We have a rule against riding in the rain; slick roads are difficult to navigate on four tires let alone two.  We also don’t ride when it’s in the twenties (or lower).  Bu today’s weather was forecasted as sunny and a high of thirty-five, so we headed out after 1:00 to enjoy our ride.  The R Nine T throughout the ride told me it was too cold.

            I mentioned in “Riding in the Snow” how Bill’s Triumph Rocket displayed a cold weather warning message.  During today’s ride, instead of displaying the mileage, my display said “COLD” and flashed the temperature ranging from 34 to 37.  I noticed this change two minutes into our ride and thought it would eventually go away.  It didn’t.  Maybe it was too cold to ride.

            Despite the icy air, there wasn’t too much wind and lots of sunshine.  And there were lots of birds about.  As we rode down the twisty road, I noticed a raptor high above being harassed by crows.  A few minutes later, I saw it was a red-tailed hawk and more crows were harassing it.  But the osprey I saw was being left alone.

            Two days earlier the groundhog saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter.  And while the air temperature during our ride seemed to support that prediction, the flock of robins that scattered off the road in front of us suggests spring is very near.  I also think the Canadian geese sunning themselves down by the river are another indication of the vernal return.

            Because of the cold, I was wearing my Rev’It gloves, and I thought I would not be able to preload because of the bulkiness of the gloves.  Surprisingly, though, I was able to, not as easily as with my other, lighter gloves, but I did preload most of the ride.  I actually realized halfway through the ride that riding with my hand in the preload position on the front brake felt better than having all fingers on the throttle.  It was an interesting discovery.

            We rode the usual route with only two really cold wind paths.  I had on my Factor 4 pants with a pair of exercise leggings on underneath, and Bill had given me an old balaclava to wear.  I was mostly warm as I practiced my S-turns, U-turns, and trail braking.  I did great checking mirrors on stops and shifting in and out of neutral and first.  But I felt something was a little off.  Maybe it was that COLD display with the fluctuating temperatures, all in the mid-thirties, and the snowflake emblem on the right, but I sensed that my riding skills weren’t at top form.  My turns were wider than last week, but I didn’t try much to tighten them up.  After the ride, even Bill said the cold was affecting him.  Perhaps I should pay closer attention to my motorcycle when it warns me of the cold.

It was a gift of a day for motorcycle riding; bright sunshine, barely a cloud in the blue sky, and temperatures rising to 60 degrees.  I was able to take the lining out of my jacket and wear my Rev’It Ignition 3 leather pants.  Bill took advantage of the beautiful day to wax the tank on the R Nine T (see picture).  Last week we noticed two lines on the tank, so Bill wanted to add that extra protection.  I thought through what might be causing the lines, and the only real difference between me and Bill on the bike is that I attached the cord for the Helite vest before mounting the bike and he always connected after.  So today I made a point of waiting until I was astride the motorcycle to clip the vest in to see if that kept lines off the bike.

            I also made sure to adjust the knee protectors in the pants before we took off—more on that later.  The day was so pretty, we saw plenty of people out walking and riding bikes.  I shifted easily into first gear, but as we headed down the curvy road, I had a shifting kerfuffle and found myself wondering what gear I was in.  Most modern motorcycles have a gear indicator light; both my BMW G310 GS and Ducati Scrambler have gear indicators.  But since the R Nine T is a retro bike, and has a clock not an LCD display, there are limits to the information available.  There is an indicator for neutral, but that’s it.  As nice as a gear indicator would be, I like learning from the experience of the ride.  It turned out I was in third gear though I had thought I was in fourth.  I decided what I needed to do was feel the motorcycle more.  If I shifted too high up a gear, I should feel the shuddering of the bike to tell me that.

            As we headed down the curvy road, I found myself using my preloaded front brake briefly.  I entered one of the curves a tad too quickly, but with the preloaded brake, I was able to drop the speed safely.  This particular curve was near a driveway with large brick posts, and my mind went to target fixation, imagining how that would work.  I could have been focused on the post instead of slowing my speed in the curve, and that could have led to an accident. Luckily, because I have been working on my skills, nothing of the sort happened.

            During our ride, we did a lot of figure eights.  As we spun around in one court, a little head popped up from some bushes, a young boy helping his mother do some yard work, and watched us intently.  As we headed out of the court, I gave the boy a honk of the horn and wave.  In the court with the realistic cat figurine, I saw a tall great blue heron perched on a dock railing.  It was amazing to see the long, thin bird stretching its neck to the sky.

            I remembered to go off-road a bit as we did our on-street U-turn.  It was strange feeling the grass under my tires again but good practice for me.  My U-turns on the R Nine T are getting tighter.  I worked on making sure my head was completely around, and I felt confident enough to try the tight U-turns in the gravel lot with the large wooden beams.  I had to dab on one turn, but the other turn went great.

            The whole ride was going very well until my left knee protector shifted in such a way as to press down on my kneecap, causing me great discomfort.  We were heading toward the hospital overflow lot, so I made a quick adjustment to lessen the pain until we got there.  Once there, I was able to shift into neutral and quickly dismounted the bike.  I walked around to try and adjust the pants while Bill rode over to see what was going on.  We decided to head home where I got practice in parking the bike at the top of the driveway, then restarting to pilot the motorcycle into the garage.

            We were all smiles as we finished the ride on this beautiful day.  Next week we won’t be so lucky—rain forecasted all week except Saturday, but temperatures in the low thirties.  We’re not out of winter yet.

As evident in the picture of the motorcycles, we had a bright, sunny Saturday for our ride.  The temperatures were a little on the chilly side, a high of 48 with a cold north wind, but the rain was going to wait until Sunday.  With my heated grips, I was able to wear my new Klim Adventure GTX short gloves.  And because I was able to wear these smaller gloves, I was able to ride with the front brake pre-loaded for nearly the entire ride.

            As mentioned in earlier blog entries, pre-load means to have a one or two fingers on the front brake lever, pulling in the slack of the brake.  I’ve been using pre-load as I work on my trail braking in curves and corners, but pre-load is an important safe riding skill.  There’s a YouTube vlogger, a retired NY motorcycle policeman, who refers to his supporters as “Preloaders” (Be the Boss of Your Motorcycle).  So what makes pre-loading so important?

            One dangerous motorcycle crash is called a “high side.”  This crash involves the rider being launched over the top of the handlebars.  Slamming on the front brake suddenly is a leading cause of high sides as the motorcycle may stop, but there is no front brake on the acceleration of the rider’s body, so that keeps going. 

            Now when leaning into a corner and suddenly slamming on the front brake, the rider may have a “low side” crash.  This crash occurs when the rider applies the front brake while in the leaned position and the front tire loses traction causing the rider to fall sideways off the bike, on the low side.  My trail braking practice is to prevent a sudden stoppage on the front tire which would cause the loss of traction.

            So the purpose of pre-loading the front brake is to prevent a sudden loss of traction in the front tire because it allows me to gradually increase the braking pressure.  How so?  Well with the slack already pulled in on the brake, any pressure I apply to the front brake lever is activating the brake, so I don’t have to yank in the brake.

            I have tried to ride pre-loaded on all of my motorcycles, but it is only on the BMW R Nine T that I have been successful.  My grip must be stronger now too as I was able to ride in the pre-load position for almost the entire ride without my hand hurting.  My only discomfort came again from the new winter pants, though it wasn’t as bad as last week.  The motorcycle fought me a little with the gear shifting.  When we were ready to set off, it wouldn’t drop into first.  I let the clutch out and back in and was able to shift into first.  But later when we were in the hospital lot, I couldn’t shift into neutral.  Bill had to come over and manipulate the shifter.  While there, he took a quick spin on the R Nine T and marveled at how small the 1200 cc motorcycle is compared to his 2500 cc Triumph Rocket.

            I worked on trail braking, stops, pre-loads, and U-turns.  When we did our in-street U-turn, Bill rode off onto the berm.  He later explained that he wanted to practice the sensation of going off-road so that should he be forced off, it won’t be a weird experience.  So I will add that to my practice next week.

            I was happy to be able to ride in the gravel lot again; the lack of rain made that possible.  I’m almost ready to try my turn around inside the wooden borders.  As I worked in the hospital lot, I marveled at how well-balanced the R Nine T is.  I need to be careful not to get too comfortable with this balance and forget that I can drop the bike.

            We were lucky with little traffic as we rode, but there were a lot of people out and about enjoying the sunny day.  We did see lots of dogs, even three new ones who came out to bark at us.  Only one squirrel made a crazy dash across the road in front of Bill, but far enough away he didn’t have to stop.  I found myself missing the nature sights on the ride.  I’ll have to get used to it as spring is still quite a ways away.  There is one yard that has Valentine’s Day decorations out, so I try and make the most out of that.  Of course, I can always enjoy the sight of Bill riding on his beautiful Rocket.

Flurries, that is.  But still, we rode in the snow.  Obviously, it was a cold, wintry day in both feel and looks.  Gray skies and a north wind joined us for our ride on a 38-degree day with wind chills in the twenties.  It was good day to try out my new Rev’It Trousers Factor 4 winter riding pants.

            These pants are not as comfortable around the waist as my Ignition 3 pants.  The Ignition 3 have Velcro tighteners on the side, but the Factor 4 don’t.  The weight of the knee pads and the fabric pull the pants low, not embarrassingly so, but low enough to add a challenge on the ride to getting my right foot down.  I am wondering if I can find suspenders strong enough to help keep the pants up.

            As for keeping me warm, the pants did fine.  The only parts of me that got cold were my cheeks under the helmet and my right hand a little.  I’m actually not quite sure if my right hand was really cold or if it was discomfort from a cut on the tip of my index finger.

            But other than those minor issues, the ride was great.  I had fun watching the flurries melt on my gas tank as I waited for Bill to gear up.  I really enjoyed the curvy road; the R Nine T loves to lean.  I even worked some trail braking in wearing the large Rev’It winter gloves.  My stops were a little goofy at first with the new pants pulling up my right leg, but my leg eventually adjusted.  I did great watching the rearview mirrors at stops. We did a street U-turn meaning we turned around while on the neighborhood street rather than in the cul-de-sac.  My first go round brought me very close to the grassy berm, but on my second U-turn, I went to full-lock and aced the turn.

            In our practice we visited a new parking lot, a tiny little squarish tarmac probably leftover from the old Burger King that used to be on the lot before it was transformed into a post office and Dominos.  On our way over, a large hawk swooped down and flew across Bill’s path of travel.  We didn’t do more than three turns in the lot before heading over to the hospital lot.  While there, Bill called me over to his bike.  The Triumph had a message about the cold weather and that conditions may not be great for riding.  Unfortunately, getting a phone out to take a picture was a complicated process in all our weather gear.  It was cute, but it was also timely, and we decided to head home out of the flurries.  Next week should be flurry free and a comfortable 50-degree ride; I can’t wait.

A bike on the road is worth two in the shed.

Anonymous (https://wildtriumph.com/motorcycle-quotes-sayings/)

The Christmas season is very generous to me.  Not only do I receive gifts for Christmas, but my birthday falls within the twelve days of Christmas, so I now have two new Rev’It riding pants and new Klim gloves.

            For Christmas I was given the Rev’It Factor 4 thermal lined waterproof pants.  These come with knee protectors and a removeable thermal liner to keep me warm on cold, winter rides.  On my birthday I received the Rev’It Ignition 3 pants which combines leather with breathable mesh for protection and air flow.  These pants also have a removable liner, but they are for warmer rides.  Both pants fit me way better than the Klim riding jeans which we did get in a larger size than I needed.

            Now that I was better geared up, we headed out on a beautiful sunny day in the low-50s.  I wore the Ignition 3 pants, and I also tried my new Klim Adventure GTX short gloves.  Bill gave me these gloves as a moderate weather glove because my Rev’It gloves are for really cold wintry rides and my other Klim gloves are perforated for summer air flow.  I did find myself putting on the heated grips on low with these new gloves.

            As for the pants, they will certainly need some breaking in.  I have to get used to the snugger fit which I found made mounting the bike a leg lift exercise.  I also need to adjust the knee pads.  Throughout two-thirds of my ride, my left knee was under pressure from the knee protection.  It was so uncomfortable, I thought for sure I’d have a bruise on my knee after the ride (I didn’t).  l finally managed to get the protector adjusted by kicking my left leg out straight.

            The ride itself was fantastic.  The sun was bright but, because we headed out earlier in the afternoon, not shining into our eyes.  Most of the Christmas decorations had been packed up, thought there was a cute inflatable of Santa in a car still waving at us.  We passed a snowy egret and two ducks chilling in the lake near the road.  Overhead, turkey vultures were lazily circling about.  No crazy squirrels in the road on this ride.  And, when I ignored the pants, I realized how wonderful a motorcycle the R Nine T is to ride. 

            For starters I easily found first gear which was helpful as my mind was distracted by the feel of riding in the new pants.  I realized how wonderful the Daytona boots are as I had no trouble shifting or braking wearing the boots with the new pants.  I’m very pleased with that as the Daytona’s have a one-inch lift which will help me flat foot the BMW R 1250 GS later in my riding career.  I also realized how easy the clutch is out on the road.  When we were practicing our slow turns and braking out of a curve, I could easily manipulate the clutch.  With the BMW G 310, I often stalled on slow speed drills.  The dry clutch really is fun.

            Yet, the motorcycle did mess with me a little.  We were parked and chatting about how the ride was going when Bill suggested he film a short video of me riding in my new pants.  Now I should have warned him that I hadn’t found neutral when I stopped my bike.  Restarting the ignition, I tried to find neutral as Bill walked away to start filming.  I never saw neutral, but I did believe I had shifted into first.  Nope.  I started riding toward Bill and the engine cut off on me.  Since I was struggling, I let Bill hop on and play with the clutch.  I was in third gear which is a surprise as I never leave first gear during my slow speed practice.  So I still have quite a bit to learn about using that dry clutch.

            I don’t mind more to learn as that’s another reason to ride.  Not that I need any more reasons because riding motorcycles is a total blast.

            Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and the new year is off to a great start.  My holidays were great except for the Arctic blast that prevented us from a Christmas Eve ride.  When the high barely crept into the low 20s, we decided to stay snug and warm at home.

            After Christmas, our area was blessed with gradually warming temperatures, giving us multiple sunny days in the 60s—perfect riding weather.  And Bill did get a short ride in on Thursday; the Ducati was due for its annual state inspection, so we headed off to Honda of Norfolk.  While Bill patiently waited for the inspector to become available, I was able to check out the CRF250F.  This motorcycle is an off-road trail bike that we are considering.  We’d like to purchase two of these bikes and, as Bill calls it, “rag” them off-road.  Bill got his first motorcycle at the age of thirteen, and he had a large field next to his house to ride it in.  So he appreciates the riding skills one can learn on a lighter bike in the dirt.  Because it is designed to ride off road, it is a tall motorcycle; a seat height of almost 25 inches.  But the suspension is soft and sank down as I mounted the bike so I could easily flat foot the bike.  We haven’t gotten to the serious purchase phase yet, but it was great having the opportunity to see and sit on the bikes.

            Now I mentioned that we had a week of spectacular weather, riding weather.  And I was off from work the whole week.  So why didn’t we take advantage and go for a weekday ride?  Well, my Mom was having trees removed, so the yard was torn up and there were large machines all around the house that week.  Our motorcycles were trapped in the garage.

            Also, unfortunately for us, rain moved in late Friday and lingered all through Saturday into Saturday night.  Road surfaces become slippery in the rain, especially if there are oil slicks on the road.  Plus, I’m using 50/50 on/off-road tires, which means the tread is chunky, so there are gaps where the tire is not in full contact with the ground.  These gaps don’t make for the best traction on wet roads.  We began to believe there would be no ride this weekend either.

            If you search “motorcycle riding as therapy,” you’ll find over 15 million hits.  The Semel Institute for Neuroscience at UCLA found that riding a motorcycle decreased cortisol, a stress hormone, by 28%.  Even I have written about how therapeutic I find my riding (“Hint of Fall Riding” published Dec. 5, 2021).  When it became obvious that Saturday’s ride was a no-go, we headed over to Southside Harley-Davidson to see if they were as well stocked as Bayside.  They did have a good number of motorcycles, including a gorgeous red Fatboy, several Pan Americans, Nightsters, and even a few Livewires (HD’s electric motorcycle).  Bill was amazed to realize that the Harley’s didn’t seem as large now that he’s been riding a Triumph Rocket.  But looking at motorcycles isn’t the same as riding them, and I admit I was getting a bit depressed.

            Our only hope was that the promised sunshine for Sunday would show up and shine enough to dry out the roads if we were patient and planned on a much later start.  Thankfully, 2023 gave us what we wanted and the roads dried out enough to allow us our ride.  I needed the escape as my football team came out in the second half and stunk up the field.

            The Arctic storm brought enough strong winds to blow clear almost all of the trees.  But with the sunshine, warm temps (65), and most people having tomorrow off, there were lots of people out and about.  We saw several kids playing on new Christmas bikes, scooters, and skateboards.  Bill had a near run in with a screwy squirrel; I watched from behind and I swear, it was like the squirrel was playing chicken with the front tire of the Rocket.  Finally, he darted off the road and let us resume our ride. 

            I worked on keeping two fingers on the front brake as I worked the throttle.  This position is known as pre-loading because the slack is pulled in on the brake to pre-load it so that when pulled, actual brake pressure is being applied to the front wheel.  It is considered one of the safer ways to ride.  I believe I was successful at the pre-load on this ride because I was able to wear my summer gloves on the warmer day. 

            Because I found it easier to pre-load the front brake, I was better able to work on braking into the curves.  I found turning easier, and I was able to turn tighter in courts.  I only had to widen out my turns to keep clear of Bill on the Rocket. 

            One aspect of our ride that has changed some since Bill acquired the Rocket is how we now make multiple runs on the 35-mph road.  It is clear that he feels the grunt of the torque on his new bike, and I found myself wondering as we rode if we would venture out onto a higher speed road soon.  We’ve discussed some options; maybe if the weather cooperates, we can put one of those options into play.

            The one downer on our ride was the position of the sun.  Due to our rain delay, we were out riding much later in the day than usual and, being winter, the sun is much lower in the sky. Together, these circumstances meant we were riding into the glare of the sun on several roads.  My helmet does have a visor, but I had taken it off in December because when I wear my leather jacket, the collar pushes the helmet in the back and the visor blocks some of my vision.  But the low sun shouldn’t be too much of a problem as we don’t usually ride at 3:00 in the afternoon.

            After such a wet and dreary Saturday, however, I’ll take the sun even in my eyes a bit since it means I get to ride.  And the days are slowly stretching out.  It’s far too early to think about spring, but some more weekends in the 60s in the middle of winter would sure be wonderful.  Next week’s ride will be more wintry as the high is only in the 40s, but that will be my chance to try out my new winter riding pants.

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!