Crossing Paths

Our ride day came with a slight break in the heat wave of the week; instead of temperatures in the mid to upper 90s, temperatures were in the low 90s, around 91 for our ride. The sun was out, but there were towering clouds in the sky, so I was hoping for some cloud cover to provide some relief; the relief never came. The whole ride was hot despite the little bit of cool air in the slight breeze. Hot rides like today’s provide me understanding for people who choose to ride in their t-shirts and shorts. However, all it would take is one tumble for me to appreciate sweating in the safety gear.

For this ride besides keeping cool thoughts, I worked on looking ahead and around for potential issues. Sometimes I let myself rely too much on Bill for watching the road. I am working on not letting that become a habit, so while I enjoyed the still lush foliage thanks to all the recent rain, I forced myself to pay attention to the road and the traffic as though Bill wasn’t ahead of me. Luckily, there wasn’t anything weird or funky in today’s ride; the only squirrel that crossed our path did so well out ahead of us.

The ride was one of movement to keep the air flowing over us. I didn’t mind because we zoomed past some softly sweet-smelling crape myrtles. I had my helmet visor up slightly to let in air and those soft summer smells.

With the heat I wasn’t sure about spotting any butterflies. I thought I’d see a few cabbage whites around, but we had been cruising for over half the ride, and I hadn’t spotted a single butterfly. As I rode past the gravel lot, I looked around for last week’s kamikaze pipevine swallowtail, but it wasn’t until we were heading back to the garage that a black butterfly crossed right in front of my helmet. A mile more down the road and a cabbage white seemingly appeared out of thin air crossing in front of me causing me to laugh out loud. I think what makes crossing paths with butterflies while riding a motorcycle is the chance of contact. I’m not riding fast enough to hurt the butterflies, yet the motion of the motorcycle doesn’t set up a good landing platform for the butterflies. The two butterflies did distract me from the heat of the ride and made me even happier that I was out riding even on such a hot day.

Drifting Along

To sleep or not to sleep, that is the question every Saturday morning during the summer. After a long week of early wake ups, having a lie in as the Brits say is just the thing for Saturday mornings. But when we choose to sleep in during the summer, it means a difference of 10-15 degrees in the temperature. Such was the case with this weekend’s ride. We managed to get out before noon, but the temperature was already hitting 85 degrees, and the humidity was high, over 80% due to impending thunderstorms. But when you love to ride motorcycles, dealing with the heat is just what you do.

I kept my zippers low on both jackets and my visor cracked to allow for as much air flow as possible. It worked to keep me from becoming overheated, but we were only two miles into the ride when I felt the Helite vest pressing my damp t-shirt into my back. Due to the heat, Bill led us on a drifting, rambling sort of ride. Before we set out, a dad with his son riding pillion rode by us on his full-dresser Harley-Davidson. As we went along the curvy road, I spotted the mom helping to take her son’s helmet off; the dad, of course, was long gone on his own cruise.

With the heat and humidity and the discomfort in my right arm (the numbness was back in force), it was hard to focus on drills. I tried a target fixation drill with a pinecone but in a desultory way. I just wanted to ride and admire the bursting crape myrtle blossoms. One large crape myrtle tree had so many white flowers, more flowers than green leaves, I didn’t recognize it at first as a crape myrtle. With my visor cracked, I was able to enjoy the faint, crisp scent of the small blossoms. I also enjoyed the scent from the still-blooming magnolia trees and, we rode past several hedges of super sweet-smelling gardenias. The gardenia scent were so strong, I didn’t smell the mimosas as much on this ride.

I didn’t spot as many butterflies as I thought I would either. Early in the ride, I spotted two cabbage whites including one little guy hovering around my right boot. But then I didn’t see another butterfly until we looped back around to avoid a confluence of congestion at an intersection with several cars and two slow riding cyclists. Passing back around the same road, this time I spotted another cabbage white flitting among the day lilies. I did luck into spotting a monarch butterfly enjoying my Mom’s day lilies as I was taking off my riding boots.

So it was a drifting around kind of ride that I could enjoy despite the heat. We were also lucky because the thunderstorms waited until later in the afternoon to push through. But we are into the summertime pattern of hazy, hot, and humid with thunderstorm chances almost daily. Earlier rides may be coming, but even so, they will be hot. Which means I found a way to make myself “hot,” right? Of course, since I ride a motorcycle, I am also now always “cool” too.

200 Rides and Still Going Strong

I began writing about my motorcycle rides as a way to reflect on what I was learning as well as to record the beautiful natural sites I saw. I’ve hit my 200^th blog and my 200^th ride and it was spectacular.

I did have a rough start, however. My gym closed and I needed to adjust my training, so I added a Saturday visit in addition to my usual ride. This extra step necessitated planning and packing; while I could wear my gym clothes, I needed to pack up my riding gear. Sometimes it would be easier to not dress for the slide like the young man we saw driving over who was on a motorcycle in his shorts, t-shirt, and Vans. That’s fine and cool as long as absolutely nothing goes wrong on the road. My riding attire, though, is padded jeans reinforced with Kelvar, knee pads, Dakota boots, two jackets, gloves, and an airbag vest. I opted for my jeans as the riding temperature was in the low 80s.

As I packed up my attire—t-shirt, socks, knee pads, and jeans—I reminded myself I would need a belt for the jeans. Unfortunately, I did not put the belt in my bag right as the thought occurred to me, so when I changed into my riding attire, I was beltless. I figured I would be OK for the ride since I sit down, and I planned on tucking in my t-shirt and my Alpinestars jacket inside the jeans to give me more heft. I shared my predicament with Bill for a good laugh, but Bill’s a problem solver, so he immediately began searching the garage for options. I had considered using an old extension cord, but I didn’t want to twist that up and possibly damage it. But then Bill spotted the bungee cord around my old suitcase cart (for those that don’t know, suitcase carts had a brief heyday right before wheels on suitcases became commonplace). The bungee cord worked and my jeans were secure for both the ride and the shopping trip after.

I did take mental note of my forgetfulness and registered the need to make sure I paid extra attention on the road. I received another lovely blessing as I walked down to the R Nine T; the little cabbage white butterfly that hangs around my parents’ house, flew right in front of me between me and the motorcycle. I laughed and wondered if the little guy wanted to ride himself.

With the dogwood trees hitting peak bloom, the Kwanzan cherry trees heavy with their puffy pink blossoms, the tulips blooming, and the small flower azaleas flowering, the butterflies and bees had a lot of choices on where to go. The pollen was so thick on cars and in bright yellow puddles in the gutters. I am very glad we get to keep the motorcycles in the garage. In addition to the pollen thickening the air, the oak trees have begun dropping their thin pollen “worms.” The pollen was so thick it had collected along the shore of the river, creating a large greenish-brown arc on the water.

I spotted nine more cabbage whites throughout my ride dancing among the new green leaves and the burgundy of the Japanese maples; numbers eight and nine were dancing around each other. And I did clearly spot a tiger swallowtail again near the top of a fir tree. I saw what I think was an eastern comma butterfly, and near the end of the ride, I sotted a yellow sulphur zipping about. The great blue heron was back in the shallows as the tide began to roll in, watching us carefully as we circled around in the cul-de-sac. And a few Canadian geese were grazing in the large field behind the church.

I do love riding in the springtime. I enjoyed the cooling air washing over me and leaning into my turns. And I especially love the sites as nature enjoys its coming out from the long winter hibernation. It was a warm day, but we kept the slow speed stuff to a minimum and mostly cruised. For a 200^th ride, this one was spectacular, and I will surely be adding 200 more rides.

Ten Cabbages and One Mystery

We’re on the cusp of hot weather riding already as March finished up. But today’s ride was just below sweaty as temperatures hit 78 degrees under sunny skies. I’m nearing the end of comfort in my leather riding pants and will have to switch to my baggy jeans for next week’s ride. I already only wore my Hanes t-shirt under the Alpinestar jacket and needed to lower my Klim jacket zipper to stay comfortable.

We did get a bit of an earlier start, so the temperature was only up to 76. As we head deeper into spring and closer to summer, our rides will have to get earlier. At midday, there was a lot going on. People were out and about and the traffic was much heavier than we’re used to. And lots of people were enjoying the beautiful day, working in yards, walking, riding, and running. Bill detoured us into a cul de sac and one point to let the cars thin out, and we’re riding through neighborhoods.

I spotted my first tulips of the spring in bright red, yellow, and pinks. The whitish yellow daffodils were holding strong, but the bright yellow ones are wrinkling and withering already. The Yoshino cherry blossom trees hit peak blooms this week. As I rode around, it was as though I was attending a private cherry blossom festival.

I fully expected to see many butterflies, and I did spot our garage cabbage white buddy before we started our ride. The next one turned up a mile and a half later, but then there was a long gap before I spotted another. Five more miles into the ride, I finally saw another cabbage white, and then they seemed to be everywhere—ten spotted throughout the ride. As we headed into a quiet cul de sac to turn around, I spotted a yellow butterfly high in the trees. I think it was a young tiger swallowtail, but unfortunately, it fluttered away from the roadway, so I couldn’t get a good look.

I noticed something about the trees as we headed up the long road. More trees are budding as their leaves prepare to open and, if you look at large group of trees, the colors of the buds very much mirror the various colors of autumn. There are greens of course, but also yellows, burgundies, even burnt umber. It was quite beautiful. I noted the dogwoods are beginning to bloom and even some azaleas, the ones with the small flowers, were already blooming.

My ride continued smoothly with me focusing on counter steering as I weaved back and forth on the roads. I also enjoyed turning tightly in my U-turns and feeling the lean of the motorcycle on my turns. After our ride, Bill pointed out the heat will probably keep us from doing too many slow speed maneuvers. I don’t mind; I enjoy success at slow-speed drills, but I really prefer cruising. And I’m not the only one. We spotted eight motorcycles out and about as we headed over for our ride; six of them were Harley-Davidson cruisers and two race bikes.

My smooth ride ended on a blip. Inside the garage I couldn’t find neutral with the shifter. After several attempts, I went ahead and shut the R Nine T off and reached down with my hand to move the shifter into neutral. As Bill explained later, motorcycles have personalities, and my shift quirk is part of the R Nine T’s character. I can live with the quirk especially since it doesn’t impact my ability to ride.

Sargent's cherry tree with pink buds and white blossoms

Awesomeness and Annoyance

A Saturday afternoon ride in the autumn on a beautiful, mostly sunny day in the mid-50s is an awesome ride, mostly. Unfortunately, riding at 3:30 in the afternoon in late autumn is also a ride of annoyance because the sun is a late afternoon, low in the sky sun. Because sunset is now at 4:50, the sun is low enough to beam right into my eyes when traveling south. What made it annoying was my sunglasses, which I wore for extra sun glare protection, kept slipping down my nose and off my eyes. I spent a third of my ride lifting my visor to adjust my glasses, not a very relaxing ride.

My ride, however, when I could focus on it, was fantastic. Everything went smoothly and I nailed both on-street U-turns. The BMW R Nine T motorcycle is so well-balanced that during one set of turns, as I was following Bill, I needed to slow to almost a stop, and I marveled at how there was no wobble in the balance as I slowly let out the clutch to increase the speed. I also hit zero on the footless stop and, as the bike lurched to one side, I simply rolled on the throttle and released the clutch and let the motorcycle recover its balance.

I did mostly enjoy my ride. As we turned up one road, the sun-dappled the leaves and created a beautiful tapestry of greens, golds, reds, and oranges. I wanted to stop and take a picture, but since I was wearing my leather jacket for the cooler ride, getting my phone out is a more complicated process. Instead, I resolved myself to follow the Japanese proverb: Ichi e, ichi go, which translates to one moment, one memory. The visual was so stunning, I decided to leave off mentally complaining about the sun glare and sunglasses and appreciate how the angled light brought out the autumnal colors in a beautiful way.

Other than the foliage, the natural world was rather muted. There were some small groups of Canadian geese, perhaps the slower migrating ones. The only large bird I saw was a turkey vulture circling above. I didn’t spot any butterflies, and I wasn’t expecting to. The squirrels weren’t as active, just a few among the trees. Except there was one super crazy squirrel who decided to cross in front of Bill’s Rocket just as he came around a turn. I saw a large motorcycle wheel, a bundle of fur, and held my breath. Luckily, by kicking his back legs and tail underneath him, the squirrel managed to escape the massive motorcycle and live on.

Next week, I’m hoping we get out to ride a bit earlier. Maybe not, though, as the highs next Saturday are forecasted for 45 degrees. It’ll be time to get out the winter pants!

Super Special Final Ride of the Summer

Riders know when it’s their day to ride. When the weather is wonderful, just a little warm, and special events like the Oceana Air Show is in town, riders come out in droves. As we headed over to the garage, I saw too many motorcycles to count, mostly cruisers, though there was a Yamaha R1 that went zipping by until traffic caused it to pull up. I joked to Bill that there were two motorcycle gangs—a group of three riders. I keep the gang at a minimum of three so Bill and I won’t be mistaken for a gang (LOL).

The week’s wind and rain had made an autumnal impact on the crape myrtles. Blossoms were sparse and several trees were nearly denuded of their leaves already. I hope the other trees will hold onto their leaves long enough to give us some spectacular fall foliage to enjoy. Still, there were enough flowers still blooming—the second chance azaleas, vincas, and some more mums—to attract a few butterflies. I spotted two cabbage whites as we rode and even saw a monarch go by.

We were about halfway into our ride, and I hadn’t seen any Canadian geese. I was a little too deep into thinking about where the geese might be and had to do a sudden stop as Bill surprised me with a turn. We headed up the on-road U-turn street, and I was successful in staying on the road for both. My second turn is almost always better than my first, and I believe that is because during the first turn, I’m paying attention to where Bill is in his turn and not just focused on mine. By the time I get around for the second U-turn, Bill has already zoomed up the road, so I can totally focus on getting my head completely around and keeping the turn tight. I worked on my swerves as well and need to continue to practice because I realized I wasn’t using my legs on the tank like I should.

When we turned off this road, I finally spotted some geese. At first it was just a pair, but then I saw the rest of the gaggle a few houses up the street. I also spotted more Halloween decorations including a skeleton jazz trio complete with instruments and capes. The rest of my ride went smoothly including my sudden stop practice. Except I did stall the bike at the same stop sign I stalled it at a few months ago. I don’t know why I stalled other than I missed the sweet spot. Bill had gone sailing up the road, so I had the opportunity to roll on the throttle and play catch up.

After our ride, we took advantage of the beautiful day to wash the motorcycles. As we were washing my bike, a cabbage white butterfly flew in low right over top of the motorcycle before sailing away. If she had lingered a bit, I might have been able to snap a photo. But today was my day to miss amazing photos. While we were washing the motorcycles, we could hear some of the jets from the annual Oceana Air Show. Now my parents’ house is miles away from Oceana, but jets being what they are, the distance is nothing. I came out of the garage and spotted the Blue Angels flying by in a four-man formation; it was beautiful and up close and would have been a phenomenal photo. I kept looking and hoping they would fly back around—this time with the cockpits visible, but all we saw the rest of the afternoon were contrails as they performed loop-de-loops for the crowds. The only image I got was a slight contrail, and if you squint and look at the bottom right corner of the photo, you can spot it. I must say that having a Blue Angels flyover on the penultimate summer ride of 2024 is spectacular and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I suppose the lesson here for all of us isn’t that we must all ride motorcycles, but we should all spend some quality time outdoors.

Top of magnolia tree, blue sky, jet contrail — Contrail from a Blue Angel jet as seen above a magnolia tree.

The Heat Is Winning

This Saturday I was smarter. As Bill reached for his Alpinestars jacket, I said, “Uh-uh.” I planned since I saw the 90 degrees not to wear mine, so I needed Bill not to wear his. With just the Klim jacket on and unzipped down to my navel, the breeze hit me well enough to keep me comfortable throughout the ride. The cloudy skies also helped as the sun went in and out and didn’t beat down on us through the whole ride.

It was a tricky ride as there were a lot of weird traffic patterns around. As we headed down the curvy road, we had to check up due to parked cars and lawn trucks on the side of the road. The curvy road is a narrow two-lane road that allows parking on the road; it makes the road a good one to work on awareness.

The crape myrtles have blossomed alongside the brown-eyed Susans, providing bright spots of color among all the green. I even spotted some honeysuckle still in bloom though there wasn’t enough of a breeze for me to catch a whiff of the delicious scent. But I didn’t see too many butterflies—just one cabbage white and someone fluttering over my head. I only saw enough to make out that it was mostly black, but I didn’t see enough markings to make out who it was.

On our first U-turn, I found myself making such a tight turn, I was inside Bill’s turn, so I had to turn the wheel out and go wide to stay out of his way. It was a fun experience and gave me the confidence to nail both my on-street U-turns with nothing but asphalt. The R Nine T balances so well, I felt almost stopped in the turn with no tipping.

Three miles into the ride, I felt my Hanes t-shirt plaster itself with sweat against my back. While the unzipped jacket let the air in the front well enough to keep me comfortable, the Helite airbag turtle vest pressed the back of the jacket against my skin. It wasn’t too bad; with the breeze blowing, I was able to turn my head slightly side to side and feel the wind blow through the vents.

Six miles into the ride I felt my right hand go numb. Since we aren’t spending time on slow speed maneuvers in the heat, I don’t have an opportunity to park the bike and shake my arm out. So what I do is release the throttle as I’m approaching a stop and bang my arm against my side. I wish I could figure out how to avoid the numbness entirely, but I’m unwilling to give up preloading the front brake. I am curious if I were to ride a different motorcycle along the same route, if the preload would numb my hand. I wasn’t very good at preloading the front brake when I was on the Ducati or the 310, but I don’t doubt I would preload on any bike I ride from now on. As I’m writing this, I am wondering if strengthening my forearm muscles would help prevent the numbness. I’ll give it a try this week at the gym and see if next week’s ride is more comfortable.

Surprising Almost Spring Ride

It looked like Punxsutawney Phil was right; we were heading into an early spring. Today’s weather was a gift in February—highs in the mid-60s under partly cloudy skies. Rain was forecasted for much later, so we were presented with a day made for motorcycle riding.

There was a morning kerfuffle involving a missing envelope, but that situation was eventually resolved. The delay meant we benefited from the full warmth of the day on our ride. I had a rather eclectic mix of riding gear on. I was wearing my Rev’It Ignition 3 leather pants with the liner in but without my tights underneath. I had on a t-shirt under the Alpinestars jacket with a thermal sweatshirt over top underneath the Klim summer riding jacket. And I wore my mid-weight Klim gloves for hand warmth. As we first rode off, I felt a little too warm but, with the bike up and running creating the wind chill, I was actually comfortable.

There were a lot of people out enjoying the springish day either walking, running, or on their bicycles. As we headed up the curvy road, we went wide to the left to avoid some pedestrians out for a stroll, and then had to swerve back to the right to avoid the two Canadian geese grazing at the edge of the road. Either they had been there for quite some time or it was a favorite grazing spot for the gaggle judging by the amount of goose poop on the road. I hoped for a sighting of the bald eagle but only saw a bunch of turkey vultures out on the thermals.

The camellias are in full bloom now, but I also spotted some early blooming daffodils open to the sunshine. And I was completely surprised when I headed up the court where we perform our on street U-turns and saw a small cabbage white butterfly flit past me. I truly hadn’t expected a butterfly in February and had a silly smile on my face as I completed both U-turns—one wide, one great.

It was such a beautiful day, I found myself wishing I was just cruising. Instead, I worked on my stops and my turns in the gravel lot. Bill had us add a new drill—a fast stop and start. This drill actually has a swerve component as well, but I’m just beginning to get the feel for it, so I’m just on the stop and start aspect. The purpose of the drill is to enable me to takeoff quickly from a stop to avoid a rear-end collision. On a motorcycle just like in a car, a sudden stop could end up a rear end collision if the driver behind you is too close and/or not paying attention. In a car the bumper, trunk, backseats, and airbags all come to the driver’s aid. On a motorcycle the rider could go flying or even be crushed between the rear ender and the obstacle that caused the sudden stop in the first place.

So knowing how to stop quickly, check rearview mirrors, and take off quickly can be extremely useful for a motorcycle rider. An additional component of this exercise is to swerve around the obstruction, but that’s a higher level of the drill that I’m not ready for. I just worked on sudden stopping, placing my left foot down, and taking off as soon as my foot touched. I was pretty slow. In part my slowness was due to my checking the mirrors after I put my foot down—too late. I need to be checking the mirrors as I’m stopping, so that will be my work next week. I also am still sticking to the throttle with my right hand causing it to rev when I’m stopping. I still need to figure that out, but I believe it is because I am gripping harder on the brake and the handlebars causing me to “stick” on the throttle. That just means more practice.

And I am always up for my practice and more riding on my motorcycle. Next week will be more of a return to winter (unless the forecast changes) but it looks like we’ll get through this winter with only one day of bitter cold riding. I’m looking forward to the spring and all the lovely blossoms and blooms and butterflies I’ll see.

Finger Numbing Ride

We got our share of the Arctic air hitting the country. Friday’s temperatures had warmed just enough to make sure the precipitation that fell came down as rain, with the colder, freezing temperatures arriving that night. They came with a strong enough winds to dry off the roads, so I’m not complaining. But I made a judgment mistake that made for an uncomfortable ride.

As we prepped the equipment to head over to my parents’ garage, Bill asked me if I wanted my Rev’It winter gloves. I said I’d be OK with the Klim mid-temperature gloves and the heated grips. After all, the R Nine T has hand guards too, so I figured I’d have enough protection from the wind and enough warmth for the ride. I was so wrong.

When we arrived at my parents’ house, we had a couple of tasks. Last week, Bill had noticed a rattle in his front end. After some research and some thought, he realized that the brake calipers had come loose, so he brought his tools for tightening them. There was one little problem; the bottom bolt was missing from the caliper. No riding the Rocket this weekend.

I convinced Bill to take the R Nine T out and see if he could spot the bolt. It is a 2 ½ inch bolt and shiny silver, so if it were laying in the gutter or on the roadway, there was a chance that Bill could spot it. While he rode, I visited with my Mom and helped with some computer issues.

Bill rode for quite a while, but I finally heard the rumble of the motorcycle as he returned. Luckily for him, I went out to check on him. He was at the bottom of the driveway, sitting on the motorcycle. When I got to him, he had his gloves off and was reaching down to the cylinder heads. “I can’t undo the vest,” he told me, “my fingers are too numb.” Bill, who had also worn his mid-weather Klim gloves with the heated grips, could not undo the fastener that connected the vest to the motorcycle. So I had to free him from the bike.

With the knowledge of how cold Bill’s hands got, I realized my ride would have to be short. I figured I would ride with no slow-speed maneuvers and head back when my hands got cold. Had I done that, I wouldn’t have made it around the block. From the start of my ride, I felt my fingertips becoming numb. I strategized by trying not to pre-load the front brake. That way I could press my fingertips against the heated grips; it didn’t help. I never felt in danger with the numbness in my fingers because I kept the ride short. I rode up and down the curvy road where I spotted a pair of white Muscovy ducks. I then cautiously rode up the torn-up roadway so I could zip up the 35-mph road. I then took the long way home, but I was out no more than 20 minutes.

The real test of success would be if I could undo my vest fastener as Bill had taken the car to run some errands. For whatever reason I can’t undo the fastener with my gloves on, but I had enough feeling in my fingers to get unhitched. Where I had a challenge was finding neutral as I parked the bike. The last time I couldn’t slip the shifter into neutral, Bill had to do it. I turned off the motorcycle, dismounted, and used my hand on the shifter to move it up and down until it finally slipped into neutral.

Later as we drove home, Bill asked me if I’d learned anything on this ride. I learned I need my winter gloves to ride when the temperature is below 40 degrees. I also learned to control my frustration and patiently work through a mechanical issue with the motorcycle. On the practical side, I recognized that when the temperature is below freezing, gearing up and taking off should all happen inside the warm house. Next week we’re getting some rain, so we’ll have higher temperatures for our ride if we can get some dry roads. Also, we should have much warmer temperatures with highs in the 50s—much more reasonable riding weather.

Motorcycle tachometer showing green N for neutral.

First Ride of 2024

Saturday morning found us up and out early in an effort to beat the rain. All week the forecast was for a rainy Saturday, but we had a few hours in the morning to squeeze in our ride before the showers started. So we headed over at first light and were on the roads before 8:00 AM.

Well there was a little delay thanks to me. Because of the early hour, I decided to wear my Rev’It Factor 4 winter riding pants. These caused me some issues trying to get the pant leg down over my Daytona boots. The cuffing issues came after the Daytona boots’ zippers fought me. But I was finally dressed, geared up, and ready to ride once I got my helmet on. And yes, the helmet fought me too.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I received a beautiful new Arai Isle of Man Tourist Trophy helmet. It is a full-face helmet, meaning the helmet is one piece with a liftable visor. The closure is a strap that must be fed between two rings then back through the right ring to secure the helmet (see picture). I worked the helmet down over my balaclava and went to secure it, but I just could not get the two rings to separate. After a few minutes of struggle, the thought occurred to me that perhaps I didn’t actually have both rings. Sure enough, I felt around and discovered that the left ring had wedged up in the padding of the left cheek. Correcting that, I was quickly able to feed the strap through and back, secure the helmet, and start my ride.

We only rode half a block before stopping for a squirrel who stopped in the road in front of Bill’s Rocket while pondering its best course of action. Eventually, it decided to head to the near-side field off the road, and we were able to continue our ride.

I was a little surprised when Bill turned away from the curvy road. With the early hour, we were seeing far more people out walking their dogs than cars on the road. He led us on long stretches of straight roads even circling back around to lead us up the 35-mph road twice. I found this choice interesting as on our first pass by, we startled two large turkey buzzards snacking on the side of the road. On our second ride by, the buzzard nearer the road flew up next to Bill, and I saw the large, nearly 6-foot wingspan next to the large Rocket. I asked Bill about the closeness after the ride, and he said it was about 5 feet away, but from behind it looked closer.

I realized we weren’t going to do U-turns and slow speed maneuvers due to our early morning grogginess. So I was completely surprised when Bill headed up to the light at the intersection of our neighborhood road and took us into a new neighborhood. I say new but it was only new for my riding it on a motorcycle; I had driven the roads many times before. After the initial surprise, I was further surprised when Bill took us left then right instead of left and left. Had we gone with the two lefts, we would have made a short square back into my parents’ neighborhood. But by going left/right, we headed up a main road (35-mph) through two more lights, up another main neighborhood road, before heading back to the intersection and returning to our usual route.

Technically, this was my first ride in main traffic. However, since it was such an early hour on a Saturday, there wasn’t much traffic to ride through. But I am hoping that this ride my open up more roads for future rides.

I did have a “whoa” moment as we headed back to the garage. As we turned left onto a street that is crisscrossed with uneven asphalt strips from recent road construction, my rear tire slipped a little, enough for me to feel the whole motorcycle slide sideways. However, I didn’t panic and grab the brakes but instead rolled off the throttle. The traction control kicked in and kept the motorcycle from slipping sideways and falling, and I was able to ease the bike upright as I completed the turn. It was an interesting sensation that occurred in the blink of an eye, but I was happy with my cool-headed reaction. I’ll have to watch that stretch of the road on future rides though it was probably a random large bit of gravel that got in under the tire.

Early Saturday morning rides agree with me though with January here, I expect the cold weather will prevent too many more of them for the near future.

Chin strap of motorcycle helmet showing strap through the two rings.