I did get to ride my BMW G310 GS this weekend.  For a little bit.  In my backyard.  In first gear.  It will take me a few rides to get back the feel for riding it.

            So how did I manage on my Ducati Scrambler on a 90-degree day with a heat index of 97?  Did I just let Bill go off on his own and visit with my mom in her air-conditioned house?  Did I stay home and sleep in even more than I already had?  Or did I manage to have a wonderfully fun ride?

            We had a very late start on Saturday having almost decided to push off the ride to Sunday.  But since Sunday’s weather would be just as hot, we decided to go ahead and ride.  But in order for me to enjoy the ride and not feel miserable from the heat, our ride would be cruising only, no slow speed maneuvers.  And this strategy worked.

            I told Bill I was not going to wear the Alpinestars shirt under my jacket.  This meant I would only have on my Klim summer jacket and the Helite vest.  Bill opted to do the same.  We headed out straight to the gas station to fill up the Ducati which was giving me a range between 11 and 13 miles.  Two and a half gallons of gas later, we headed out into the fancy neighborhood.  The plan was to ride long stretches of road and only do U-turns when we rode into a court or street with no outlet.  Outside of stops, this cruising kept me riding mostly between 25 and 30 mph with a few rides up the 35-mph road.  As long as we were moving so that the wind chill could have an effect, I was fine. 

            Cruising is what the majority of motorcycle riders do.  If we lived in a more rural area, I’m sure we would do more cruising.  However, if you ask serious motorcyclists, they will tell you that anyone who wants to be a really good rider practices the slow speed maneuvers.  Slow speed teachers the rider how to really handle the motorcycle.  But the Ducati is made for slow speed practice in the late fall and winter, not the tail-end of summer.

            Autumn is coming.  We saw several flocks of Canadian geese, even having to herd one out of the road as we cruised by.  And I’m sneezing more, a sure sign my fall allergies are beginning to kick in.  I only saw one cabbage white butterfly during our ride.  But I haven’t seen any mums in yards yet.  I saw lovely begonias, vincas, and some white and purple flowers I didn’t recognize.

            It was a good thing we had planned to cruise as several of our practice parking lots were in use.  Both gravel lots were full as were several of the church lots.  Since we weren’t doing slow speed drills, I focused on using my mirrors at stops, turning the wheel before taking off, and maintaining a steady distance from Bill.  I discovered on the left turns that if I dabbed my feet longer than normal, I was better able to keep the bike turned to the left.  So even without the slow speed drills, I made some skills progress.

            I didn’t ride the R Nine T because of the heat, but on Sunday as we finished up some yard work, Bill brought the G310 out of the garage and took a spin around the back yard.  After he rode for a bit, it was my turn.  I dabbed my feet a lot more than usual in part because I felt constricted in my yard space.  In fact I couldn’t make one turn for fear of running into some border rocks.  Bill suggested I loop around the aspen in my yard, and that allowed me to make the loop.

            I’m glad we worked up a solution to let me ride the Ducati.  Moving from an 803-cc engine to a 313-cc would be a step backward.  Although Sunday’s ride reminded me that my first little motorcycle is also a blast to ride.

Miserably fantastic, terrifically bad, horribly great, wonderfully awful—these oxymorons best describe this weekend’s ride.  My battle with the heat of the Ducati Scrambler distracted from the wonderful ride.  So even as I did fantastically with the figure eights and tight circle drills, I was miserable through most of the ride.

            First let me explain why I was on the Scrambler again and not the BMW G310.  Early Saturday we had storms move through wetting the roads, so Bill couldn’t ride the 310 over to my parents’ house.  In fact our ride was delayed as we waited for the roads to dry out which also contributed to my heat-induced misery as we rode later in the day.  Instead of an early start and a ride in the 70s, we were under the full afternoon sun with the high temperature of the day (85) and the full humidity.

            Added to the day’s heat, I had the not-so-brilliant idea to wear a pair of bike shorts under my motorcycle jeans to prevent thigh burn.  Since I was overheated by the ride, I never even got to the blind turning drill that burned my thighs last week.  Instead, the shorts only held more heat in and left me miserable.

            I still appreciated the beautiful day noting the pop of crape myrtle blossoms so heavy on their trees that they are beginning to fall.  And I still saw magnolia blossoms among some of the trees.  The Canadian geese were near just about every road we went down.  And I again saw multiple butterflies including a cabbage white, a spicebush swallowtail, a little wood-satyr, what I think was a meadow fritillary, and a monarch.

            My ride went really well, the motorcycling part.  As we worked on our figure eights, I played with the idea of accelerating and decelerating at the turn.  My stops went smoothly and I really enjoyed riding the twisty roads.  To give myself a break from the heat underneath me, I rode standing at several points to allow the cool northeasterly breeze to wash over me.

            But when we arrived at our parking lot for the straighten up and stop drills, I parked my bike in the shade and sat down.  Bill rode over to check on me, and I told him to go ahead and practice; I just needed to be away from the heat of the motorcycle.

            I had no ride on the R Nine T as the fields were super muddy after the morning rain.  When we take that bike in for its 600-mile service, we’ll put new road tires on it and I’ll be able to ride in parking lots and the roads.  Currently, the motorcycle has 50/50 tires for on and off-road riding that Bill feels are too lumpy for me and my riding skills.

            I’m not sure how next weekend will go.  The temperature will be great—low 80s—but rain is again in the forecast.  I’m hoping the showers will be of the afternoon kind, so we can get the 310 over for my rides.  The Ducati is a great cold weather bike; the engine works like a heated seat.  But I want to enjoy my remaining summer and early autumn rides fully, so I need to get back on my little G310.

            A further note on the Ducati’s heat.  As we were taking off our riding gear in the garage at the end of our ride, my mother, who knows nothing about motorcycles, came out to speak with me.  She stood beside the Ducati for a moment and remarked on the intense heat coming off the bike and looked at me as though I was crazy for riding it.  I suppose we motorcyclists are a little crazy, but it’s crazy in a good way.

            If you have ever lived in the southeastern United States, then you know that when the dewpoint is 72 degrees and the humidity is at 72%, you’re in for a super muggy day.  Even getting out to ride early didn’t spare us from the oppressive, damp air.  I battled my dread as I geared up knowing that my air-cooled Ducati Scrambler was going to be extra uncomfortable to ride.  And I was not wrong.

            In addition to the humidity, there was no breeze, so we had to generate our own wind chill from the soupy air.  There wasn’t much.  I found myself riding with my visor up the whole time, and I even lifted up the bottom of my modular helmet when I was working on slow speed drills in parking lots.  But it wasn’t enough.  I could feel the sweat pooling inside my riding boots and knew I’d have to peel myself out of my gear after the ride.

            The worst part of this super humid day was my focus was off.  My mind was registering the discomfort especially as we practiced S-turns in the gravel lot—not a good place to be unfocused.  I shook myself out of it, but that only lasted until the next slow speed practice.  I even thought I might have to get off the motorcycle for a break, and I did get a short break as Bill counseled me to take my hand off the front brake as we worked on starting in a curve then straightening to a stop.

            One thing I did not mention in last week’s blog (Air-Cooled Engine vs. Summer) is that the worst heat experience is when I stop.  The stopping position means my feet go to the ground and my thighs push up against the air-cooled (read HOT) engine.  When I’m riding, I feel the heat off the engine, but I can open up my thighs away from the bike.  So I hope you understand why I dread the stopping practice.  And the stopping practice comes near the end of our ride, so I’m near well-done when we get to it.  My reward, however, is getting on the air/oil-cooled BMW with its low engine that does not cook my thihgs.

            Now we did get a break from the sunshine as we rode under cloudy skies, and we maybe rode a little too fast on the long stretches.  I found myself wishing we were riding on a 45-mph road as even the 35-mph road was only a little refreshing.  I enjoyed watching an osprey hovering for a moment before diving down for its breakfast.  And both Bill and I got to watch a young bunny hopping along a hedge, startled by the motorcycles entering its quiet cul de sac.

            As I transitioned to the R Nine T, a cabbage white butterfly danced between Bill and me, the first I had seen from a motorcycle in quite a few weeks.  The start of my ride on the R Nine T went well as I didn’t stall right away.  But after my first stop, I repeatedly stalled.  I did figure out that I was letting off the clutch completely and needed to let the bike start going with the clutch partially in.  Bill also suggested again that the muddy ground was giving me trouble.  In fact he got on the R Nine T and it stalled on him as he first tried to get it moving.  One recommendation he showed me when riding on a softer surface is to stand up and get the bike moving.  It was a short practice but I learned a lot from it.

            We returned the bikes to the garage and did manage to peel ourselves out of the gear.  Looking ahead to our next ride, the high for the day is forecasted at 82 with a low of 68.  The Canadian geese are in full migration, we saw three different gaggles, heralding the arrival of autumn—yay!

How do I ride a hot motorcycle in July on a 95+ degrees day?  And how do I do it wearing three layers of safety gear?   By following some simple strategies to keep cool.

            For one thing it’s all about the zippers.  The way to keep cool is air flow, letting the wind cool me down.  So I don’t zip my Alpinestars armored shirt but halfway, and I do the same with my Klim jacket.  By keeping the zippers lowered, more air reaches to my core.  We tend to think of the core temperature in the cold, but it also works in the heat.  Enough air flows through the gear to keep me cool while the motorcycle is moving.

            With my helmet I open the air vents, built in to allow for air flow, and I only shut the visor part way.  The downside to this is pollen and leaf bits can fly into my eyes.  Today in fact a bug pinged off my cheek.  But I don’t mind as it does cool me down.

            A final cooling strategy is to get out early before the full heat of the day, which we did.  Despite our early start, the sun was already burning down.  My Mom gave us a fan to put in the garage to help the air circulate as we geared up. 

            Now many riders can be seen out in short sleeves and some even ride in their shorts.  Yes, they are way more comfortable on a hot day, but they are also way less protected.  As Motojitsu said, “Better to sweat than bleed.”  So our gear is more important than our discomfort.

            And I did get uncomfortable.  As we cruised the roads, I was fine, but I didn’t do the straightening up from a curve to stop.  This drill is towards the end of our ride, so I was really feeling the heat by then.  I kept riding in S-turns just to keep moving.

            Today’s ride brought a new experience.  Last week we brought the gas cans but forgot to fill them up.  Today we forgot the cans entirely, distracted by the construction crews arriving on our street.  My fuel light has been on for three weeks.  When I checked the range on the remaining fuel, the bike told me thirteen miles.  Of course, the computer is trying to figure out the range based on how I’m riding.  Since I go back and forth between cruising at 25 mph to slow speed (6-9 mph) maneuvering, the gauge got confused.  It quickly dropped to 8 miles left where it stayed for a good 10 minutes.  Then it quickly dropped down to 4 miles left.  At that point, I signaled Bill as we were stopped.  He led us from the gravel lot to another church lot to work on S-turns before we headed down the road to the gas station.

            We pumped 2.5 gallons in each bike which enabled us to extend our ride as I no longer had to fret about running out of gas and having to push a 400+ pound bike home in the heat.  I did much better on my stops, remembering to check the mirrors on almost all of them.  The curves were great, but I didn’t enjoy them fully as I was worried about running out of gas.  I added swerving the bike with my legs as in an emergency, the arms and legs may be needed to get out of the way.  My turns went very well too.  I figured out that if I turned the wheel in the direction of the turn (from the stop), and looked in the opposite direction as I first began moving then quickly brought my head around, I was able to make tighter turns without sacrificing my traffic check.

            I did get to ride the R Nine T.  Bill asked me what kind of day I would have since I didn’t get to ride last week.  Last week should’ve been an “on” week making this week an “off” one.  As I set off, it looked to be an “on” day after all.  I got the bike moving with no stall and drove down the field.  On my way back, I remembered I was supposed to stop and restart to practice with the dry clutch.  Now I started to have the “off” day.  I stalled on most of the stops, but I avoided getting frustrated.  Instead, I tried to focus on the feel between the clutch and the throttle.  Because it is a dry clutch, it acts like the clutch in a manual transmission car.  So I stretched my memory back to driving manual transmissions, and it seemed to me I let up on the clutch some before giving it the gas.  I tried this method with the R Nine T and began to see some improvement.  This week I’ll look for tips on riding motorcycles with dry clutches, though it really is about the feel on the bike itself.

            The bright sun highlighted the crepe myrtles, brown-eyed susans, vincas, and the begonias which have all benefited from the good rain we’ve had lately.  I even saw some blooms still on some magnolias.  No butterflies about though there were some dragonflies lazily zipping about in the heat.  I found it ironic to note a whole gaggle of Canadian geese scampering about in someone’s yard.  These birds are flying south for the winter even as we are deep into the heat of summer.

            As for keeping cool, when we peeled ourselves out of our safety gear (Bill had to help me out of the Alpinestars shirt as the sleeves were stuck), we compared our large sweat spots on our t-shirts.  Bill’s taken to bringing a spare shirt to change into; after this week, I’ll start doing the same.  Though looking ahead, next Saturday’s highs are only in the 80s–yay!

Trapped!  That’s the best way to describe our situation yesterday morning when we had planned to ride.  Looking out my window, I saw a heavy-duty pickup truck pulling a large trailer with a backhoe atop it.  Soon, that heavy equipment was joined by a second pickup pulling a Ditch Witch, Then there was the work truck that kept stopping in the middle of the road right behind my driveway.  There’s some kind of sewer work going on in the neighborhood, so we’ve been navigating around heavy equipment all week.  But Saturday morning they boxed us in until mid-afternoon.

            Our luck was not on the good side that night as heavy thunderstorms rolled through and dumped quite a bit of rain on our roads.  The flowers and trees are loving all this moisture, especially the crepe myrtles, brown-eyed Susans, and magnolias (still blooming!), but we had to hope the roads would dry out overnight.  But we did finally get a break and dry roads on Sunday morning.  No work trucks in sight meant our only concern would be the heat; it was already in the mid-80s and heading up to 90 for a high with loads of bright sunshine.

            As we drove over to get the bikes, we averted a small tragedy.  Stopping at an intersection, we spotted another small box turtle trying to cross the road.  Bill jumped out of the car and dodged traffic to pick up the little guy who managed to duck his head just in time to avoid an oncoming car (the turtle, not Bill).  He placed the turtle on the floor of the car where the little ingrate proceeded to attack Bill’s motorcycle boots as we drove over to the woods to set him free.  Mission accomplished, we arrived at the garage, geared up, and headed out.

            The heat of the day, already approaching oppressive, was immediately dispelled by the cooling breeze that hit me as our ride began.  I knew as long as we were moving, I’d be able to enjoy the ride.  And it was an enjoyable ride right from the start.  We headed onto the curved road where I could practice my counter steering.  As I pushed on the handlebars to move through the curves, I began to really understand why motorcyclists love curvy roads.  It’s like playing on the bike as I swerve and lean from one side to another.

            We got to do S-turns on the small gravel lot before heading out to the larger neighborhood.  At this early point of the ride, I remembered to look in my mirrors as I came to a stop, and I had a much better day continuing to practice this skill.  Another skill I practiced was turning my head fully right as I turned right.  This is more than just looking to the right; it is a full head turn.  This allowed me to turn the bike tightly so I did not swing into the other lane of traffic.  The head turn also meant the bike didn’t try and straighten from the turned wheel as much.  Of course, I need to also look back left as I turn as an extra precaution against traffic, so I need to work on more quickly locking my head to the right and turning after a final glance left.

            Another technique I picked up from watching police motorcycle competitions was to push my legs out as I try to come to a no foot stop.  I was able to get the speedometer down to 1 mph with my legs out, so clearly this does help me balance.  As for the police motorcycle competitions, I highly recommend watching some.  The skills on display are amazing especially as they perform them on 700–800-pound large motorcycles.  A fun video to watch is the Common Tread video where they enter a police competition (https://youtu.be/qf1j1shZi20).

            There was no rain threatening us on our ride, so we were able to do our standing and stopping practice.  It went very well as I could bring the Desert Sled to nearly a complete stop while standing.  But not everything went well.  While we were in the parking lot, I tried to do a figure 8 between 4 parking spaces, focusing on the center spot to help keep me between the lines.  As I was making my second attempt, the bike lurched toward the left, so I straightened it quickly.  But my right glove stuck on the throttle and I revved that way more than I should have, causing me to lunge across the parking lot.  After that, Bill got off his R Nine T and measured the spaces, determining that they were 2 feet short of what they should be.  That made me feel better about not succeeding with the figure 8, but I need to figure out why I lapse on throttle control.

            We finished up our ride by practicing straightening and stopping drills and speeding to a stop.  There would be no ride on the R Nine T for me this week as last night’s rain left the field swampy.  I’ll have to hope my “on week” holds through to next weekend.

Luckily, I did spot a Black Swallowtail amongst some flowers, and the dragonflies clearly are living large off the mosquitoes as there were plenty about.  I even spotted three Canadian geese chilling in the shade, and we startled a baby bunny as we rode into a court.  We also made some young boys’ day as we zoomed by them as they congregated on the side of the road waving to us.  We rewarded their interest with some horn beeps.

            When we parked the bikes and got out of our gear, we were soaked in sweat but happy, and I spotted a cabbage white dancing along on this hot but lovely day.