After two weeks of recovering, I finally felt strong enough for a ride on the R Nine T and spent half the ride with a goofy grin of happiness on my face. I missed hearing the roar of the boxer engine, the play of the motorcycle beneath me, and the cool wind rushing against me. And cool air it was. The temperature was in the low 60s; I had the foresight to wear my flannel turtleneck expecting the chill, but I forgot to get my mid-weight riding gloves. So halfway through the ride, I turned on my heated grips.
But I didn’t let the chill cool my spirits. I loved how readily my riding skills returned. My engine braking has really smoothed out to no jarring at all, and my counter steering felt natural as I headed into turns. We kept the ride loose and easy doing wide, looping U-turns and nothing trickier than the footless stop. I played some with using the clutch to adapt my speed on the looping turns.
The scenery was the lovely time of autumn when all the colors are evident. Trees showing all the colors—green, yellow, orange, red, and brown; a beautiful burnt umber shade on the leaves of a gumball tree. More mums in planters were about and I saw my first pansies planted for the upcoming chill. Some roses were blooming again, adding vivid fuchsia and bold red color to our ride. I even saw someone setting up their Christmas decorations. It’s a little early for that, I believe but it is a holiday weekend, and people need to make the most of the time they have.
And that’s how I felt on my ride. I was given this time to ride, and I’m so happy I’m strong enough to ride again. Now I just need to make sure I’m dressed warmly enough to fully enjoy my ride.
I woke up Saturday wanting very much to ride my motorcycle, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen. Earlier in the week, I stayed home two days from work and, when I did return to my job, had to take breaks due to overwhelming fatigue. As much as I wanted to spend a beautiful partly cloudy mid-60s Saturday cruising on my bike, I knew I lacked the strength to do it. So the best I could do was pay a visit to the R Nine T as Bill gassed them up, and listen to the engine turn over, but I couldn’t go anywhere.
And I realized I made the right decision because our short trip to the grocery store nearly wiped me out. My treatment ended on Tuesday, so I’m not even a week out into my recovery. I am hopeful, though, that another week of recovering will allow me next week enough strength for a short ride at least.
The best I could do as far as riding goes was ride vicariously as we watched Zack Courts’ latest “Daily Rider” episode. He rode the Kawasaki ZH2, a supercharged inline 4 that looks like a fun bike to zoom on. Of course watching someone else having a fun ride on a bike is no where near as fun as riding myself. But riding a motorcycle does require both physical and mental strength. One doesn’t need to be a powerlifter to ride a motorcycle, but there is strength needed to recover a motorcycle that’s near to tipping, and there is strength needed if the motorcycle does tip over to pick it back up.
But mental strength is even more necessary on a motorcycle. I’ve written about the need for awareness on the road when riding a motorcycle. In a car a mindless drift into the curb can be an inconvenience, but on a motorcycle, it can lead to a crash. Even a little drift onto the verge on a motorcycle can end in a crash if there’s a surprise ditch or a large rock that slides out under the tires. So I recognized the need to let another beautiful riding weekend pass me by sans motorcycle.
Meanwhile, this next week I will work on my recovery; I don’t want to let another beautiful fall riding weekend escape me!
I started off the ride fully geared and fully zipped because it was cool—high 60s. I even added my neck scarf to keep my neck warm, and I needed it. But with the right gear, the ride was pleasant though I can feel the need for my turtleneck coming soon.
As I mounted my motorcycle, I noted the odometer was at 1998.4, so I planned on stopping in 1.4 miles to snap the big 2000 shot. But as we set off cruising on this beautiful day, my mind wandered, and I totally forgot to get the picture! Instead, I was feeling the road beneath my wheels and the wind against my body. I was looking for more change in the foliage spotting some more bursts of red and yellow among the green leaves of the trees.
But for some reason during this ride, my mind wandered to the Tim Allen movie Wild Hogs. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it as a funny glimpse into the yuppy trend of buying Harley-Davidsons and becoming riders. Tim Allen’s little group of four call themselves the Wild Hogs, and they head out for a weekend ride to escape their daily grinds. That’s what my mind was musing on—the healthy escape and spiritual recharge riding motorcycles provide.
I’ve been dealing with some health issues recently, yet I won’t let them keep me off my motorcycle. Luckily, my health hasn’t curtailed my ability to ride, and I’m grateful for that. I can forget about any pain and feel the joy of my body and my bike working together in the ride. So I really leaned in on the counter steers during my turns, but I realized during my U-turn practice that I have not been using my body fully. I haven’t been applying pressure with my foot on the outer peg from the turn, so I haven’t made that a habit of my ride yet. More to work on.
I did spot a cabbage white butterfly during our ride, and there was even a small flock of ducks sitting near the lake where it comes up close to the road. And the Canadian geese gaggles are getting larger. There were tons of squirrels out running in front of us and running off on the grass as they gather their winter stores. Bill had a near run in with a mockingbird flying low and in front of him, but the roar of the Rocket chased him off. All in all I needed this ride to escape the worries of the week, and I look forward to next week’s ride that lets me escape those worries.
As for the title of this piece, early into the ride (probably around mile 2000), I thought of great title. But by the ride’s end, packing up the gear, running errands, and getting home, I no longer had that amazing title in mind. So one negative about riding is it isn’t great for writing down brilliance (ha!).
It was a beautiful day for riding motorcycles—sunny and highs in the upper 70s, so I set off expecting to see lots of butterflies enjoying the day. But it was more of a squirrely day than a day of butterflies, another sign of autumn.
As we rode, I was on the lookout for butterflies, but the flutterings I spotted were leaves falling. The maples are showing their fall colors, but most of the trees are still in green leaf. I spotted some more mums planted for the season, but mostly what I saw were more Halloween decorations out as we have officially entered October.
We had our first squirrel encounter half a block into the ride. This guy was smart enough to stay near the curb and hop up onto the grass as we rode past. I worked on staying smooth with my engine braking, and I was very successful. We did work on some slow-speed maneuvers including U-turns and fast braking. I kept my ABS shudder to a little bit at the end; I need to work on releasing and the reapplying the brakes as I come to the sudden stop to eliminate the ABS shudder entirely. My practice got put to good use as I had to come to a sudden slow down due to two indecisive squirrels bickering in the middle of the road.
I spotted a cabbage white more than halfway into the ride enjoying the second bloom azaleas. As few as the butterfly sightings were, they were more plentiful than the Canadian geese. I didn’t spot a single goose during our ride which is very unusual. I mention the half butterfly because I did catch a quick glimpse of a tiny summer azure butterfly. These butterflies are tiny, as I spotted one when I got home and was unloading the gear.
As my fall rides continue, I’ll see more and more leaves and less and less butterflies. One of the bittersweet truths of seasonal change—loss and gain. At least our rides will be more comfortably cool, and I’m sure I’ll see even more Halloween decorations go up in the next few weeks.
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.
Contrail from a Blue Angel jet as seen above a magnolia tree.
One of the biggest complaints about my 2021 BMW R Nine T Urban GS motorcycle is its lack of a fuel gauge. Nearly all new motorcycles have a fuel gauge, and many will even indicate remaining mileage range. But my R Nine T is a retro motorcycle, and as Bill has told me, his first Harley didn’t have a fuel gauge, most bikes didn’t. My motorcycle has an old-fashioned looking clock for the speedometer, but there is a small LCD screen that shows my mileage, and it lets me access the different ride modes and settings. But it’s small, maybe two inches long and 3/4 of an inch high, so there’s no room for a fuel gauge or remaining range.
Now Bill and I have assumed that a low fuel warning light will come on should I actually get nearly empty the 4.5-gallon gas tank. However, I’ve never gotten low enough to find out because Bill’s Triumph Rocket is a gas guzzler. His motorcycle has a fuel gauge and a range indicator. When the Rocket needs gas, we go ahead and gas up the R Nine T as well, so we’ve never gotten close to emptying that tank.
I mention the fuel gauge because that influenced today’s ride unbeknownst to me. It was another perfect day for riding motorcycles as evidenced by the many bikers we saw on the drive over to the garage. It was comfortably cool enough with partly cloudy skies and a northerly breeze to fully gear up. I was thinking the gray skies would keep me from seeing any butterflies as I sat on the bike waiting for Bill. And just as that thought occurred to me, I spotted a black swallowtail coming around the house across the street. I watched hoping she would fly towards the bikes, but she proceeded to pass in front of the house and go around the other side. Out of curiosity, I kept my gaze on the gate where I first spotted the butterfly and, sure enough, she came back around on a similar trajectory. However, on her second pass, she flew in front of half the house before heading up and over the roof.
I didn’t spot any more butterflies as we headed out, but there were multiple flocks of Canadian geese migrating for the upcoming winter. We rode out onto the curvy road, and I thought about lean angles and how the MotoGP riders lean and place their bodies between the bikes and the road. I sometimes feel myself trying to lean opposite the lean of my motorcycle, but today I let myself lean more in line with the bike. Of course, I’m leaning at 25-mph, not nearly 200-kph, so the forces are quite different. But today I think I understood better why the race riders lean like they do.
We rode along, skipping the on street U-turn road entirely and moving wide in our turnarounds. I notice clematis in bloom again as well as some of those two season azaleas that will bloom in the spring and the fall. I even spotted the first potted bright yellow mums of autumn. The leaves on the trees blowing in the wind look tired, and there were more dead leaves piled in the gutters than I had seen.
As we headed into the square lot, we had to move around the police’s large multi-horse trailer parked in the entry lot. I looked around in hopes of spotting one of the horses, but all I saw was a large bouncy slide over by the third precinct. Hopefully some children got to see the horses.
When we headed up the fast road, which we only did twice, I was easily able to keep up with Bill. That should’ve clued me in as to what was going on, but I was too lost in the enjoyment of a beautiful day’s ride. Another clue was when we didn’t go into the hospital lot for slow speed maneuvers practice. I did start to wonder if Bill was tired or not feeling great as our slightly shortened ride came to an end. It was only after we had dismounted and removed our helmets that I learned his low fuel warning had come on right at the start of the ride. He headed out with a fifteen-mile range and managed to still have two miles of range left when we finished. Meanwhile, my motorcycle probably still has half a tank at least.
We’ll gas up and be ready to enjoy next week’s ride; I am loving these September rides.
Thanks to the northeast wind, the clouds that brought us rain most of the week blew away, and we had as perfect a day for riding as one can get in summer. No cloud in the sky and the breeze keeping temperatures in the low 80s made for a lovely ride. The only thing missing was the butterflies.
As we drove over, I spotted a sulfur butterfly and a spicebush swallowtail, so I was hoping the sunshine would bring the butterflies out. But I only spotted one tiger swallowtail up high in the trees (I couldn’t make out if it was an eastern or a Canadian). We had gotten a late start on the ride, so I suppose they were out earlier in the day. I did see dragonflies who are clearly enjoying the bountiful mosquitoes. Bill thinks the golden eagle may have flown over him because he saw a enormous shadow pass overhead, but whatever made the shadow was lost in the trees. I didn’t see it, though at one point in the ride, a bird’s shadow passed over me, but I couldn’t make out the bird as it was flying behind me.
I did better on this ride with my engine braking. I continued to smooth out the application of the brake and the half pull of the clutch to avoid the herky-jerky motion, only experiencing that once during the ride. I did, however, have a few jerks when I applied engine braking to my emergency stops. The day was so nice, I didn’t mind practicing in the hospital lot. I worked on seeing how short a stop I could make using engine braking to help me stop. I was able to shorten my stopping distance by half a parking space and stopped within two spaces.
At the end of our ride, we made one more emergency stop on the road. I watched as Bill did his and made a point to ride further up before trying my stop. I stopped half a bike length behind Bill, so I feel I am making great progress on these stops. And it’s a good thing we do practice emergency stops. As we headed up one road, a Toyota 4 Runner came up to a yield sign. The driver should’ve yielded to the Rocket, but he didn’t, so we both had to do some quick braking. I don’t think car drivers realize just how exposed motorcyclists are. If there is an impact from a collision, we lose just about every time.
But I am wearing loads of safety gear and not riding much above forty mph, and working on safe emergency stops, so even if the car drivers are too aggressive, I should be OK. Bill gave me a new safety feature to work on for my next ride—checking for potential corner cutters as we approach stops. I’m looking forward to that practice even knowing the summer temperatures are heading back up as we head into August.
It has been an anxious week as the forecast showed rain moving in Thursday and staying through the weekend. My iPhone’s weather for Saturday showed rain chances beginning as early as 9:00 AM. But Bill’s Samsung phone had the rain holding off until noon, so we headed out into thick humidity trying to beat the rain.
The rain we had already seen had broken the heat wave and brought highs in the mid-80s. Nearing the end of July, anything below 90 degrees is a welcome relief. In fact the wind of my ride had a beautiful chill to it, helping to keep me cool for most of it. I was even kept cool with both the Klim and the Alpinestars jackets on.
I tried to protect my forehead by tying a handkerchief around my forehead, but then I couldn’t get my helmet down due to tightness. But because it was not as hot a day as it’s been for our more recent rides, I didn’t get the chafing from the helmet lining. I did get damp enough to plaster my Alpinestars jacket against me as can be seen by the jacket’s tracks on my arm.
The skies were gray with the forthcoming storms, so I didn’t see any butterflies as we rode. I did see a spicebush swallowtail on the drive home from riding, but the lack of sun does seem to keep the butterflies at bay. However, the Canadian geese were out and about, including one crazy fellow who almost took on the Rocket. One flock included two white Roman geese who did not care for the noise of the motorcycles at all.
The near run in with the first goose came about on the curvy road both coming and going. Soon after, we came to a sudden stop as Bill spotted a squirrel on the opposite side of the road who decided to cross the road in front of our motorcycles. Our next wildlife run in was spotting two osprey circling each other up in the sky. I was trying to figure out if it was a battle or a mating dance. No turtles out today probably because there wasn’t much sun. But also no butterflies.
My work on this ride was on breaking a habit. As we approached the first stop, mentally I reminded myself to engine brake, but physically, my muscle memory pulled the clutch in fully. So I had to work consciously on my engine braking and eventually found myself late in the ride smoothly engine braking where I matched the energy of the downshift with my pressure on the rear brake. This match up led to engine braking that didn’t create a herky-jerky motion. I look forward to more practicing.
The one downside of the ride was when Bill led us into the hospital parking lot. It was here that I felt the humidity smack into me and create uncomfortable heat. But if I’m going to ride a motorcycle in the summer, I have to expect some heat. I worked on my emergency stops and restarts trying to use engine braking to help me stop more quickly. But with the heat and humidity, we didn’t stay too long. We had beaten the rain, that’s what mattered. Hopefully, we’ll get a break from the humidity too. Next weekend is forecasted to still be in the 80s. If the humidity lowers too, it will be perfect riding weather.
After three days of rain, sometimes quite heavy, we were able to head out on a hot Sunday having waited for the roads to mostly dry out. There were some lingering clouds that provided a little bit of coverage at times, but we rode mostly under bright sunshine in a blue sky.
Last week Bill taught me about using engine braking as I was stopping to help the motorcycle stop more quickly. I mistakenly thought I was doing that as I would down shift as I approached the stops, but all I was doing was downshifting. Bill told me I needed to only partially pull in the clutch as I downshifted and feel the herky-jerky movement of the motorcycle as the shifting pulled down the revs. According to Ari Henning at Revzilla, engine braking is “the process of reducing speed by closing the throttle and allowing engine drag to slow you down.” When the throttle is closed, it cuts off air to the piston. The piston, however, is still trying to suck in air which creates a vacuum that drags on the piston, slowing it down and by extension, the rear wheel.
Because I have been downshifting while approaching stops, it wasn’t too difficult for me to adjust to a partial pull in of the clutch to implement engine braking. And I did come to quicker and easier stops, many times not really needing the front brake. However, I did have a different challenge. Because of my right-hand numbness, I would use the approaches to stops to shake out my arm. Since I am slowing down toward the stop, I could come off the throttle with my right hand and bang it against my thigh to try and shake out the numbness. But with the engine braking and the herky-jerky motion I experienced, I didn’t think it wise to try and hold the bike with just my left hand. So I found a different way to shake out my right arm. As I accelerated on the road, I would pull in the clutch momentarily and pull my hand off the throttle. It was a good alternative and helped me wake up the hand.
It also allowed me to air out my hand on this hot day. Looking around, I spotted a lone turkey vulture lazing about in the sky. I did spot a quick, small brown butterfly but couldn’t get a good enough look to identify it. As we rode up and down the fast road, Bill kept slowing down in the shady spot. On the second pass, I figured out what he was looking at. There was an eastern spiny softshell turtle chilling on the sidewalk, but he was very difficult to see as the spot is covered by thick trees and the sidewalk is black asphalt not concrete. On our final pass, he stuck his head out to watch us zoom by.
I noticed on this ride that, despite the heat and the sweat, I wasn’t too uncomfortable except for my helmet. The heat and the rubbing of the helmet lining against my forehead got to be painful enough I started adjusting my helmet to relieve the pressure. I think next week I’ll wear some kind of head band to create a cushion. Hopefully, next weekend I’ll get the chance to try it out; more rain forecasted through the weekend, so I’ll be crossing my fingers the weather gives us enough of a break we can ride.
I’m more familiar with seeing the eastern spiny softshell turtle sunning itself on a log in the river, not on a shady sidewalk.
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.
