Squirrelly Ride

It felt so good to be back on the R Nine T after missing last weekend. And the weather gave us a perfect day for the ride—sunny skies and highs of 62. I broke out my leather jacket without the lining and leather pants and had a super enjoyable albeit squirrelly ride.

Traffic was the main squirrelly part; there were cars everywhere. No one did anything to cause alarm but we had a few slow-movers that caused us to check up. It didn’t help that I was checking out my odometer because I was approaching 2500 miles and I wanted to snap a picture.

I spotted one intrepid cabbage white fluttering across the road in front of us. But he was the only one. I spotted a few vultures up in the blue sky, but the squirrels were the dominant fauna I spotted on my ride. They are mostly at work collecting food for the winter, but we had to watch for them in the roadway. One extremely lucky fellow benefited from our quick stopping practice; I am still wondering how he escaped Bill’s front tire. The reason the squirrel darted brazenly in front of the Rocket was because he was in a dispute with another squirrel, and the other squirrel chased him into the roadway. From my perspective that guy was roadkill. But then I spotted him to the left of the Rocket’s front tire, less than an inch away. We stayed stopped until the squirrel finished crossing the road.

I had a squirrelly incident early in my ride. I hit a dip in the road and my left foot depressed the shifter down a gear. At my speed, the engine braking didn’t disrupt my ride too much, but it gave me something to think about when out on the highway to be aware of how a bump can cause unintentional actions.

We encountered more squirrels as we looped around for the finish of the ride, including a confident fellow who ambled across the road assured we would stop for him—which of course we did. We also encountered a squirrelly individual riding a recumbent bicycle. He did have a tall flag attached to his bike, but he was low to the ground and riding in a very shady part of the road, weaving between both lanes. He did have a flashing headlight, but it is low to the ground and wasn’t very brightly lit. It made me realize that my motorcycle headlight—a safety feature—is probably not as bright as I think.

As we head deeper into autumn and closer to winter, the squirrellyness will settle down. The leaves are more colorful but not yet at peak; I will be out next Saturday to enjoy the fall colors.

odometer of motorcycle showing 2500 miles

Making the Most of Today’s Ride

We’ve been blessed with some fantastic weather this fall. Today was another perfect day for motorcycle riding—sunny skies and 72 degrees. We were eager to get started despite noting lots of extra parked cars around perhaps gathered to watch a big game.

I really appreciate how much stronger my legs feel in controlling the nearly 500 pounds of the motorcycle especially on the steep camber of the road. But I’m wondering if it wasn’t just mental. I was struggling against the weight of the motorcycle, trying to come up with braking tricks to help me control it on street cambers. When I discussed my tricks with Bill, he told me I needed to have the strength to control the motorcycle with my legs. And it seems just like that I was controlling my bike with my legs.

I wasn’t lifting heavier at the gym, so I hadn’t made strength gains. So I do think it was a mental issue. I thought the R Nine T was heavy, so it was heavy. I thought I need to control the R Nine T with my legs, and now I can control the weight with my legs. It is both a great feeling of strength but also a reassuring feeling of control over the motorcycle. And controlling the motorcycle with my legs is extra important now that it is autumn and the leaves are clumping onto the roads. We had one stop where I noted the leaves pasted against the asphalt and was careful to make sure of my footing as I braked.

It was a wonderful ride. My on-street U-turn left a yard of pavement free on the side. And my footless stop was spot on. I did manage to spot a monarch butterfly that I first thought was a falling leaf as it was just drifting before opening and flapping her wings. Another monarch may have been warming herself on the roadway until the Rocket zoomed by and disturbed him.

I also spotted two cabbage whites—both as we unloaded our gear at the garage and at home. I had to make the most of today’s ride because I will be out of town next week with no opportunity to ride. Bill will get his ride in as the Rocket is due for inspection, but I will have to wait two weeks before I can get the R Nine T to 2500 miles—1800 of those miles ridden by me.

black and orange monarch butterfly on green plant with small flowers with lake behind — Photo by Chris F on Pexels.com

Last Ride of the Summer 2025

Leaving work on Thursday afternoon, heading to my car, I spotted a butterfly fluttering in front of me. The butterfly then landed on the sidewalk about six feet in front of me. I moved a little closer hoping to get a photo, but the butterfly took off. He then settled on the sidewalk right in front of me! Better yet, he just sat there at my feet while I took out my phone, gently squatted down, and snapped several photos. He seemed willing to stay there if I was, perhaps drying out his wings after the rain and dampness of the past few days. Of course, I couldn’t just stand there forever, so after getting my pictures (see below), I headed to my car and the common buckeye butterfly flew off to find some flowers.

I include this little encounter because it brought such a feeling of joy, and joy is what I feel when I’m riding my motorcycle. Even when I’m not feeling that great, once I roll on the throttle and take off, I feel immensely better. I also noted during today’s ride that I feel stronger on my R Nine T. A month or so back, I mentioned coming up with a rear brake trick for helping me keep the motorcycle up on the steep camber of the road (see Gift of a Day). I mentioned my trick to Bill, but he pointed out that I should rely on my legs to control the bike. So I’ve been working on that, and on today’s takeoff, I was fully able to maintain the motorcycle on the incline and check the road for clearance.

I also feel my strength as I work on my tight U-turns. I tense up my abdominal core as I pull the motorcycle around tighter, feeling the momentum of the bike and adding or decreasing speed as needed. And of course, I am constantly working my grip as I control the clutch and front brake. The rest of my Saturday workout includes hauling the riding gear in and out of the car, up the steep driveway, and just moving around when fully geared up.

Riding my motorcycle is more fun than visiting the gym. Both are good for me, but I have better luck spotting butterflies on my ride than when I’m inside the gym. It took a while, but I finally spotted a monarch among some flowers halfway into the ride. And, just as I thought I wasn’t going to see any more, a little cabbage white butterfly fluttered into view. I spotted one more monarch among the lantana again, and the large tiger swallowtail fluttered up to the house as I was packing up my gear.

During today’s ride, though, Bill and I weren’t the only ones out cruising. For a brief moment, a Harley rider joined up on our route, qualifying us as a motorcycle gang. We also saw a 1969 Pontiac GTX in its original blue cruising around nearly the same route we took. It was a beautiful car, clearly well-cared for, and it made for one more enjoyable aspect of this wonderful last ride of this summer.

common buckeye butterfly with brown, white and orange markings

Cognitive Development

I became a motorcycle rider later in life having already hit middle age when I took the MSF* class (Bill and I were at least double the age of the other students at the time). But I had an interest and curiosity about riding motorcycles that I ignored for most of my adult life. Now that I’ve become a rider, I’ve written about the therapeutic value of riding motorcycles, the weekly stress relief it provides. And I’ve written about working on slow speed maneuvers and learning how to do sudden stops and swerve around targets. But it only occurred to me with this week’s ride how beneficial motorcycle riding can be to my mental fitness.

We’ve all seen or heard about studies on ways to keep one’s mind sharp as one ages—crossword puzzles, sudoku, jigsaw puzzles, exercise, and learning a new skill. Well this week, I had the opportunity to teach myself a new trick on my R Nine T. On Thursday Bill took the motorcycle in for its annual state inspection. An interesting side note—the inspectors at the local Harley-Davidson dealership were commenting on how the brake lights lit up the service room; there is a fad in current motorcycle design of minimalist brake lights—using LED lights that are really small to keep smooth lines for the aesthetic of the bike. I think large brake lights should be a mandatory safety feature of motorcycles much like the automatic headlight on feature is. But I totally digress.

After the return to the garage, the R Nine T was parked on my parents’ driveway. My task was to ride the bike into the garage to park. Now I’ve mentioned before that my parents’ driveway is really steep, so as soon as I let off the brake, the motorcycle would roll backwards and I would have to fight it with the strength of my legs. As I sat on the bike, I thought to use the rear brake while I rolled on the throttle and felt the friction zone for forward movement. It worked like a charm.

On Saturday as I readied to head out, I utilized the rear brake technique to help me as I slowly rolled up the camber of the road to check for oncoming traffic. Too often I have relied on Bill to check that the road is clear, but I always knew I needed to be able to check the road for my own safety and should I head out on my own. Later, I realized that my brain, instead of floating off to look for butterflies, had churned some gears to solve my problem. Am I a motorcycle genius? Of course not; most riders are probably rolling their eyes with a “no duh” thought crossing their minds. But for me, it was a problem I had and it was my brain that solved it which made me realize how my brain has been helping me solve riding and motorcycle challenges constantly, from one motorcycle to the next. So as I age, my motorcycle riding will help not only keep me feeling young but help keep my brain firing on all cylinders.

*MSF—Motorcycle Safety Foundation riding course.