Goofy Ride

Part of riding a motorcycle is developing routines. There is the routine of T-CLOCS* that they teach riders in the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course. There is the routine of gearing up—in my case Daytona riding boots, Alpinestars jacket, Klim jacket (for summer), Helite turtle airbag vest, helmet, and gloves. And there is the routine at the start of the ride—mounting the motorcycle, connecting the airbag vest, unlocking the front wheel, checking that the motorcycle is in neutral, turning the front wheel to make it easier to lift off the stand, kicking in the kickstand, starting the motorcycle with right hand on the front brake just in case, and shifting into first gear ready to roll. All routine motions that at this point don’t require too much brainpower. Except when my brain skips one step in the routine.

It was a lucky summer day for riding. Some overnight rain had given us cooler temperatures in the low 80s. And while large looming storm clouds hinted at a future deluge, the sun was out and the rain left us alone for our ride. I even spotted a yellow sulphur butterfly before the ride, a good omen of more butterfly sightings during my ride.

I needed a good ride. As a teacher librarian in my grown-up life, I had spent the week prepping for the new school year, made extra exhausting by my needing to reshelve two-thirds of my book collection having gotten new windows and bookshelves over the summer. I felt lucky the weather cooperated, and I was eager to start my riding therapy. Perhaps I was a little too eager because I skipped a step in my routine.

In some ways I was also lucky that this misstep happened at the onset of the ride because that gave me an awareness of needing to stay aware during my ride. The step I skipped doesn’t seem like a big deal; I forgot to kick up the kickstand when I pulled the R Nine T up. As a safety feature, the R Nine T won’t let the rider shift into gear with the kickstand down. So when I shifted from neutral into first, my motor shut off. It took me a few beats to realize the problem was the kickstand because when the motor kicked off, I couldn’t get the R Nine T back into neutral. I’ve had some missed shifts during rides, and I’ve had instances of arriving in the garage to park and not be able to shift into neutral, but I’ve never had the problem at the start of a ride.

Of course, I’m not in the habit of forgetting to raise the kickstand. When a motorcycle resists shifting into neutral, it is helpful to reach down with the left hand and wiggle the shifter around until it finds neutral. After what seemed like five minutes but was probably only one, I found neutral, lifted the motorcycle off the kickstand, kicked up the stand, and shifted into first gear, ready to ride. One little step in the routine forgotten delayed both Bill and I.

My slip up did make me extra conscientious about checking my mirrors and looking ahead into oncoming traffic and intersections. This extra awareness helped me with an emergency stop late in the ride. But as we headed out with a cool breeze, I did enjoy the crape myrtle scent freshened by last night’s rain. I also enjoyed the fresh cut grass as people took advantage of the beautiful day to be outside doing yardwork, walking, or riding bikes.

During the ride, I had two mis-shifts, so I found myself listening for the thwunk of the gears shifting. As I listened for my shifts, I still managed to spot a black swallowtail camouflaging itself in the shadows of an azalea bush. And we passed a gaggle of geese enjoying the circle of shade provided by a magnolia tree. I managed to spot a falcon in between all the crows. And as I finished executing a beautiful two-spot U-turn in the gravel lot, a monarch butterfly flew by.

Our ride was mostly just us with some people out and about, but when we encountered traffic, it was in odd ways. The first oddity was as we approached a chokepoint in the road. We navigated around an electric Amazon deliver van to find ourselves slowing way down (footless stop almost) as we waited on a car to come through the chokepoint at the exact time two pedestrians arrived at the chokepoint. Later, as we neared the end of our ride and were zooming our last bit of zoom, I realized Bill was stopping and slammed on my brakes as oncoming traffic arrived faster than expected and prevented our left-hand turn. I managed my emergency stop without having to put my feet down because the R Nine T is so well-balanced.

*A link to the MSF page explaining the acronym.

black motorcycle with kickstand down — Photo by Baran Karakelle on Pexels.com

Shade and Shadows

Last week it was the humidity, this week’s ride was the heat. The sun was shining brightly around the large, fluffy cotton ball clouds. And the sun was burning hot. The garage thermostat went from 87 degrees up to 88 as we prepped to ride. When riding in heat, the goal is to keep moving to keep the air flowing over one.

As I headed out of the garage, I saw a shadow in the shape of a butterfly. When I got outside, I think I spotted the cabbage white heading into the branches of the neighbor’s magnolia tree. Otherwise, I only saw a couple of dragonflies.

I was thankful for my yellow seat as Bill pushed up off his black seat which had baked in its few minutes sitting in that sun. I braced myself for being uncomfortable during the ride and worked on forcing my focus on my road awareness and safety. As we rode, I sought out patches of shade to ride through. Physically, I’m not sure it was that much cooler, but psychologically, it helped.

Again, other than some ducks deep in the shade over the river inlet, not much wildlife was moving. People wise, I only saw two tween girls out walking and a young man returning from the store. When it’s too hot for yard work, it’s hot. I managed two beautiful all street on-street U-turns, but that was the only slow-speed drill we did. I enjoyed zooming up the fast road in one direction, but on the return trip up that road, we were stuck behind a slow-moving Ford Expedition.

I did get to work on my throttle skill as I had to park the motorcycle and open the garage. I’ve described how steep the driveway is; it doesn’t flatten out until the garage floor. So when I restarted the R Nine T, I had to keep the motorcycle from rolling backwards down the driveway. Now I could try and rely just on my leg strength, but that would mean my legs are working to stop over 500 pounds with gravity’s help. So the trick is to roll on the throttle enough to not only prevent the motorcycle from rolling backwards but to gently move into the garage. It’s not like I can zoom unless I want to go through the walls. And I’m happy to say I nailed it.

The best part of the hot day was as Bill and I were taking off our gear and chatting, a black swallowtail butterfly flew halfway into the garage before turning around and flying out. Every ride gives me something special to smile about.

Soft Summer Ride

Cool air and cloudy skies met us on the road. A cold front came through giving us a break from the usual July heat, and we were heading out on our motorcycles on a day of 72 degrees.

Before we left, however, I learned a new trick from Bill. The new trick built on a trick I had learned from watching motorcycle videos. How does a woman straighten up a 500+ pound motorcycle? While I do work out with weights, muscling the motorcycle up can wear the rider out before the ride even starts. So the original trick was to take the front wheel out of the lock position and straighten it up before pushing the motorcycle off its kickstand. And this does lighten the weight to make it easy for me to pull the R Nine T off the kickstand.

The new trick Bill discovered while preparing to move the motorcycle out of the garage was to turn the front wheel all the way to the right. By doing this, he could easily pop the bike up off the stand with a bump from his left inner thigh. He then asked me to try it, and I found it super easy to lift the bike.

I then confidently tried this new trick on the street as we prepared to head out. As far as lifting the R Nine T went, it worked brilliantly. But I encountered an entirely unexpected issue that gave me a moment’s worry that I might drop my bike. Once the motorcycle was up, I went to lift the kickstand, but for some reason my boot decided to do something it’s never done before. My boot heel seemed to hook against the kickstand in such a way that I could not kick the stand up. After a few attempts to move the stand up, I reset the motorcycle down on the kickstand and tried again. This attempt was successful, and I learned that the new wheel to the full right trick does make lifting the motorcycle off the stand even easier, but I was spooked by the weird hookup.

Setting out, however, I soon left the weirdness behind. I knew the day would not bring out the butterflies with looming clouds promising rain at any moment. I enjoyed the soft sheen the cloud cover placed over everything. The greens of the leaves and grasses are peaking and provide a deep peace as I gaze out at them. The flowers gave a soft glow of color to the green landscape with deep yellows from the brown-eyed Susans, bright white from the gardenias and magnolias, and glowing fuchsia from the crape myrtles. Lovely pine sap scented the air alongside the crispness of the crape myrtles. The day was cool enough, however, that I kept my visor down for most of the ride.

I did spot some large gaggles of geese as the goslings are now adult sized. Some ducks were out, of course, on such a day. And I did spot the great blue heron hunkered down on a dock piling while he waited for the tide to go out. I checked; the roar of our motorcycles didn’t startle him into flight.

And we did ride by some future motorcyclists. One was a little girl in a toy motor powered Barbie jeep wishing her little car could zoom around like our motorcycles did. The other was a toddler boy on his tricycle maybe two years old. His mother heard our motorcycles approaching, and she pointed them out to him. I gave him a toot on the horn as well as a wave and wondered what was the mom teaching her child? The red and yellow colors on the motorcycles? The word “bike”? Or was she hoping he would watch us zoom by and start zooming along on his trike? I do appreciate her teaching him at such a young age to be on the lookout for motorcycles. It might help make future rides and riders safer.

white gardenia blossom among green leaves

Where’s the Hot Weather Warning?

A couple of winters ago, Bill and I were out riding on a day approaching freezing. Both of our motorcycles displayed a cold weather warning (mine is a snowflake; Bill’s is more of a message—it’s crazy cold!). We rode that day but kept it short in deference to the motorcycles’ warnings.

So as we headed out on today’s ride, with temperatures nearing 100 (98 was the official), and a heat index of the center of a coal fire, I wondered why the motorcycles weren’t warning us. The truth is the cold weather warning is to make us aware that there may be ice on the road. Since it’s not likely the asphalt would actually melt under our tires, I suppose there’s no need for an extreme heat warning on the motorcycles. Not that we would have paid it any more attention than we did the extreme cold weather warnings (Even My Motorcycle Thinks It’s Too Cold to Ride).

I opted for no Alpinestars under jacket, and there was a breeze, not a cool breeze, but the wind wasn’t blowing hot air either. I used the heat of the day to help me work on my riding focus which was a good thing as we ran into a few choke points. Both were on blind curves with cars parked on either side of the road. The first involved a large Ford F-150, but Bill was in the lead on that one, so I mostly just followed his sudden stop. The second one, however, I had just taken the lead as we headed toward the garage. But I stopped suddenly and let the white Honda CRV pass through the choke point before resuming my ride.

Other than the zooming and lots of crazy traffic, there wasn’t much happening outside. The only wildlife I spotted were a few crows here and there chilling in the shade provided by large trees. Last week people were enjoying the beautiful day out walking their dogs. During today’s ride, we only came across two cyclists and two teen girls out for a walk, one of whom, the one not on the phone, looking absolutely miserable.

At several points during the ride, I felt the heat of the exhaust in the heel of my left boot, so I kept moving it a bit for some relief. But when one chooses, as we did, to ride on July days in the upper 90s, hot and sweat are to be expected. The crape myrtles still smelled crisp and clean, the air flow still felt as good as it could and, best of all, I still got to ride my motorcycle which is what matters most.

road under hot sun — Photo by Alexey Demidov on Pexels.com

Wild Wildlife Ride

A warm but not hot summer’s eve greeted us with clouds in the west but plenty of sunshine on our roads. We headed out with a plan to cruise around and not do too much slow-speed maneuvers. We set off with the scent of magnolias, crape myrtles, and mimosas filling the air.

Our first wildlife encounter was with a crazy squirrel crossing the road in front of us. The squirrel was in the oncoming lane to us about two feet from the other side when he heard the roar of our motorcycles. He stopped as we slowed down, looked at us, and proceeded to head back the way he came with several stops to check us out on the way.

Soon after as we headed up the road, our engine roar startled a rabbit nibbling along the berm, the first rabbit I’ve seen from the motorcycle that I can remember. Usually, rabbits come out at dawn or dusk, but he must have been hungry.

The first butterfly I spotted was a zoomy great purple hairstreak zipping between the clover. A block away from him, I spotted the only cabbage white I saw during the entire ride. I spot more butterflies driving to and from the motorcycles than I do during the ride. Perhaps I am not spotting them because I am working more on my street awareness.

As we headed along the final loop before ending our ride, we saw the very unusual sight of a racoon crossing the road into someone’s backyard in front of our motorcycles. I’ve no idea what would’ve made the nocturnal creature feel the need to be out in the middle of the day, but he was, and he was large. If he was returning home, then whoever lives in that house might want to call animal control because he was a large fellow.

In all my rides, this one definitely had the most diverse wildlife. I was disappointed not to see any birds soaring aloft in the thermals, but I did spot an osprey as we headed home. I look forward to spotting more wildlife among the day lilies and hydrangeas next week.

Fresh Air Ride

After a week of a runny nose and phlegmy cough, I wanted fresh air and sunshine in hopes it would help cleanse my sinuses. And today gave me a great day for my attempt. The excessive heat of the past few days (95 and 97 degrees) had given way to a slight cool off—85. The sun, however, hid most of the ride behind clouds that never quite developed into storms.

One of the major problems with motorcycle riding in the summer heat is stops. Early into our ride, we had a long stop as traffic was unusually busy. When one is not moving on the motorcycle so the cool air flow is non-existence, the heat from the engine, which is under one’s derriere roasts the rider. That’s why motorcycle advertisements always show riders out on open roads or riding on dirt trails; they don’t want potential buyers thinking about engine heat when selecting their motorcycles. Ducati is one brand that would suffer if riders thought through the engine heat every stop would subject them to.

Next time you’re in your car at an intersection and you see a motorcyclist stop beside you, realize that while you might be a little envious of the rider’s freedom and “coolness,” you get to be cool in your air-conditioned car. The rider is anxious for the light to change and for his motorcycle to start moving.

We mostly kept moving in our ride, though we did do some U-turns and S-turns. The on-street U-turn had an unexpected obstacle—a pile of sticks was in the road and neither of us spotted it until we were well into our turns. Luckily, all of our practice paid off; both of us kept our turns tight, no dabs, and avoided the sticks.

I did get back on the gravel during this ride and felt my rear tire slipping quite a bit. But I was able to bring the R Nine T around and even successfully complete the two-parking spots turn. The parking lot had some brown-eyed Susans blooming in the shady flower bed.

I didn’t spot as many butterflies among the roses, day lilies, and hydrangeas as I had hoped. But I did see three cabbage whites during the ride. I’ve been spotting tiger swallowtails throughout the week and even on the drive home, but I haven’t seen any during my ride as yet. The ducks were keeping cool in the muddy low tide of the river. And I thought at first there was an eastern spiny turtle in the road that might have been run over, but it was just a McDonald’s bag that had blown out of someone’s trash.

I thought about the Japanese police technique of not using the clutch just the throttle and front brake in fast turns, but I wasn’t ready to actually try it. My sinuses have fogged my brain some, and I didn’t want to risk any falls. Plus, with the heat, we didn’t do too many slow speed turns. The technique involves revving the throttle while braking, and I need more time to think through it and try rolling on the throttle while braking—intentionally. I have lots of rides where I accidentally rolled on the throttle while braking.

Unfortunately for me, the fresh air did not do much to clear out my sinuses. But it did feel good to be outside, and it always feels great to ride my motorcycle, and I can’t wait until next week’s ride.

The Waver

This week’s ride did not benefit from the lovely mid-70s we had earlier in the week. We were greeted with 90 degrees though the humidity hasn’t really kicked in. I suggested we just wear the Klim jackets and leave the Alpinestars on the hangers. And that worked; there were cloudy skies, and our plan was to keep zooming for air flow.

Soon into our ride, a girl about 7-years-old in her bathing suit, came rushing out of her garage and the sound of our engines roaring by, waving excitedly. I don’t think Bill even saw her, but I did and rewarded her with a jaunty wave. I have the luxury of being the waver because even though I work on being aware of the traffic and roads, I can rely on Bill to make sure we’re clear. He was checking ahead to make sure we had room to move over for the walker who chooses to walk in the street as opposed to the convenient sidewalks. The walker gave Bill a wave which I’m not sure he even saw. So I waved back as I passed.

We then turned up a road and had a boy on an electric bike spot us and follow. I watched in the mirror as he followed us for about a mile, noting too that Bill was going a little faster than normal. Bill explained later that he didn’t want the electric bike rider to catch up to us as that wouldn’t really be safe for him. I waved over my shoulder at him as we rode off.

I realized during this ride that I particularly enjoy waving to kids. I think of my waving role as acting as a motorcycle ambassador. As my long-time readers know, I absolutely love riding motorcycles, and I feel the more riders the better. Another reason I think waving is important is awareness. I read or saw someone once say that it would be extremely helpful if kids on road trips played “punch bike” instead of “punch bug.” His reasoning was this would make them aware of motorcycles on the road from an early age. The more awareness drivers have of motorcycles on the roads, the safer it is for the riders.

During my ride, I kept my visor up some for cool air to flow across my head. So I was treated to the delicious smell of someone grilling hamburgers for lunch. There weren’t many butterflies about, just a few cabbage whites including one that crossed Bill’s path but zoomed up overhead to safety. I had an interesting sensation that led to a discovery. As we left a stop turning to the left, I felt the lean of the bike, the near-fall so to speak, and then I felt how my rolling on the throttle brought the motorcycle upright. It is the technique used in slow-speed maneuvers usually with feathering the clutch, but applying the throttle does the same thing.

Oddly enough later that night, Bill found some YouTube videos of Japanese police women in police rodeo competition, and they use the front brake and throttle to twist between cones turn around, and make U-turns, not feathering the clutch. It’s an interesting discovery, using the throttle in first gear with the front brake to maneuver the motorcycle. Since the R Nine T is such a well-balanced motorcycle, I’ll play around with it during next week’s ride, which is also looking to be another warm one.

Toward the end of our ride, as we came around the large curve, we came across several families walking to and from the pool. One was a mother with her small son on a tricycle who had crossed the street in front of us. She was trying to get her son up the driveway lead onto the sidewalk, but he heard our motorcycles, and turned his head to watch our approach, then turned it again to follow us to our stop and our acceleration up the road. He was only about 2-years-old, but he gave the two bikes his rapt attention. I gave him a wave as we passed and thought—there’s a future motorcyclist.

Riding Around the Rain

The summer heat of earlier in the week gave way to a cold front that brought rain, wind, and cooler temperatures for our ride. In fact we weren’t sure we would manage our motorcycle ride as early rain fell Saturday morning. But with a little patience, a little extra care, and a lot more attention, the ride was possible.

I tied in today’s ride with what I had been studying last week about paying attention both to traffic and to road hazards. The puddles made road hazards easy to avoid, and there was just enough traffic to allow me a good afternoon of awareness practice. I also felt that riding on slightly damp roads is a good experience in case Bill and I are ever caught in a sudden summer shower.

The gray skies gave a muted, calm beauty to the lush greenness of late spring. The hydrangeas have begun blooming along with the brightly colored day lilies. And the hot temperatures of earlier in the week brought out the gardenia blossoms and even a smattering of crape myrtle blooms. The rain allowed the clean scent of the magnolias and gardenias to drench the air with sweet perfume.

I didn’t spot a single butterfly throughout the ride, but I did spy two ospreys and a great blue heron. The heron was in someone’s front yard and, while the roar of the motorcycle engines disturbed him, he chose only to walk slowly farther into the yard, allowing me a great view of his face and crest.

We did work on slow-speed maneuvers around the puddles. I had the opportunity to wonder if my skills are as good as I think or if the R Nine T is giving me. The balance on my U-turns is spectacular, no doubt due to the balancing impact of the two-cylinder heads of the boxer engine. But I also wondered if the dry clutch gives me over-confidence in my feathering technique. At a stop, Bill stalled the Rocket, something he has done several times over the past couple of months. And I wondered if I were riding a wet clutch motorcycle, would I stall more often? It seems to me I did stall more on the 310 and the Scrambler, but I attributed that more to my lack of riding experience. And I remember struggling to get the feel for the R Nine T’s clutch when I first began riding it. But now it’s very rare for me to stall at a stop. So is that because I’ve become a better rider or because it’s easier to feather the dry clutch? An easier feathering would also explain my confidence in U-turns. It would be interesting to have more than one motorcycle to ride (I’m not strong enough for the Rocket) to see if it’s my technique or the clutch.

Now that I’ve written all that about not stalling, I’ll probably stall two or three times during next week’s ride. But that’s OK because even if I’m stalling the motorcycle, at least I’m out riding the motorcycle.

white gardenia flowers on green bush — Photo by Kartik Das on Pexels.com

Not a Happy Anniversary

Five years and two days ago, I sat on my first ever motorcycle, an old Kawasaki Eliminator cruiser, and began my motorcycle journey. This weekend I was looking forward to an anniversary ride on Sunday since Saturday dawned gray and misty. Instead, in doing a seemingly good deed, I broke the R Nine T.

If you own a motorcycle, I recommend searching for hidden problems with the bike. On the BMW R Nine T the hidden problem is known as the disappearing rear brake. A full depression of the rear brake pedal and nothing happens, no caliper engagement. And why? That was perhaps the greatest mystery. The motorcycle has less than 3,000 miles on it, is kept in a garage, and isn’t ridden very hard. Yet on this gorgeous sunny, breezy Sunday, my motorcycle mysteriously broke.

The disappeared rear brake was discovered while Bill was bringing the bikes down the driveway. The Triumph waited patiently by the curb for my BMW to ride. The little garage cabbage white admired the Rocket from across the street. But my bike never made it to the curb. We tried adding brake fluid, but it was a no go, so no ride. And after the week I had at work, I really needed a relaxing ride full of butterflies (I’d spotted a bunch on the drive over).

Instead, we returned both bikes to the garage, packed up the gear, and headed home to do some research. That’s where we learned about the disappearing rear brake. What was really annoying was one of the potential causes of the disappearance was getting the ABS mechanism wet. Guess what we did on that dreary Saturday? Right, we washed and waxed the motorcycles. One would think the dealership would warn new owners that washing their motorcycle might damage one of the most important features of the motorcycle, but no.

Now the problem could be air in the brake line, so we’ll try bleeding the line first before trying to set up service. I really am screwed if the R Nine T does need service; the dealer’s service center doesn’t have any appointments open until September!

So I end this blog post with a cliffhanger—will the R Nine T rear brake get fixed? Will it need service months away? Will I get to ride next weekend? Will there be a sixth anniversary? Stay tuned!

soap bubble on front tire of motorcycle — Happy bubble on a happy motorcycle

Sudden Stops on a Spectacular Spring Ride

Spring returned in full force for today’s ride with a beautiful sunny day right around 70 degrees and with a full-frontal assault by the pollen. I wore my neck tube up over my mouth and nose to help alleviate my allergies, and that action was mostly successful, so I could enjoy the day without sneezing all afternoon.

The azaleas are reaching peak bloom, the roses are beginning to bloom, and I even saw large pink-white peonies blossoming. I spotted two monarch butterflies out enjoying the day probably as much as I was. The Japanese maples were a spectacular red as they reflected the sunlight off their leaves, and the roads were covered in the maple seed pod “helicopters.” We called them “helicopters” as kids because we would pick them up and throw them in the air to let them spin their way to the ground. I even picked up a few as I loaded the gear after the ride to relive my childhood fun.

My motorcycle ride was wonderful. My on-street U-turns were all street with my second one being super tight. Turning my head a little more has really helped tighten my U-turns; I just need to work on reaching and being comfortable at full lock. We also did the zooming figure eights with the race braking, but there was a trailer parked in the lot and it cramped my turns.

My most successful aspect of the ride was finally being able to use engine braking to aid my sudden stops. Engine braking is when I let the downshift of the engine help to slow the motorcycle. What I have to do is let out the clutch as I downshift while braking sharply. It’s a coordination effort on my part. Out of three attempts, I was successful on two. The first stop with the engine braking was within two parking spots. The second one was a goof. And the third was the best; I stopped within a parking spot and a half. It’s always fun to make a leap in skills, and I look forward to working the stops some more next week.

burgundy leaves in sunlight on a Japanese maples