  This difference means my U-turns, S-turns, and circles are a bit wider.  But I was able to tighten them up a bit this week.

            I still find the riding position a tad uncomfortable.  I have to reach for the handlebars so that I feel stretched out and my riding position is that of the letter C.  This issue can easily be corrected by getting some handlebar risers that would bring the handlebars higher and back toward me some.

            What I particularly noticed on today’s ride was how I have already adjusted to the dry clutch.  As I rode, I thought about why that might be, and I concluded that my early driving experience with manual transmissions in cars helped me adapt to the R Nine T clutch.  I found myself playing with the friction zone at times even leaving the clutch out and riding in the courts in first gear.  But I realized that I don’t want to do that as having some clutch to release to increase speed when doing slow speed maneuvers is a must.  Remember that the motorcycle wants to straighten up but needs speed to do so.

            It was a squirrelly ride in that Bill had to stop four times for squirrels dashing out into the road including one crazy fellow who stopped right in front of the massive Rocket.  I didn’t see any butterflies but noted a shadow fly overhead.  Bill spotted it and said it was a black swallowtail.  Next week I doubt we’ll see even one butterfly.  Our highs are forecasted in the upper 40s—leather jacket time.  Oh, and the R Nine T has heated grips; I can’t wait to try those.

We lucked into a day made for riding.  It was an Indian summer day with temps in the mid-70s and mostly sunny skies.  I was comfortable on the R Nine T, not missing the heat from the Ducati at all.

            What I noticed about today’s ride was my ability to keep up with Bill.  On both the Ducati and the BMW G310, I would often have to accelerate to close the gap as Bill zoomed off.  But on the R Nine T, the 1170 cc engine with 109 hp, I keep up with him easily.  So I’ve learned he wasn’t trying to take off and lose me; it really was the motorcycle.

            I do miss the gurgle and pops of the LeoVince exhaust, though.  The R Nine T engine is on the quiet side.  Bill tells me his Triumph Rocket gurgles and pops as he downshifts, so I try and take comfort I knowing one of us gets to enjoy the delicious sounds motorcycles are capable of.

            There were still a handful of Halloween decorations still up, and I did get to see an inflatable turkey up for Thanksgiving.  One gaggle of Canadian geese were chilling in a ditch.  There was wind from the southeast, giving us the warmer temperatures, but also raining leaves on us.  At one point we were chasing the leaves as the wind blew them down the road in front of us. 

            But the best part of the ride for me was when I watched a smattering of leaves and noticed a rogue leaf seeming to float off on its own.  It turned out to be a Monarch butterfly, and I smiled as I watched it flutter off up and to the left.  We were stopped and starting to turn right, so it was a lovely surprise when the Monarch changed course to flutter by right in front of me.  A truly special moment on this ride.

            I handled the R Nine T comfortably.  The reach to the handlebars is still a tad uncomfortable, but not undoable.  And I noticed the clutch seems to take more strength to pull in.  I don’t mind that as it’s a good workout for my left grip.  Now that I’m on the road riding a dry clutch, I actually think the dry clutch is easier to use than the wet.  As long as I’m rolling on the throttle carefully, I have no stutters or almost stalls.  I did notice the difference in the grip of the tires on the curves.  The R Nine T has 50/50 tires, which are 50% on road, 50% off road.  So the treads are big and chunky.  On today’s ride I noticed the different feel on the grip.

            I also had a slippage.  There’s some road construction in the neighborhood, and I got caught parallel to a dugout in the road.  I felt the bike slip a bit under me, but I didn’t panic and kept my balance in part, I think, because of the excellent balance to the motorcycle provided by the boxer engine.  I really am enjoying my rides on the R Nine T which makes me happy Bill did buy the Rocket.

            Keep your fingers crossed for dry roads next weekend; rain is forecasted.  But I hope we can still manage our ride.

On Thursday Duck delivered the 2023 Triumph Rocket 3 GT with mid-pegs, and a fourth motorcycle was added to our growing bike family.  Bill got to ride it some while he waited for me to arrive so we could park it in the garage.  Temporarily, we had three bikes in my parents’ garage; the plan was to get up early Saturday to move the Ducati Scrambler Fasthouse to my garage.

            The perks to our early Saturday was I got to see seven snowy egrets heading out from their nighttime roost to start their days.  And I spotted an early falcon beginning his day as well as a great blue heron stretching out on a spillway as I followed Bill back to the house.

            When we returned for our joint ride, I was going to ride the R Nine T.  I was a little nervous about this.  While I’ve been doing much better understanding the friction zone in my field practice, I wasn’t sure I would be able to work in the friction zone while also turning the motorcycle from stops.  Oddly enough, though, I found it easy to work the friction zone out on the road.

            Since this was only Bill’s second ride on the Rocket, we were going easy and focusing more on just riding straight roads and turning around in cul de sacs rather than slow speed maneuvers.  Thus I was able to get a better feel for the R Nine T too.  I missed the burbles and pops of the LeoVince exhaust on the Ducati; the R Nine T was much quieter.  And I felt I was stretching a bit to reach the handlebars, so I scooted up on the seat.  I loved the smoothness of the acceleration and the gear shifts.  My turns went well, and I found it easier to turn the wheel at stops and keep it turned as I headed into the turn.

            The weather was a little nippy, and soon I will have to switch to my leather riding jacket.  But despite the cool air, I did see a cabbage white fluttering by early in our ride.  Lots of fun Halloween decorations were out including a 20-foot-tall skeleton with a skeleton dog.  We stopped by the building with the mirrored wall to take a look at us on our new bikes.  I’m still taller on my motorcycle than Bill on his Rocket, but we both are riding two gorgeous bikes.

            I worked a little on pre-loading which is where I ride with one or two fingers on the front brake and the clutch.  The clutch is too far out for me to comfortably pre-load, but I was able to pre-load the front brake.  However, I struggle with rolling on the throttle when I pull in the brake.  I might have better control if I adjust the brake closer, something I’ll try next week.

            Next week we’ll have temperatures in the low 70s, perfect riding weather for our first November weekend ride.

            In the autumn it’s natural to expect change in the air.  The temperatures are becoming wonderfully, comfortably cool for our rides and the leaves are changing into their lovely fall colors.  But changes are coming to our rides as well, good changes.

            After the disappointingly high quote on the 2023 Triumph Rocket 3 GT, we contacted Moto Richmond.  Their web site showed a black Rocket, but the description said the bike was red and black.  So I asked if it were the 2023 carnival red and sapphire black; it was.  I then requested a quote, and they came back with a price over $1,100 less than Sunrise!  Now the issue was the logistics of picking up a motorcycle in Richmond and getting it back home.  We took the chance of contacting Duck to see if Sunrise wanted to try and meet the Moto Richmond quote.  Sure enough, the sales manager hates to lose a sale to Moto Richmond, so they told us they would match the MR quote.  On Thursday Bill made it official.

            No motorcycle yet, though.  The GT model comes with forward controls, and Bill wants mid controls.  So we have a delay on getting the bike, but hopefully not too long a delay.  In the meantime we have to decide which motorcycle I’ll be riding.  We already know we want to sell the Ducati Scrambler, but we have to move out the Scrambler or the R Nine T to make room in my parents’ garage for the Rocket.

            An additional change coming for us is the loss of the school yard.  For nearly 50 years, everyone in the neighborhood has been able to freely enjoy the large field behind the school.  But now, someone’s decided they need to fence off the school grounds, which means I’ll lose my R Nine T practice field.  Now the solution would be for me to just start riding the R Nine T on our regular ride; however, the tires are 50/50 off-road, so they aren’t ideal for a newer rider on the roads.

            I do feel more confident on the R Nine T.  I feel better able to handle the clutch and find myself wanting the challenge of riding the bike on the roads with frequent stops.  I had no stalls in my practice this week, and I found myself accelerating up and down the field.  I would like to feel more of the power of the bike, but whether I take over riding it will depend on some logistics.

            Our ride was nearly perfect.  Bill was able to quickly install the shoestring replacement having made it this week out of some aluminum.  We rode out into a sunny day in the mid-60s.  I found myself marveling at how we now make figure 8s in the cul de sacs we used to only make circles.  I have much better control of my turn radius though I have not done a full lock yet.  I did successfully walk the bike into a full circle while I looked the other way.  This practice is to make it easier to look in the opposite direction when turning.  I do this well on right turns, but I tend to straighten out the wheel when turning left.  Today I had one good left turn where I could look to the right for oncoming traffic while turning the bike to the left.  Some progress.

            There were some interesting sites on the ride.  Several people are decorating for Halloween by placing skeletons in lawn chairs out in their yards.  We also passed two set ups for wedding receptions, one right in someone’s front yard.  Toward the end of our ride, we saw an Autumn Gold Ginko tree letting loose a bevy of leaves.  I had given up on seeing butterflies as we’d had some chilly nights in the 40s.  But as we arrived back at the garage, a little cabbage white made its way over to flutter past, providing a beautiful end to our beautiful ride.