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Solo Ride

Last week’s ride was more motorcycling badassery. We were lawbreakers, unintentionally but, as Thomas Jefferson said, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse in any country.” So this week I rode alone to keep us on the right side of “Johnny Law.”

I’m having fun, but we did inadvertently break the law last week. Our beautiful riding Saturday this week came to an abrupt end when, as I was moving around the R Nine T so Bill could check the oil level, I spotted the annual safety inspection sticker—5/22. The state inspection was past due which meant no riding until we get it inspected for this year. The oversight came because we got the R Nine T last June and the registration renews in June, so we thought the safety inspection would be June too. However, our beautiful bike had sat in the dealership for a month before our purchase. Had we bought both BMW bikes at the same time, we’d have been better aware of our deadlines.

We left my parent’s house with the thought that riding was out for this weekend. But by a happy twist of fate, Bill left his glasses in my folks’ garage and didn’t realize it until we had arrived home. This slight mishap led to a new plan for me to ride solo on Sunday as we had to go back over and get the glasses anyway. I offered to let Bill cruise first, but he chose to let me have all the riding fun.

The late morning was hot and humid and wit the Ducati I sit on top of part of the motor, so it was uncomfortably warm when stopped or doing slow-speed maneuvers. I chose to do long stretches of cruising to maximize the cool air washing over me. I didn’t speed, but I did ride down several roads to their end just to stretch out the cooling sensation.

Because this was a solo ride, I mostly was able to work on my rider awareness. I always try and work on awareness of the road and other drivers, but riding behind Bill makes it easy to rely on his awareness a little too much. Everything went well, though I noted a lot of people roll through stops. I did have to watch out for one car’s wacko turn around, but otherwise traffic was light. I avoided the church parking lots as church was still in session and there were cars in the lots. I did get to practice in the gravel lot and had one slip that almost caused me to put my left foot down. I look forward to riding the R Nine T on the gravel and feeling how it handles.

I did take the time to practice my standing and stopping and surprised myself by how well that went. But the hospital lot was out for straightening and stopping drills as that lot doubles as overflow parking for the church across the road. I didn’t mind much, though, as I got overly warm doing my drills.

It seems it was too hot and humid for both the butterflies and the dragonflies as I didn’t see either during my ride. That or I was paying closer attention to the road and missed seeing them. I did see some critters though. A small rabbit leapt across a driveway as I roared into a court. And I spotted an osprey delivering building materials for a nest. I had the most fun when I entered our quiet little viewing court and saw a small Eastern Box Turtle making his lethargic way across the court. He stopped as I rode into the court and kept an eye on me as I circled around. I stopped to get a picture of him as he resumed his slow trudge, enjoying the fact that a motorcycle makes it easier to stop on the side of the road and take nature photos.

I headed home in perfect time as large, dark clouds rolled in. I was able to finish up my ride and get home before the storm hit. Next weekend marks the start of my summer vacation and I’m looking forward to the new riding adventures that await!

Eastern Box Turtle crossing the viewing court.

Getting Into Gear

The day after Christmas and the gift was the weather—bright sunshine and temps in the low 60s. The Canadian geese were out in force, basking in the beautiful day. Santa brought me some cold weather riding gear, but today was not the day to bundle up. I did wear my new Schott’s leather jacket, liner removed, which kept me comfortably warm. But it was warm enough for me to wear my Klim summer gloves because I have Barkbusters now on the Scrambler adding some wind protection.

My dead-end street was full of the parked cars of family members gathering for the Christmas holiday, so that practice was out. I suggested we just head out on our neighborhood cruise, but Bill pointed out I needed to spend time in slow practice getting used to handling my new bike. So the plan was I would stay relatively close to my parents’ house, no crossing over into the other half of the neighborhood, no heading over to the fancy neighborhood, and work on stops, turnarounds inside of courts, and getting comfortable riding the Scrambler. Bill would head out for his own solo cruise on the R NineT and we would meet back up in half an hour.

Off I went, chugging along a bit roughly as I got a feel for the clutch and the shifter. The shifter really seemed to fight me, actually causing some pain on the top of my left foot as I struggled at times to move it. But I recognized this as my need to learn the new bike; I had to get a feel for the acceleration, the clutch, and the shifter. I learned that the taller gears meant that if I waited longer to shift from first to second, the Fasthouse was more obliging on my shifting. And I found having my foot fully under the shifter made shifting more comfortable. I also confirmed that the bike was fine staying in third gear as I cruised a few streets.

My stops went very well, left foot down every time and no stalls on the take off. I later learned in the car as we were driving home that the larger engine on the Ducati means the cylinders once engaged want to stay engaged. So it’s as if the bike doesn’t want to stall. Well, more likely it will benefit me with extra time in the friction zone to get the bike moving and grant me fewer stalls.

Which brings me to the throttle. Motorcycle riders talk about bikes that want to throw you off and that you have to hang on to tightly. That is the sensation I was experiencing as I adjusted to the 73 horsepower; I need to roll on the throttle smoother and gentler than I did with the BMW G310 GS. But I must admit there is a thrill that comes with the adrenaline surge as I feel the bike accelerating and trying to throw me off. However, I developed a better feel for the throttle and was able to accelerate and shift smoothly. I stopped in front of my parents’ house about 10 minutes early for our meet time so I could work on finding neutral. I surprised myself by finding it almost immediately; right away asking myself what did I just do.

I headed out for some more cruising before our meet up. I was hoping we’d meet and head out for the long cruise together. However, it was not to be. As Bill pointed out, everything had been going very well—except I still have a struggle to find neutral–and he didn’t want to push our luck. He offered to hang out and let me keep riding, but I decided to call it a day too as I was feeling really good about all I had accomplished on the Fasthouse.

The Barkbusters added to my 2022 Ducati Desert Sled Scrambler Fasthouse.

New Bike, Same Training

Gray skies hung over us as we made our way to Virginia Beach for my first official ride on the Ducati Scrambler Fasthouse, but that didn’t darken my mood any. I couldn’t wait for my practice, though I was nervous because the crash bars aren’t yet added. Seven months riding and still no drop—knock on wood.

When we got to my parents’ garage, my boyfriend set to the seemingly simple task of adding a battery charger for the Ducati. The motorcycle comes with a battery tender port; however, it does not connect to the SAE connectors, and Revzilla no longer carries the converter. So the tender had to be connected to the battery itself which simply means removing the seat, undoing a few screws, connecting, and tightening everything back down.

Luck was not our friend. First, the seat would not come off. It was snagged at the front and required Bill to use brute strength to get it off. It was snagged on some kind of bracket that was not seated properly down in the cavity. The next error was the battery cord plate was also not seated correctly over the terminal, keeping the cover from resting flat once Bill had wrangled the battery tender leads onto the battery. The last, and worst because it is a very difficult fix, error is the receptor for the retaining screw for the cover was stripped not allowing the screw to tighten. But the bike was rideable which is what matters the most. Though after seeing this shoddy work, we definitely won’t head back to Bayside for any more motorcycles.

Of course, since the Scrambler had sat for a week battery untended, it was difficult to start. Bill solved the problem by plugging the bike into the tender in the garage to start it up, and the engine roared beautifully to life. We left the bike running while he suited up, and we headed over to my practice street.

Once I was suited up, it was my turn to ride. My first challenge was tilting the bike upright off the kickstand on the canted street. Heavier than the 310 by almost 100 pounds wet, I felt every bit of those extra pounds as I struggled to straighten her out. But I managed it and I started off paddling down the road. Paddling means I was using the friction zone of the clutch to ease the bike forward while my feet walked along the ground. But on the Ducati, it is hard to keep the pace slow, and soon my feet were up on the pegs and I was cruising in first gear. I successfully executed my first U-turn to the left, something I was too nervous to do last weekend, rode up the street and repeated my success turning to the right.

I settled in to practice U-turns and shifting from first to second. I noticed quickly that the Ducati gears are higher than the BMW’s meaning that I could go higher speeds in lower gears—and by higher speeds I mean 15 mph. As I was practicing up my street, a bicyclist turned next to me, interfering with my ability to execute my U-turn. So I rode to the stop sign, turned, and went up the street for a bit, getting to third gear before turning back around. Emboldened by the thrill of the slightly higher speed, I went for a circuit over half the neighborhood, loving every bit of the horsepower and torque in the 803cc motorcycle.

Returning to my practice street, I wanted a short break as my hands were getting sore. The trouble is I can’t find neutral; in fact I can’t even move the shifter when I’m stopped and have to use my hand to lift the shifter into neutral. I am frustrated by this, but Bill says it’s actually normal on motorcycles to have this problem. He of course can find neutral after just his second ride, but he tells me I’ll get there. And I don’t doubt I will.

Just as I finished my break, Bill noted some small rain drops on my front fender. Sure enough, the rain was arriving early. I looped through two more sets of U-turns before calling it quits. As we set back for my parents’ house, the rain seemed to taper and I thought maybe I could’ve squeezed out a bit more practice. But after we had the bike garaged, the rain started coming down harder, so I had made the right decision after all. We’ll be back over on Wednesday to install the crash bars, so I don’t have to wait a whole week to play with my new motorcycle.