First Ride of ’25–a Wintry One for Sure

While mother nature does bless motorcycle riders with perfect days for riding, she also remembers the season and blows in wintry cold for our ride. We waited to ride until the sun had a chance to warm up the day as much as it would—upper 30s but with a wind chill into the twenties, but that meant riding into the low hanging sun. After several moments during the ride of near blind riding due to the direct sunlight, Bill and I decided it would be better to battle the chill and have proper vision.

Plus, for Christmas, I was given a pair of Snow Deer heated socks. They have three heat settings, so I tried the lowest heat setting for today. I also had my usual riding socks on underneath, but these double socks made for tight boots, and I did have a few missed shifts with the shifter. But my feet were toasty warm. And for the curious, the heating element is only in the foot part of the sock not up to the knee.

I also remembered my Rev’It winter riding gloves, but I didn’t remember how to wear them with my leather jacket. I struggled to take the gloves off because I had tucked the gauntlet part up under my jacket sleeves and couldn’t reach the Velcro closure or the zipper. After some awkward maneuvering with my jacket sleeve, I finally removed the gloves, and I relearned how to wear them. The winter gloves are gauntlets which means they have an extended cuff that should go over the top of my sleeve. But I’m accustomed to the Klim gloves which are just regular cuffed gloves that stop at the wrist. My struggles with the Rev’Its had my wondering if I’d even worn them last winter. I don’t think I did; I think the weather stayed moderate enough on our rides that the medium weight Klim with the heated grips were enough to keep me comfortable.

However, now that I’ve made pre-loading the front brake a habit of my rides, the heated grips with the Klim gloves aren’t enough for my fingers. The Rev’It gauntlets kept my fingertips from growing numb, so I solved the chilly hands issue. In fact with all my layers (five on my core), I was snugly warm everywhere but in my seat and thighs. I had worn my heavy duty leggings under my winter riding pants, but I need to break out the thermal for under forty rides.

Since it was so cold and so windy, there was not much natural scenery to enjoy amid the brown bare branches. The sky was a clear blue and made a beautiful back drop for the snowy white egret that flew over us as we made figure eights in the church lot. Mostly I saw seagulls soaring about, pushed inland by the wind over the ocean. I did spot the shadowed teal head of a drake in the lake, and I spotted one squirrel scurrying up a tree away from the motorcycle’s roar. But mostly the only movement was from fallen leaves bandied about in the breeze. A few spots of color were provided by the camellias and some pansies, but most of the ride featured brown and green scenery.

There were still a few Christmas decorations out, and I always appreciate the people who keep Christmas traditional and celebrate through the Epiphany. I understand the practicality most people have in taking the décor down before heading back to work, but it makes me a little sad to know the commercial interests are winning Christmas. How many people know that the twelve days of Christmas aren’t a countdown to December 25, but they are the twelve days from Christmas to the arrival of the three wise men?

Next week’s ride will be full winter with no holidays—unless people start decorating for Valentine’s Day (yikes!). Well, I’m assuming we’ll be able to ride. There is a large winter storm forecasted for this week, so please be safe readers. Snow is one of the few wonderful surprises that would make missing a ride bearable.

black and silver heated socks — My new heated Snow Deer socks.

Gray Skies Ride

Our weekly weather pattern is warm, wet air moving in during the week to clear out and cool down for the weekends. At least the sun comes out to ensure dry roads by the time I’m ready for my Saturday ride. But today, the clouds lingered and quickly covered up the sun at the beginning of the ride. It made for a colder ride than I was expecting, but I had finally remembered to wear my tights to keep my legs warm, and it was a good opportunity to test out my new Klim glove liners.

I ordered a size medium as that matched the size of my gloves. But I wonder if I need a small because they feel kind of loose. The liners made my gloves feel a little tighter, but I was still able to preload the front brake and roll on the throttle. However, halfway into the ride, the fingers on my right hand became numb. My thought at first was the liners don’t work and don’t bother to gift Bill a pair. But then I began thinking it through, and I compared my left hand to my right and realized that hand was fine. So I realized the numbness was the usual numbing effect I’ve been getting in my right hand since I began riding the R Nine T as my main motorcycle.

So the liners do help provide additional warmth, but I do wonder about the sizing. Usually, I would order an extra large for Bill, but I’m wondering if the large would suit better. Luckily, they aren’t too expensive, and I could order both and send one back. I managed to hide them from Bill. Putting them on was easy enough; I was geared up long before he was because he had added air to the tires. But I did worry about when I dismounted. I park my motorcycle, dismount, unhook the Helite safety vest, and move away from the bike as Bill pulls in behind me. I figured he would see the liner gloves when I took off my main gloves to unhook the vest, but the liners helpfully came off with the gloves and were hidden inside.

The ride was successful on that front. It was also our first time back on the curvy road and I was loving my time counter steering through the curves. I hoped perhaps to spot a bald eagle over the river, but all I saw was a flock of Muscovy ducks gathered in a lawn. The gray skies seemed to dampen down the wildlife as I saw only a few crows. I spotted a great blue heron in flight as we arrived at the garage, and during the ride, I spotted two snowy white egrets in flight. It was only around two in the afternoon, but with the sun blocked by the clouds, the birds may have felt the need to go home to roost. The only Canadian geese I spotted were a few in flight.

Later after the ride, Bill told me my stops were improving as I was arriving more quickly even with him. I did a better job maintaining a good distance throughout the ride. The week ahead is a replay of this week weather wise—warm and wet, then sunny and cool. I don’t mind the cool and am happy the roads are staying dry for us. Next week’s ride marks the first ride of my winter holidays, so I am really looking forward to that.

Still Not Quite Ready for Winter Riding

Most of the country has been blasted by Arctic weather pushing south this week. A warm up is coming next week with rain (so no snow—bummer), at least in the beginning of the week. Temperatures will fall again into the 40s for next week’s ride just as they were there for this week’s. Perhaps by next Saturday, I will remember my leggings, and I will be trying out liner gloves underneath my medium weight Klim’s.

The BMW R Nine T comes with heated grips and hand guards. Despite these additions, when I preload the front brake, my index and middle finger eventually become numb from cold. The heated grips do not extend to a heated brake lever. However, I’ve developed the habit of preloading the front brake, and it is a weird sensation to grip all four fingers on the throttle grip. I tend to grip briefly for warmth, but it is never long enough to fully defrost my fingers.

So I went shopping on Revzilla and found Klim glove liners. If these work to keep my fingers warm, I’ll have a Christmas gift for Bill as well. I do have the heavier Rev’It winter gloves, but those are difficult to move freely in. I much prefer the medium weight gloves. Hopefully, I’ll be able to give the liners a good review after next week’s ride.

As for my cold legs, I didn’t even think about the leggings until my Mom was asking me if I get cold when I ride. I’ve put the leggings on top of my pants in hopes I will remember. But I am very happy with the Schott’s leather jacket. My core is toasty warm.

I distracted myself from most of the cold by focusing on my ride and on the scenery. I paid attention to my engine braking, keeping the downshifts smooth. I did have to mis-shifts into neutral, but my boot kept slipping off the peg during shifts. I didn’t feel cold in my feet, but maybe my toes were getting a little numb. We even went into the hospital parking lot to practice quick stops. Bill pointed out it was good to practice sudden stops with cold, numb hands.

The scenery of late autumn was mostly shades of brown. When we turned back up the beautiful autumn road, the gumball tree with all the colors of fall last week was nearly denuded of all leaves. Most of the colorful scenery came from the Christmas decorations. My favorite decoration was Kevin the minion standing next to his minion snowman. Bill actually led us up to the decorations because he wanted to admire the blow-up Santa helicopter.

There were many birds about taking wing. I spotted an osprey as I sat on the bike waiting for Bill. And there were turkey vultures about as usual. The crows were flitting about, and two mockingbirds were tussling. There was a large flock of ducks congregating on the river, and we still passed several groups of Canadian geese mucking about. I suppose the birds were making the most of the late afternoon sun.

Bill had to be creative in our route as the low sunlight beamed through our visors. I was happy when the clouds finally drifted over the sun to block it momentarily. A few more weeks and the sun will begin its climb back up higher in the sky. Until then, I will keep riding into the winter.

Cloudy Skies Means No Butterflies

A short morning shower nearly derailed our riding plans, but after a few hours delay, the roads had dried off and we were able to ride under cloudy skies. The day was warm like last Saturday, so it was a surprise to me when I realized halfway through the ride that I hadn’t seen any butterflies out. They must prefer the sunshine.

We did get to see an osprey with a fresh catch fending off some crows as we headed onto the curvy road. The road construction throughout the neighborhood had abated some and allowed some roads to open up. I kept my eyes peeled for the bald eagle too, but I didn’t spot him. I did get to see some beautiful, tall, yellow Japanese irises in bloom. And I did see a pair of ducks probably scoping out nesting sites.

On this particular ride, I noted how easily I can shift gears with the R Nine T. I wonder if it’s because it is a dry clutch or if it is because I first learned to drive on a manual transmission, so I am used to shifting gears. Whatever it is, I don’t miss the sputters of the 310 or Ducati, nor the stalls I often had on both of those motorcycles.

As we rode, I noted that the azaleas are past peak bloom, but the roses are filling in to replace them. I did spy black tulips at least super dark purple tulips, which I thought was an interesting shade. And it’s good to see the tree leaves coming in; hopefully, my allergies will soon disappear. I did figure out a different way to keep my neck tube up over my mouth when I put on my helmet. Usually, I try and hold the neck tube in my mouth as I pull on the Arai helmet, but that results in the neck tube down at my chin. I need my nose covered while my allergies are still so active, so for today’s ride, I pulled the tube up over my eyes before putting my helmet on. My nose stayed covered, but I had to do some awkward adjustments to keep a piece from sticking up over my right eye. Never let it be said that I look super cool gearing up for my ride.

Most of my ride went terrific. I did go wide on the first on-street U-turn, but I believe that had more to do with a last second adjustment when it looked as though Bill had pulled up. Next ride, I’m going to hang back a little more so if he does adjust, I don’t have to over adjust to recover. My footless stops went really well, and I feel as though I am restarting more quickly.

As we headed home from the ride, we had the phenomenal sight of a bald eagle swooping down on the road in front of us to snag a dead squirrel. It was only about 20 feet away which allows me to appreciate just how large a raptor it truly is. This fellow was pestered by several angry crows trying to get the squirrel for themselves, but he was able to soar away from them with his prize. At least the clouds don’t keep the raptors at bay, but I do hope the forecasted sunshine will allow for some butterfly sightings on my next ride.

New Helmet for the New Year

For Christmas Bill surprised me with a new Arai motorcycle helmet (see picture below). It was not a complete surprise as earlier in the year, we had looked at some Arai helmets. He did surprise me with the style of helmet, though. We had looked at a beautiful helmet with a Japanese koi design, but the helmet I received was the 2023 Isle of Man TT helmet edition, and it is wonderful.

Last Christmas I gave Bill the 2022 Isle of Man TT helmet, a gorgeous gold, red, and black helmet with the triskelion from the flag on it. My helmet also has the triskelion on it, but is brighter with the neon yellow, bright red, and white and black checkered flag in the back. The TT stands for the Tourist Trophy motorcycle race, the deadliest motorcycle race there is. Riders race through the roads of the Isle of Man, even in the rain, so they are about the toughest motorcycle riders there are. And while we admire their courage and craziness, it isn’t the type of riding we aspire to, especially me.

I happily wore my new helmet on my much more sedate ride through the neighborhoods. It had some differences from my Schuberth helmet. For one thing the Arai is an all-in-one helmet not modular. This means that the bottom chin guard portion doesn’t open making for a tighter fit over my head. The fit is also snugger as I can feel the cushioning pushing into my cheeks. But the most complicated difference is the chin strap. On the Schuberth the strap connected via a plastic fitting that had ridges to hold the connector in place. The Arai has the more traditional helmet chin strap using two rings. When I tried the helmet on at Christmas, I was surprised at how easily I could slip the right strap through the two rings and then split the rings and slip the strap back through the right ring. Fully geared up in my Schott’s leather jacket and my Helite safety vest, it was much more of a challenge to affix the chin strap. It was also a challenge to undo the strap after the ride, but with some patient effort, I was able to do both.

We were supposed to have a cool, sunny day for our ride, but there were massive clouds moving in a strong wind. As I mounted the R Nine T (both bikes started with no problem, thank goodness), I spotted an osprey high in the sky. No rude, possibly drunk drivers were encountered, but there were an oddly high number of people moving in and out of driveways or doing odd turnarounds in the street. Since it was Saturday and not New Year’s Eve, I could only figure that the odd traffic was due to college bowl games. Happy to know Ole Miss won.

There was another issue with the new helmet—new helmet smell. The fabric was off-gassing, and when I was in the garage and waiting to start the ride, it was off-putting, and I knew I would have a difficult ride if I had to endure the smell throughout. However, with the wind generated by the ride, the odor was blown away, and I was fine.

We spent extra time going through cul de sacs and working on tight turns. Last week I realized I needed to focus more on using my legs to help balance me during turns, so I worked on using my legs as counterweights during my turns. How this works is when I am turning to the left, I apply pressure with my right leg; this side is easier because the rear brake is on the right side, so I am used to applying pressure on the right side. When I turn to the right side, I apply pressure on the left side which is more of a challenge.

I especially made sure to work on my legs as counterweights when I was practicing in the gravel lot of the historic house. My turns went really well and I had no dabs. While I ride in the gravel lot, Bill parks next door in one of the church lots and watches. When I’ve finished my gravel lot ride, I head over to his lot to rejoin him. Today, as I rode into the church lot, I spotted a bald eagle in the air above the historic house. Bill hadn’t spotted it and was riding off, but I stopped and pointed up to the sky causing the R Nine T to stall as I hadn’t taken the time to shift into neutral. I didn’t care; watching a beautiful, large bald eagle soaring into the sky is worth a stalled bike. Bill saw me and circled back around to watch the majestic bird with me. We continued our ride with huge grins on our faces.

During the ride, I got to 0 on the footless stop and saw Bill throwing both legs out as he tried to get the Rocket down to 0. He later told me he got the speedometer down to 1 and had thrown his legs out just in case. My no look turns went nearly perfectly during today’s ride. But I also learned that there is a downside to pre-loading the front brake—cold fingers. It was cool enough for me to have the heated grips on low. But my two fingers are out on the front brake and not on the heated grip. It was uncomfortably cold, but I’m hoping when we get to actual winter temperatures for our rides, that the higher setting on the heated grip will be enough to help warm up my two fingers on the brake.

We are entering January, so the cold weather is coming. But I don’t mind, just don’t let it rain or snow as that would prevent us from riding. I am looking forward to even more rides in 2024, and I wish you all a very happy New Year! Thank you for reading.

Arai motorcycle helmet in yellow, white, black, and red.