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.

Another early start on Saturday as we went back to Adventure BMW to pick up the R Nine T.  I followed Bill back home and we headed out.  Because Bill had ridden on roads with 45 mph speed limits, he suggested I lead the ride today to prevent him from zooming off.  So for the first time, I took point.

            It was a cool 65 degrees as we headed out.  I found myself shutting my helmet visor, needing to zip up my jacket fully, and wishing I had worn my neck tube.  Taking point meant I needed to be even more aware of what traffic was doing as it affected both of us.  But I also enjoyed the point as I selected the route and determined our slow speed practice.

            Because the day was so cool, I was able to add back the slow speed drills of tight circles, S-turns, full lock drills, and straightening up and stopping drills.  It felt good to get back into practice, and I found myself smiling a lot as some of the drills came easily and some challenged me.  Before we headed out, Bill had checked the air in my tires which were low.  As he told me, “You’ll notice your suspension is going to be stiff.”  I particularly noticed this inside the gravel lot.  As I led the turns, I felt my tires slipping under me repeatedly.  But I wasn’t freaked out by the slips as I feel I can handle the Ducati and I understood why there was such an increase.

            The cool air meant almost no butterflies.  However, late into our ride, a darkish brown Juvenal’s Duskywing fluttered across my path.  We did see a lot of small groups of geese as their migration continues.  I did wonder why I haven’t seen any large birds of prey, but then I remembered I was on point and shouldn’t be watching the sky.

            Since I did have point, I led us to the school field so I could ride the R Nine T some.  I amazed myself with how well I was able to get the motorcycle moving.  I had a blast just zooming around in S-turns, really enjoying how well the bike leaned into the little curves and how well it zipped around.  I was having so much fun I almost forgot to practice stopping and resuming the ride so I could work the clutch.  I had six successful starts with zero stalls, so I’m almost ready to say I have a feel for the dry clutch.

            The beautiful ride came to an end with big grins on both of our faces.  Autumn is definitely riding season.

It was an early start Saturday.  We had a 9:00 appointment for service on the R Nine T, and by heading out early, I got a chance to ride the R Nine T a bit before the appointment.

            Because our start was so early, the temps were still in the 60s—an absolutely perfect morning for riding.  Bill headed out on the R Nine T while I would follow in the car.  As I started driving, I saw a falcon atop a light post who then dived down into the bushes by someone’s front porch, and I took that as good omen on the day.

            I arrived a few minutes before Bill at Adventure BMW, so I had the rare opportunity of watching him ride up on the beautiful motorcycle.  I quickly geared up and took the bike into the same parking lot where I test rode the R 1250 GSA last week.  I had a little trouble finding first gear, but I remembered to work the motorcycle forward and back to help it fall into gear, and that worked.  My start was smooth with no jiggering and off I went.  My ride was short-lived, however, as the mechanics soon showed up.  Still, I managed some U-turns and S-turns and a shift into second before I had to stop my ride.

            We checked out the inventory to find they had sold a few more motorcycles without getting any new ones in.  In fact when I had arrived at the dealership, there was a gentleman from Maryland with a U-Haul trailer waiting to pick up his recently purchased motorcycle.  I hope next week we see some more inventory; I would especially like to see an R 1250 GS in stock.

            Once we left the dealership, we returned to the garage where I suited up to take out the Ducati Scrambler.  The day was so cool, I was able to ride wearing the Alpinestars shirt under my jacket.  I mostly cruised, but I did take some tight turns in the three gravel lots, having headed into the pool parking lot.  I didn’t feel the heat much on my legs, so I tried to get the tight turn in the house gravel lot that I had to dab on last week.  I was successful happily.

            As I rode out from that parking lot, I encountered a bright yellow Canadian Tiger Swallowtail who almost collided with my helmet.  Luckily, she flitted upward as I zipped by and we could both continue our day’s journeys.  I later saw a Horace’s Duskywing as I headed back to the house.  Definitely the butterflies as well as the motorcyclists prefer cooler weather for our fun.