Milestones

As I began to write this blog entry, I realized it is my 50^th blog. It is also the one-year anniversary of my MSF course which means I have been a motorcyclist for a year.

A year in and I’ve had one drop, no crashes, and two motorcycles. I still have yet to ride on a major roadway, but we’ve begun looking at a local possibility that would only require us getting up a little earlier. The more I ride and compare it to driving, the more I recognize how riding motorcycles in traffic is not a good idea. Besides, on the Ducati Scrambler, cruising is not what the bike is built for. When we took the bikes into the pool’s gravel lot and the historic house lot, I enjoyed the feel of the tires slipping a bit in the gravel. That’s what my bike is made for, dirt roads and gravel paths.

Today was a cool, comfortable day with temps around 60 and the sun shining down on us. Birds were everywhere, a group of robins flying right around Bill in front of me, a few geese milling about, and a wary egret eyeballing us as we made circles in a court. I was happy to have finally found the little cat garden statue Bill has been talking about. It is an interesting yard ornament as the cat is looking sideways in surprise. Roses have begun blooming alongside the irises with the dogwoods covered in green leaves; a few still had their white blossoms cradled among the green. Only one cabbage white butterfly fluttered by, but I did see two dragonflies darting about in front of me.

My ride was great; I kept up easily with Bill on takeoffs as well as on the roadway. One of the benefits to following Bill is that I often get to see how people we pass react to us. Pleasantly, most of them wave (adults) while the kids watch with popped eyes and jaws dropped because to a kid, motorcycles are cool. And because I have a little bit longer reaction time, I’m able to wave back. Today I found myself thinking how after just a year of riding, I’m very comfortable lifting my left hand off the bike to wave.

As for my training, we worked on coming to a “no foot” stop. This is where you brake the bike so the speedometer shows zero but you don’t put your feet down. We only do this at yield signs, and there has to be some confidence in handling the motorcycle as it will start to weave (you can do the same thing on your bicycle). We learned this week that when riding at slow speeds and the bike starts to tip, let the clutch out. This allows the friction zone to help keep the bike moving, but it is contrary to what our instincts tell us—pull in and grip the bike. We’ve just began our training with this and I look forward to more practice.

Next week we’re going to add sudden stops when standing on the bike. We practice riding while standing in a large hospital parking lot but, as Bill pointed out, we need to be prepared for sudden stops for when something jumps into our path. Standing on a motorcycle for riding is often used when off-road riding especially over bumpy terrain.

The day was so lovely, we extended our ride a bit, finishing up to find an osprey flying way overhead. I did have more success with finding neutral today with only one stop where I couldn’t get there. I tried rocking the bike as Bill suggested and that did help. It’s been a fantastic year of riding and learning, and I look forward to more practice, more learning, and even more to the riding. And thanks for reading!

Things Are Heating Up

Despite an early start, the temperature was already mid-70s as we mounted up for our weekly ride. Summer days are getting closer.

One thing I’ve noted about my riding skills last week and this week is that I am much better at taking off in sync with Bill. Before, he would head out and I would stall or sputter out slowly as I was getting a feel for the bikes and for riding. Now I find myself capably feathering the clutch and accelerating so that I am just a little behind the R NineT. To me this reflects my growth as a rider in that I have become much smoother at starting off on the motorcycles.

We headed back into a neighborhood we’d been avoiding because of the road construction and, as we arrived at the turn into the first road, we noticed an Eastern Chicken Turtle out in the road. Due to the noise of a truck that had passed and our bikes, he was snug in his shell but not in the best place. We rode on and I wondered because I fully expected Bill to stop the bike and move the turtle. Into the neighborhood we went, finding the road torn up still and a large mountain of dirt laying on the side of the road. But we got to take a spin in the gravel lot of the historic house. We quickly rode toward the neighborhood exit, finding the turtle had moved onto our road with about half the street left to go before finding safety in the grass. This time Bill stopped his motorcycle, got off, and gently lifted the turtle and placed him in the grass in the direction of the river. Turtles out sunning themselves is another sure sign of summer.

When Bill had stopped his motorcycle, I tried to shift into neutral to give my hands a short rest but the Ducati is fighting me again and not letting me find the magic “N.” Luckily on this ride, we didn’t stop much. We headed over to the ritzy neighborhood and kept cool by riding straight down to the end of the road. This turned us around and let us hit our usual roads from the opposite direction. I noticed the dogwood blossoms had fallen as the green leaves pushed through. The azaleas were in their last blush of bloom, but the irises were open and I saw beautiful whites, purples, and pinks.

On this warmer day, I expected to see a lot of butterflies to make up for last week. Alas, it was not to be. I saw only two cabbage whites the whole ride. But I am realizing I may see fewer butterflies as I don’t do my dead-end street practice any more. My little practice road was next to woodland, so the trees and flowers attract the fluttering insects. And while we are riding through neighborhoods with large yards, we are riding past so I’m not “hanging out” where I can notice and observe the butterflies. I hope the butterflies will become more plentiful.

We didn’t have any rude drivers this week, but we did have unusual traffic patterns. Several times when we were trying to turn left, a plethora of cars would come by. But the roads themselves were rather clear of cars. We did our usual gravel parking lot practice, and I enjoyed the slipping sensation of the tires on the shifting gravel. The downside to our S-turn and U-turn practices is the heat, and on the Ducati, the heat is more intense than on my little 310. This is because of the exhaust location. My Scrambler has two small exhaust pipes down beside my right inner leg. So I feel not only the heat off the engine but also the exhaust heat. It’s fine while we’re riding straight out, but it can be uncomfortable when doing slow speed maneuvers.

We had a bonus ride in the gravel lot by the neighborhood pool. Bill had headed down the road planning to turn around, but there was a guy on a bike on the side of the road in the way, so we headed into the pool’s lot. The neat thing about this old gravel lot is that there’s dirt and grass mixed in, so there’s more to navigate. And because we turned around inside the pool lot, I had the chance to hit my little stretch of “off road” coming out.

One last little obstacle to overcome as we put the bikes away. Bill had entered the garage a little wide and motioned for me to stop. So I stopped at the apex of the steep driveway. The challenge to move the bike forward into the garage is to feather the clutch while releasing the brake and not rolling down into the street. To move the bike forward, I apply the rear brake (right foot), release the front brake (right hand), feather the clutch (left hand), roll on the throttle (right hand) while lifting my foot of the brake. It worked perfectly and, as an added bonus, I shifted right into neutral once I parked inside the garage. I may have learned a few things in almost a year of riding after all.

Riding and Riding Some More

The rain held off this Easter weekend and afforded me two beautiful days for riding. On Saturday the temps were perfect; I felt cool the entire ride without ever getting cold. In fact I kept my visor up on my helmet which, considering the height of spring and current pollen levels, was not that great an idea—achoo!

I realized that this is my first spring riding season ever. I’m two weeks away from my one-year MSF course anniversary, so my first rides were more summer-like (temps in the 80s and above). We’ve been graced with a true spring season this year and, if you’ve been reading my blogs, you know I’ve been loving these spring rides. I hope the season stretches out well into May even if it means more sneezing.

The butterflies weren’t too keen on the weather yesterday. I did see my first Eastern Tiger Swallowtail midway through our ride, but only one little cabbage white came out toward the end of the ride. I think the spring has the gorgeous flowers while the summer has the beautiful butterflies and as the weather warms, I will see more of the colorful insects. The birds were also scarce; I only saw one pair of mating geese resting beside the road and one osprey being chased by a mockingbird. There was a strong wind Saturday, so that may have kept the flying creatures at bay.

During the week we watched a YouTube video with two tips for handling curves. One was braking into the curve, pretty standard and taught in the MSF course. The other was to put your head on the side of the bike where you want the bike to go in the curve. In other words look where you want to go and by look, that’s look with your whole head. This seemingly simplistic idea was amazing in practice. In the MSF riders learn about target fixation; target fixation is when you’re moving toward a curb and you fixate on it so that you end up running into it. It’s a neat thing to play with on your bicycle; fixate on something until you realize you’re riding toward it. Of course on your bike you’re slow enough to veer away before any collision. And on a motorcycle, as long as you don’t fixate, you can use your vision to get you to put the motorcycle where you want it. Look where you want to go.

So when we came to curves, I practiced putting my head to the left or right depending on where I wanted the Ducati to go. This is helpful because if I were going wide into the curve (too close to the middle lines and the other lane), I can move my head to help guide my bike further into my lane. It was fun to practice and, riding our usual neighborhood routes, I was riding familiar curves to practice in, but I could see how helpful this technique can be when riding into an unknown curve.

Oddly enough we didn’t see many people out, not like last weekend when there were yard workers and dogwalkers everywhere. It’s probably because it is a holiday weekend. We did see a trio of people in an orange classic VW beetle cruising the ritzy neighborhood, passing them several times. As a testament to how gorgeous the day was, they had the top down as they drove about.

I did have a frustrating experience on my ride, though as Bill explained later, it is part and parcel of being a motorcyclist. We were heading out of one neighborhood toward the fast road. Bill was out in front and I was my usual two car lengths or so behind. As we neared the stop sign, we passed a road on our left where a white SUV was quickly stopping and had two cars passing by in the opposite direction. Something about the way the white SUV stopped set off my “spidey” sense. It may be that the driver started then stopped quickly as she realized Bill was passing on his motorcycle. He passed her stop just after the two cars coming the opposite way passed, but she was not going to stay stopped and let me ride past (as she should have). So I came to a full stop as she pulled out in front of me, but it wasn’t a sudden stop as I had started braking because of that “spidey” sense. So I had the experience many riders encounter when approaching an intersection where a car driver does not see them. In my case I was seen (I wear that neon bright Helite vest after all), but I was still cut off. At least that impatient driver gave me a lesson from which to learn.

I caught up to Bill and we finished our ride with some S-turns as reflected on my lessons from the day. Because of the holiday and the beautiful weekend, I also took out my BMW G310 GS for a short ride on Easter. I worked a lot with feathering the clutch to help move the bike in and out of the garage. Plus, I wanted to try my new Daytona boots on that shifter—still too stiff to get them under the shifter. I actually was making my left foot sore as I tried to work it under the shifter. I found it easier to transition to the BMW from the Ducati this time, only stalling the bike once while on my ride. I am really starting to feel on both motorcycles how beneficial my practice is.

Me wearing the Helite Turtle vest–very visible.

Rumbling Ruminations

I tried new boots for my ride this weekend, the Daytona Lady Star GTX boots which feature an insert that adds one inch to my height. They were a birthday gift from Bill, so they are top of the line. Interestingly, though they are named Daytona, they are of German manufacture. I had not worn them for a ride as yet because of their stiffness. I had been wearing them around the house and to do yardwork in an effort to break them in.

Bill had his own pair of men’s Daytona boots that he had used on the previous two rides, noting to me that the shifting was tricky. A few weeks ago, I sat on the Scrambler in my new boots and couldn’t find the shifter, so I was a little nervous trying them out. But I was ready to try them because I felt confident enough in my riding ability that I could split my focus a bit. But it proved not to be a distraction at all; I shifted easily albeit by using the side of the shift lever not getting under the shifter. I confirmed after the ride with Bill that shifting on the side is not what I want to do.

But during the ride, I ruminated on the desired shifting position and then ruminated on ruminations. I recognized that even though I ride with Bill, the nature of motorcycle riding is such that even when you are riding with someone, you are alone with your thoughts. (I’m discounting the communication devices that allow rider-to-rider conversations because as Bill has pointed out, that is a distraction.) Unlike driving a car solo and losing yourself in your thoughts, on a motorcycle you can’t ever lose yourself that you lose awareness of the road. I don’t mean a car driver isn’t paying attention to the curve of the road, surrounding traffic, and obstacles in the road. I mean that on a motorcycle, in addition to all of that, I have to be aware of gravel patches in the road, puddles, sticks, rocks, oil patches, sewer grates, just more because these have a greater impact on a motorcycle than a car. So I have the sensation of letting my mind wander at the same time as I have a sense of focus on what I’m doing and where I’m riding on the bike.

My thoughts were mostly on the spectacular colors of the azaleas at peak bloom, the colorful phlox splashed in among the grass, and the delightful dogwoods which are having an excellent blooming season this year. But I also let my thoughts turn again to the country roads, slowly getting closer to a reality. I also thought on home improvements and landscaping as I looked at people out working on their homes and noted well-done as well as poorly done landscaping. My spring break will be spent doing some serious housework, so I wanted to enjoy the freedom from responsibility riding gives me.

It was unofficial “Walk the Dog” day as we saw countless people out with their dogs who were clearly loving the cool spring weather. The cabbage white butterflies were out, and I saw my first black swallowtail of the season; I had been hopeful I would see some other butterfly species as I had seen an eastern swallowtail earlier in the week, and I was not disappointed. Oddly, though, I only saw two geese, both solo, so it is nesting season. We’ll be seeing the goslings soon. And because we can’t share our thoughts, Bill couldn’t let me know he may or may not have seen a cat, and I couldn’t let him know I was startled by a deer that turned out to be a yard stature under a tree.

It was another gorgeous spring ride; there is a reason you see more motorcycles on the road in springtime. And I now fully understand that reason.

Daytona Lady GTX Boots available at Revzilla

A Feel for the Bike

Today’s ride taught me that I have developed a good feel for the Ducati Scrambler. I say that because today as I rode, as we made our circles and S-turns, I felt how smoothly I maneuvered the motorcycle, even the two times I rolled a little too heavily on the throttle. I can’t blame the gloves because I was wearing the Klim summer gloves again today and still I rolled the throttle unintentionally. Nothing too bad, just a slight boost to my acceleration. I actually enjoyed the second intense roll on as it threw me back on the bike.

Overall my acceleration was smooth and I did a good job of keeping up with Bill. We headed out into the neighborhood on a gorgeous spring day. Before we even mounted the motorcycles, a cabbage white butterfly flitted by in front of me as I stood waiting for Bill. We started early with the court circles, and I let myself enjoy the lean as we circled around.

We turned into the school lot and I got to slalom on the bus lines. Bill needed to zip up his jacket. Then we were off again onto our usual route. We hit the same court with the pair of geese though today they hightailed it to the water and didn’t try to take us on. This let us do some S-turns in the court since we weren’t disturbing the wildlife. I worked on smooth braking and was able to focus on my balance at the stops enough to notice two times where I almost put my right foot down first. Riders are taught to always put their left foot down when stopping because this allows the right foot to remain on the rear brake. Obviously, as I’m coming to a stop, I am pulling on the front brake with my right hand, but the rear brake adds extra safety, so the right foot needs to stay on the brake until the bike is fully stopped. Today, I successfully placed my left foot down first every time, but twice I had to quickly place the right foot down as well for balance. I did learn months ago that a trick to help with placing the left foot down first is to lean your head to the left, and I realized today I need to practice doing that.

We surprised a great egret and got to watch it fly low across the water with its expansive wing span. The sun was so bright in the sky that it was easy to see the shadows of the birds flying overhead including the shadow of a hawk. At one point as we turned down a new road, I heard a phenomenal chorus of birdsong causing me to smile. The birdsong shifted my focus to what I hear as I ride because predominantly it is just my motorcycle. I’ve mentioned that I can’t hear Bill’s R Nine T as I ride behind, usually all I hear is my Ducati. But I realized that oftentimes it is possible to hear the birds singing as we ride as well as lawnmowers and blowers as people work in their yards.

It wasn’t just the sounds that made me smile; the views were spectacular. Though the cherry blossoms suffered from the storm on Thursday, the dogwoods and Japanese maples looked glorious. And these trees are complimented by the brilliant brightness of the azalea blooms and the gorgeous tulips. I let the beauty of the day comfort me as we were unable to do our gravel lot practice; too many cars parked there. Springtime brings everyone out, though, and I am very happy I get to experience it from the seat of my motorcycle!

Rhododendrons and Azaleas, Temple Newsam by Rich Tea is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0

Blossoming and Blowing

The thick pollen coated the back of my throat on this blustery spring day, but that did not deter me. The sun was bright in the windy skies, and the flowers and trees were blooming.

I started off the ride with an adjusted clutch lever, closer for an easier grip. This caused issues shifting issues as I had to rediscover the sweet spot for the clutch, but I wasn’t too concerned as I understood the problem and knew I’d adapt to the changed clutch position. I now want to bring the brake lever closer too. Some riders hold to the philosophy of maintaining one to two fingers over the brake and clutch as they ride. I want to try riding like this so I have all my options for a comfortable and safe ride.

We set out into the wind. The wind was 15 10 20 mph from the west with 25-30 mph gusts, so the wind was with us the whole ride. I enjoyed it; I like the fight to stay on the motorcycle as the wind tries to push me off. The best part of the battle with the wind was as we rode up the 35-mph road; that was straight into the wind and my hardest battle to stay on the bike. I smiled the whole time.

We did some U-turn practice in the courts and on the gravel lot by the historic house. I found myself marveling at how confident I felt on the bike even as the back tire slipped a bit in the gravel. We took off on a few new roads, seeking to stretch out the beautiful ride. Everywhere I looked, there were Yoshino cherry trees, azaleas, dogwoods, daffodils, tulips, and more flowering plants and trees I didn’t know the name of blooming.

The westerly wind had a chill to it, so I didn’t see any butterflies taking advantage of the flowering wonderland. But the birds were out everywhere, zipping by as they busily worked on their nests. In one court we rode into, a pair of Canadian geese were crossing the court toward the nearby water. They hadn’t cleared the asphalt and took umbrage with us riding into their court. We rode around in our circle as the geese seemed to be clearing off the pavement but for some reason, as we circled around again, the lead goose decided to charge at us. Now we were safely avoiding them giving them a wide berth of at least 12 feet, but the goose started beelining toward Bill and then, after Bill rode past, toward me. I smiled as I apologized to Mr. Goose for disturbing him and his lady. I’ll have to keep an eye out for goslings in the upcoming rides.

We finished up our ride with quick braking practice. Sometimes I do miss my solo practice riding, but today I noted that during our cruising, I’m able to practice leaning into the curves and accelerating on the way out, something I did at a very slow speed during the MSF course. So I am always learning on my rides and always having a blast!

The Butterflies Are Back!

Yep, half a dozen cabbage white butterflies flitting about, including a pair either fighting or hooking up who zoomed about like a golden snitch from Harry Potter, accentuated our ride on this gorgeous spring day. While tomorrow is the official start to spring, today was a huge head start, with even a hint of summer as the temperatures rose toward the 80s. We wore our summer gear, the Klim jackets and gloves; I had to adjust to the feel of the much lighter weight gloves on both the throttle and the clutch. I found myself rolling on the throttle unintentionally and, when I stopped to think about it, I realized I was moving my hand as though I was in the larger, heavier Rev’It gloves. In the Klim gloves, this meant my hand was closer to and on the throttle whereas in the Rev’It gloves, I would still need to close my grip further. But I did adjust and enjoyed the solid feel of the grips.

Just a quarter mile into our ride and the first butterfly fluttered by in front of me and I knew we were in for a super fun ride. Even as we started on our usual route, I knew we were in for a treat. For one thing despite the gorgeous day, there were not too many cars out on our route. As we left one neighborhood and entered the ritzier one, I saw the second butterfly. Perhaps it was the thought of flying, but seeing that little white guy made me realize that I hadn’t attached my Helite vest to the connector on the bike. I pulled over and remedied this, easily shifting into neutral, while Bill began looping around in the court. By the time he noticed I had pulled over, I was shifting back into first and joining him in the loops. We had been making circles in the courts, but today Bill led us into S-turns, and I somehow felt the little bit extra was more of the fun of the day. I also enjoyed the bigger challenge of finessing the friction zone as we weaved around the court.

As we left that court, I saw another butterfly, but then I thought it might be the same little guy having made some progress. Need I admit it was a day for lots of silly smiles? We continued our route, pulling into the court where a house is under construction. I noticed two ospreys battling for territory (or mates) up in the sky. Then I noticed one of the construction workers leaning his head out as he walked out from behind his work vehicle to watch Bill ride away on the gorgeous BMW R Nine T Urban GS—it is a very good-looking motorcycle.

We stretched our ride out, heading into the other ritzy neighborhood, and discovering another house under construction. Bill then took me up a road that leads to the busy main thoroughfare. He pulled into a deserted parking lot and led me up to the closed office building where there was a large window out front or, in our case, a large mirror. It was yet more fun to see the two of us geared up and on our bikes together.

What a glorious riding day this was, a perfect distraction, and more finessing with the clutch. I hope today is a harbinger of more good riding days to come and of the butterflies to come.

Finessing the Friction Zone

Cold, bright sunshine greeted us for our ride, our timing thrown off a bit by the leap forward for Daylight Savings Time. But yesterday was a huge no-go between the rain, wind, and snow flurries. Welcome to March in the Mid-Atlantic. We were happy to have dry roads for our ride and just a few gusts of wind.

Because of the cold, we had to gear up in our layers. Bill got ready way faster than me; I’m slowed down by the need to shift my ponytail out between layers, so he took off for short little jaunts while I finished gearing up. The Rev’It gloves fought me, but I wrested them on finally and we were off. We hadn’t gotten past more than three houses before I realized I hadn’t secured my Helite vest to the Ducati. I tried to signal Bill at the first stop sign to hold up, but my signal didn’t work. I let him take off and took the time to click the connector; he held up at the end of the block until I rejoined him, and we finally started our cruise proper.

The gear worked in keeping the wind chill at bay for a comfortable cruise, mostly. The gloves still affect my grip, and I found myself longing for the warmer weather and the switch back to the Klim gloves. But I decided to find a positive in riding with these gloves, and I did. I used my discomfort with my grip to focus on squeezing the bike and gripping more with my thighs. Once I did this, the gloves didn’t bother me as much, and I could relax and enjoy the feel of the ride.

There were a few gaggles of geese about, small groups with the birds paired off as we approach spring. A high-flying hawk soared above us, but no bald eagles are likely as we are avoiding that road due to construction. I had fun on the gravel doing S-turns, feeling a slight slip. Neutral was not easy to find today, but I got there eventually.

We finished up a short ride because the roads were pretty busy. Probably everyone was out today having hunkered down during yesterday’s storm. My Mom was out when we left, so I had closed the garage. Usually at the end of our rides, we drive the bikes up into the garage. But today we had to park them at the top of the driveway while I ran inside to open the garage. That meant in order to move the Ducati into the garage, I needed to use the friction zone. Now my parents’ have a very steep driveway, so as I started the bike and shifted into first, gravity tried pulling me back and down toward the street. So I had to release the clutch while releasing the front brake. My attitude was “all I can do is try,” knowing Bill could always take over if I failed. But to my giddy relief, I was able to use the friction zone and walk the Ducati into the garage. It is such a sense of achievement when I successfully execute my motorcycle skills.

Drops and Stops

Well it finally happened; I dropped my Ducati Scrambler. It started innocuously enough. Bill let me move the Ducati down to the street to start it up and let it warm up. I got it turned around and rolled it (no engine power) down to the curb, managing to park the back tire nicely abutting the curb. I then leaned the bike to the left to set it on its kickstand and prepared to dismount. Only one tiny problem—I hadn’t put the kickstand down. I realized this just as I felt the bike tip past the point I could right it. Down it went.

I almost dropped the BMW G310 GS once coming into a turn, but I was able to manhandle it and keep it upright. But the Ducat weighs 70 pounds more, and my foot was too far out to get my leg under me for support. In a way I was glad the drop happened like this, where the bike wasn’t under power and in motion. Unfortunately, because I was perpendicular to the camber of the road, I did some scratch damage to the foot peg and the Barkbusters. But the worst damage was a bent shifter. Bill handled the damage perfectly, no anger, no repercussions, just the mindset that it was going to happen eventually because everyone drops their bike eventually.

I was ready to give up my ride for the day and let Bill head off on the R NineT, but he felt the shifter was fixable with a pipe wrench. He headed off to get one while I waited and let myself calm down. Within five minutes the shifter was fixed and the bike was ready to ride.

We headed out on this cold morning, 36 degrees with a wind chill in the twenties. It didn’t take long before we came across a slow-moving Toyota Rav4. We were at the stop sign waiting for oncoming traffic to pass. We waited and waited, realizing that the SUV was moving slowly, but not so far back we could turn in front of the vehicle. As the middle-aged woman driving passed by us, we realized her head was down and her focus clearly told us she was on her phone. This lady proceeded down the road, turned onto the road we were turning on, and made a third turn—all while staying on her phone. We pulled off into the school’s parking lot to let her pass and give us a safety buffer, but what a scary thought to realize how far this woman was willing to drive—through a neighborhood with kids and pedestrians—all while looking at her phone.

One of the best escapes the motorcycle provides is an escape from the phone. Not only would you not be on your phone as you need both hands for shifting, braking, and steering. But you can’t even hear the text chime as you’re revving the throttle and zooming about. Today I realized that Bill can’t hear what I’m doing on my bike just as I can’t hear his bike. So today I felt lost in my own world. Of course I can see Bill, but all I hear and feel is my motorcycle, letting myself get lost in the ride.

I did better with the gloves on the bike today, revving the throttle only twice. I did notice, however, when I was riding the 310 the next day, that the gloves make it difficult to turn on the turn signals. Moving forward, I will focus a little more on my grip in these Rev’It gloves to help me have better control.

Our ride picked up after we got around Mrs. Texter. We saw an osprey circling over the river when we had stopped for a moment. I noticed plum blossoms already opened, a sure sign that spring is almost here. The geese we saw were coupled up in mating pairs, another sign of the vernal season despite the winter chill in the air. It was such a cold, dank ride, my fingers started to get numb, so I was happy when we cut the ride short. Plus, I knew I would be riding again the next day.

The next day was 10 degrees warmer, a good day to get the BMW G310 GS out and about. I stalled three times trying to get the bike up enough for me to see around the neighbor’s SUV. I headed out over to the Greek church parking lot to practice S turns and riding on a straight line. I then cruised about, riding by someone who owns the BMW 1250 GSA, smiling because I like the bike and may own one one day, but also because I could recognize the bike.

I didn’t plan on a long ride as Bill was at home not riding. But I did get to go slalom in the orange cones at the high school parking lot, and I explored more of the back roads of the neighborhood. I stalled twice at stops because the 310 requires more throttle input coming out of the friction zone than the Ducati does. But that’s part of why I was out riding the 310, to experience and learn the riding differences between the two bikes. This will help me later in learning how to ride other motorcycles, something I am really looking forward to in the not-too-distant future.

The bent shifter on my Ducati Desert Sled.

Trying to Get a Grip

Today was a beautiful day for the mental escape riding a motorcycle provides. Sunshine and fifties for our temps with gusty wind that didn’t affect our ride. We headed out for our neighborhood cruise, and I found myself cracking my helmet visor as I had overdone the clothes and was actually a bit warm. I had on my Rev’It Taurus GTX gloves for the colder temperatures, and I spent a good part of the ride analyzing the feel, grip, and comfort of these top-of-the-line gloves.
Because these gloves are insulated for warmth and have Goretex for weather protection, the fit is bulky. I have to push down between the fingers when I put them on to tighten the fit, but even then, there is a lot of fabric between me and the throttle. This is my fifth ride wearing these gloves, so they are new and naturally stiff. Today I wondered if I could wear the gloves around the house to try and loosen them up some as I do with my boots. I’m not sure, but it is worth a try.
I have established, after getting to wear my Klim summer gloves last week, that the gloves do affect my pull on the clutch and brake and my roll on with the throttle. In fact I had several excessive roll ons due to the gloves, so I have to work on getting a better feel on my right hand between the glove and throttle. I had no difficulty shifting with my left, perhaps because these thicker gloves cause me to pull harder on the clutch.
Where the gloves shine is the warmth they provide. Today was only slightly chilly, but I’ve worn the gloves while riding on 30-degree days with no chill to my fingers. I look forward to discovering whether with more use the gloves do loosen up and flex better; I certainly hope so.
As for our ride, every court we entered we circled three times, and I worked on watching over my shoulder for any potential cars. Last week Bill pointed out that as we enter a court to turn around, a car might be entering behind us but heading straight into a driveway, not realizing that we are circling. So I worked on checking my mirrors and checking over my shoulder during all of the circles.
We did S turns on the gravel parking lot, and I had two heart pumping moments when I felt the back tire slip. One day I’ll train using that slippage to help bring the bike around (backing in), but that will have to wait until we are on a softer surface than even the gravel. We did some more S turns in the hospital overflow parking. I was being cocky and doing tighter turns than Bill, so I had to dab my foot as I did too tight a turn.
Other than crows and a few gulls, I only saw one sole Canadian goose. Seeing that, and someone in the neighborhood flying a Canadian flag, brought my escaping thoughts to the terrible events happening in Ottawa today. I don’t want to be political, but I do want to say I support the Freedom Truckers. Motorcycle riding is freedom in motion; I’m glad I get weekly reminders of what it means to be free.