Blossoms and Butterflies

I had some of the luck of the Irish on my ride Saturday. Not only was the weather a lovely, sunny, low 60s, but the cabbage whites were out in force and my favorite blossoms, the cherry trees, were beginning to bloom.

There was no blessing from a butterfly before our ride, but I had seen several on the drive over and was hopeful to spot some as I rode. It didn’t take long; half a block down the road, I spotted my first cabbage white dancing about. It turns out that one female of this species can produce millions of offspring, so I shouldn’t be surprised that I saw 17 on this early spring ride. I also learned that the cabbage white is an immigrant from Quebec, Canada, and prior to that was only found in Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Someone in 1860 brought the little critters to North America, and they have spread throughout the continent.

They make for lively entertainment during my motorcycle rides, and I was nearly head-butted by one on this ride. The butterfly flew at my fancy Arai helmet, probably drawn in by the bright colors, but it got smart about a foot away from collision and veered up and over my helmet.

On this ride I saw four weeping cherry trees in full bloom, and I saw multiple Yoshino cherry trees beginning to bloom. I’m hoping to see full blooming cherry trees on next week’s ride. I even spotted the first tulips of spring in a few yards as we rode.

My ride was great—mostly. We took the curvy road which is always fun. I enjoyed the feel of the counter steers into the turns. As we headed into the ritzier neighborhood the I rolled on the throttle and felt a good deal of the 119 Newton meters of torque forcing me back on the seat. I laughed and recovered my seat and found myself slowing down suddenly as Bill turned us into a cul de sac we hadn’t ridden down in a while. I’m glad he did as it let me see a little boy enjoying the beautiful day zooming down the street in his mini dragster.

My turns continued going well on street and in the gravel lot. I did try the turn between the large wooden blocks but only halfway. If I’m feeling good about my turns next ride, I will go full into the wood like I was supposed to. I think I hesitated because things were going so well, I didn’t want to mess up.

Not too long after my fun in the gravel lot, I stalled the motorcycle. We were stopped waiting to turn back onto the zoomy road. We had to let three cars go by but, before we could turn, another four came up the road. I think the unusual amount of cars keeping us at the stop sign longer than usual distracted me enough that when I went to take off, my feel for the clutch was off and the bike conked out. I recovered with Bill only having to slow down to wait for me, and I also recovered my good ride by improving my sudden stop-go drill. And I had the fun of seeing 17 butterflies throughout my ride. Were some repeats of ones I had spotted before? Possibly. But I try to only count them as we enter a new, unridden road, so I think my 17 is close to the actual count.

I love seeing the butterflies and the cherry blossoms. The butterflies remind me of how free and capricious riding a motorcycle can be. The cherry blossoms remind me to enjoy the beauty of the ride while it lasts because, like the blossoms, the time is fleeting.

Better Late Than Never

Friday and Saturday brought us rain, and I despaired of a Saturday ride. Bill was more optimistic; the rain was supposed to stop around 1 and the sun came out to dry the roads. When showers fell at noon, I figured our Saturday ride was out, but the forecast was right, the sun came out, and the roads, mostly, dried off. Temperatures were in the 60s, so in that regard it was perfect riding weather. But this ride had to be one of our latest as we headed out around four in the afternoon.

It was warm enough to bring out a cabbage white butterfly which I spotted on the drive over to get the motorcycles. I hoped I would see more as we rode, but perhaps the lateness of the afternoon or the rain or the early March date kept other butterflies at bay. The rain drops gave a sparkle to the daffodils, camellias, and the sugar magnolias I saw in bloom. And the green grass shone under the sunlight.

As we headed out, we did have to dodge some puddles here and there. Yet I found out early it was going to be a great ride as we hit the cul de sac at the end of the curvy road, and I did two of my tightest U-turns ever.

Unfortunately, the sun didn’t stay with us throughout the whole ride. While the sun was shining, I was comfortable in my Klim lightweight jacket, but when the clouds blocked the sunlight, I got chilly enough to turn on my heated grips.

Of course I kept my eyes peeled for large birds. The Canadian geese were out in their mating pairs here and there, and I even startled some ducks by the river. An eastern bluebird flew across our path, a few feet in front of Bill’s helmet. And I did spot a large bird, but it was too far away to be certain that it was the golden eagle.

I was finally able to complete both on-street U-turns successfully. The first one was berm to berm, but the second one left me a good foot away from the berm. We stopped at the gravel parking lot outside the historic house, but as I rode into it, I noticed the mud and puddles and felt I should give it a pass. I think part of me just didn’t want to have to wash the motorcycle later.

My emergency stops and restarts went better than before, but I feel like I’m stopped longer than I should be. I did better at scanning the mirrors as I came to a stop. I have to develop comfort with just putting my left toe down and trusting that my acceleration will keep the R Nine T upright.

I’m lucky that Bill was right to have us ride Saturday. I became quite ill Sunday and have been sick all week. I’m working on getting healthy for the weekend because I don’t want to miss my chance to ride. Of course, I need the weather to cooperate and push the rain off until Sunday.

Wind Chill

Winter returned for this week’s ride but seemingly not too aggressively. Temperatures were in the mid-40s and there was sunshine amongst some clouds. But I didn’t check the wind chill as I prepared my riding outfit, and I paid for it during my ride.

In addition to checking the wind chill on cold days, I also need to check whether Bill added my liner for my leather jacket. I made a mistake in wearing my Rev’It leather pants with the liner and tights underneath, and I also chose my thermal overshirt rather than the flannel one rated for cold weather.

Because I was cold, I focused a little too much on my discomfort. My hands were cold enough even with the heated grips on high, so much so that I stopped pre-loaded the front brake several times to grip the handle with my full hands. During U-turn practice, I took advantage of only using the rear brake to warm up my right hand. Then as we cruised up stretches of the road, I released the clutch and gripped the left side. It worked enough to keep me from being miserable on the ride, but I was cold enough to learn my lesson about checking the wind chill.

I did see even more daffodils in bloom as we rode, though I knew there would be no butterfly to surprise me this week. I hope the little guy from last Saturday found some warm spot to hang out. I was surprised to see an apple tree (I think) in full pink bloom. I wasn’t expecting to see the fruit trees blooming already, but they are starting.

The fruit tree was in bloom along the stretch of road where we do the on-street U-turns. Today, however, there was a woman walking her dog along our usual stretch of road, so Bill had us do the U-turns in a different part of the road. On my first turn I had to daub my left foot and on the second, I went off well onto the berm. It occurred to me that I was unsuccessful because it was a different part of the road and possibly narrower, but to me that was just an excuse. If I can do an on-street U-turn, it should not matter which stretch of the road we are on to do it. Later, Bill told me it was a narrower part of the road, and I shouldn’t be surprised that I struggled. I did great later on my turns in the gravel lot to make up for the lousy street turns.

We didn’t get to practice our stops and immediate restarts because when Bill tried his first one, the Rocket cut off. We started our ride with the Rocket telling us it had a range of 20 miles, so we headed home on the fumes because no one wants to try and push a 648-pound motorcycle up a steep driveway! Next week, we’ll gas up the motorcycles and return to our scheduled practice. And I’ll check the wind chill as I prep my riding attire.

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.

Lovely Winter? Ride

All week long the forecast held shifting rain chances for Saturday, but we were pretty sure we were in for rain. In fact we did get some rain on Friday, so it was a wonderful surprise to wake up to sunny skies and dry roads Saturday morning with spring-like temperatures—a day made for riding.

We were up earlier than usual because we needed to pick up the Rocket from the dealership. On Tuesday the dealership sent over a tow to collect the bike which couldn’t be safely ridden due to the front brake caliper’s missing bolt. Sunrise Cycles repaired the Triumph, and we hoped for nice enough weather on Saturday to pick up the motorcycle. So Bill got an early ride as we headed over to my parents’ garage. He took the scenic route up Shore Drive so he could look out over Lake Whitehurst. There was a light haze at tree level but bright sunshine everywhere else.

Last weekend my mind must have been as numb as my fingers because I made no note of the odometer passing 1500 miles. I’ve now ridden the R Nine T roughly equal if not slightly more than Bill. There was road work underway, so we had to head behind the shopping center where we rode over seven speed bumps. These bumps are good practice; one of the learning experiences in the MSF course is to ride the bike over a 2×4. Some of these speed bumps are a few inches higher than a 2×4. To get over the 2×4 in the class, we were told to lift up on the handlebars as we approached and stand up on the pegs. I hadn’t really worked on this skill since the class, so I was having fun with the practice. But I did mess up one speed bump; I was going over it slower than I realized, so I started to sit back down too soon and got a bump in the bottom by the seat.

As we rode, I noticed the muted greens of the shrubs, holly, and pine trees. Either the winter light softens the green, or the other trees that leaf in the spring have a brighter sheen. The more muted color reminded me that it was winter and nature is at rest since the near 60 degrees high definitely felt like spring. I did see the strength of the winter light as it scattered sparkling light across the river.

I enjoyed today’s ride very much even though my right hand went numb. I hadn’t had the numb feeling for several rides, so I don’t know why the numbness came today. I shook my right arm out as I approached stops and that helped shake off the numbness. It didn’t affect my ride; my turns were really tight. I find myself enjoying the balance of the motorcycle as I play with increasing the speed. No handlebar lock but both my left and right turns in the hospital lot were within the lines. My first on street U-turn I rode up on the grass but had a better second one. My no-look turns are almost second nature, and my gravel lot turns are getting more consistently tight. I even felt the bike come to a complete stop on the footless stop as the odometer hit 0.

Because of the road work, Bill led us into some traffic to head back to the garage. The day was so pleasant that I actually began to feel hot sitting at the stop lights. We sat at one light so long my left hand on the clutch started to tire. Some riders will shift into neutral at lights and rest the left hand. But Bill has explained the danger in that. If I’m in neutral and a car comes up too quickly or even possibly running into the back of the bike, being in first gear will allow me to move into one of my escape paths. Motorcycle riders who ride in traffic should always scope out their escape routes when stopped at intersections. I need to work on this skill more. And any time I need more skill work, that means more riding which I am always up for!

Haze over Lake Whitehurst and a happy boater enjoying the spring-like weather.

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.

Two Rides Weekend

I was going to title this blog “Buffeting,” but that was after Saturday’s ride. Sunday’s bonus ride came about because of an incident that occurred during Saturday’s ride and because it is a holiday weekend.

“Buffeting” refers to the wind hitting the rider on the motorcycle. It is usually discussed when riding the motorcycle on highways where clearly there will be a lot of wind generated. Buffeting is why some motorcycles have large windscreens in the front; cruisers often have the windscreens because they are designed for highway travel over great distances where constant wind would wear on the rider. But buffeting can also refer to the wind of which we had plenty this weekend.

Luckily, southeast Virginia is fairly well protected from snowstorms; unluckily too for the kids wanting a snow day. I do hope everyone who is experiencing this first major snowstorm is getting through it well. We had lots of sunshine and temperatures in the mid-50s for both days this weekend, but we also had high winds gusting to 25 mph on Saturday and near 20 mph on Sunday. The fun part about riding in the wind is feeling the wind push one along on the motorcycle. At one point on Saturday’s ride, as I was looping around on the gravel lot, I was pushed forward for 10 yards, laughing all the way.

Bill had warned me before we started riding that I might be changing lanes despite myself. The wind wasn’t quite that powerful, but I did feel it nudging me a bit. And there was the whistling of the wind through my helmet, at times a steady teakettle noise filling my beautiful new helmet.

I didn’t see much wildlife on Saturday except some crows. There were lots of people out walking their dogs both Saturday and Sunday; mid-50s in the middle of January is a gift and people were taking advantage of the sunshine and relative warmth. On Sunday I spotted several turkey buzzards battling the winds, soaring crazily in the air. I also saw an osprey on Sunday and some Canadian geese. Neither day did I see squirrels; they may be digging in for the colder temperatures coming later this week.

There were some swirling leaves in the middle of the road, caught up in wind eddies. I saw one beautiful camellia bush in bloom on both Saturday and Sunday, and on Sunday’s ride, I saw two groupings of pansies, my first of the season. I had to dodge some small branches in the road, and felt my front tire slip a bit on a pinecone.

So what happened to necessitate the Sunday ride? Well when we parked the bikes on Saturday and I removed my helmet, I felt my hair in the ponytail instead of my fuchsia hair glove. I checked my jackets and my shirt, but there was no hair glove. A couple of years ago, I lost the shorter of the two hair gloves Bill had gotten me. We drove around and found it lying in the road near the neighborhood swimming pool. So we packed up the car and drove around expecting to find this longer hair glove. Retracing our route was not successful with no glimpse of the bright fuchsia and white hair glove.

When we woke up Sunday and discussed our agenda for the day, riding the motorcycles again made sense. It was another great day weather-wise for riding, chores could wait until Monday, and we could search for the hair glove from the motorcycles which would make it easier to spot.

We headed out and I was a little uncomfortable. I did not like the added burden of scanning for the hair glove, making me realize I’m not fully confident in my road awareness when riding. In part I was looking out for blown down branches in the road because of the wind. It was Bill who spotted the hair glove; I never saw it. He pulled over on the curvy road and parked while I looked over my shoulder trying to spot the glove. I didn’t see it until Bill walked by carrying it.

Now that the hair glove was found and secured, we continued our ride. My ponytail was tucked under my neck tube and under the high collar of the Schott’s jacket. This impromptu protection worked well in keeping my hair from tangling on this windy day. I think I lost the hair glove because I had not secured it fully to my ponytail band. I usually take the time to double check that the plastic hook is looped through the band, but I didn’t do that on Saturday. I’m not sure why; I wasn’t in a hurry; I was just careless.

In the neighborhood some of the roads have been torn up in preparation for repaving. There is a “Motorcycles Use Extreme Caution” sign posted. The uneven surface did make me nervous because of the ruts, so much so that on Saturday, I missed shifting into first gear at the stop and nearly stalled. Luckily, the boxer engine chugged through its complaints and kept me going. I paid more attention to my shifting on the Sunday ride.

In fact the Sunday ride allowed me to make corrections on things that seemed a little off on the Saturday ride. For example, on my in-street U-turn, I went wide into the grass on the first one Saturday, but Sunday’s were all street. I even had the presence of mind Sunday when I felt the bike tipping a little to let out the clutch and increase the throttle. The only area I still struggled on was the gravel lot. During Saturday’s ride, the dropped branches and increased wind made me feel unstable in my turn practices on the gravel. I felt more confident Sunday until I saw the pair of nail shears. The glint of bright silver in the sun caught my eye and I was surprised to see them in the parking lot of a historic house. I then fixated on the scissors and never fully focused on my turns. After the third missed turn, I gave up and rejoined Bill.

We zipped along and finished our ride in great spirits. Bill wasn’t even upset realizing the Rocket needs some brake work done. Next Saturday looks to be colder and windy, but I’m getting some riding in the wind practice and feel good. I’m looking forward to the challenge of a full winter ride.

Motorcycles use extreme caution orange sign

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.

Christmas Eve Ride

Due to some goofiness with the usually reliable R Nine T, we had to delay our weekend ride until Christmas Eve. We tried Saturday to head out. Bill’s Rocket fired right up with no issues. The R Nine T, though, wouldn’t start.

At the end of last week’s ride, I had inadvertently knocked the right turn signal loose in its setting. Ironically, as well-built as most of the BMW motorcycle is, the turn signals are rather flimsily attached. In the past Bill has knocked the turn indicator loose himself, but with the right tools, it can be reattached. So while I visited with my mom, Bill was in the garage working on the turn indicator. When I came out to check on him, it wasn’t going well. The screw part was easily dealt with as the correct socket was engaged. However, the backing nut was protected by extraneous plastic bits that made locking it in place was proving extremely difficult. Eventually, Bill got the nut encased in one of my dad’s old small wrenches, and the indicator was reattached.

At this point it went downhill. Bill shifted the motorcycle around in the garage and went to start it to get it down to the street. The bike spit out a high-pitched “rawr, rawr,” and went dead. After pushing the motorcycle back into the garage, I climbed on the seat and straightened the chassis so Bill could check the oil; it appeared to be low. We couldn’t just add some oil, however, as the special tool that is needed to remove the boxer cylinder head to get to the oil intake was back at my house.

With a night to think on it, we returned the next day with some gas because Bill thought the weird engine sound was possibly caused by some bad residual gas in the tank. Luckily, filling up the tank got the motorcycle started and it ran beautifully throughout my ride. The ride did get off to a rough start. Passing onto the next block at the beginning of our ride, a black Merecedes SUV which I thought was just parked facing the wrong direction on the road, drove out into the street just as Bill was riding past on the Triumph. The driver saw Bill and stopped (luckily the Rocket is nearly the size of a small car). Silly me, I assumed the driver would take that near miss as a lesson and take a second to check for passing traffic before trying to drive off again. He didn’t, so I came to a stop on the side of the road and waited for the Mercedes to clear off down the street. The driver may have been drunk judging from the state of inebriation on his friend who was standing on the side of the road laughing as though hitting a motorcyclist was a game.

It was a rude way to begin what was otherwise a lovely ride. As we stopped at a stop sign after riding up the curvy road, Bill pointed at me and then pointed to his right. At first I thought he was signaling to me to watch for pedestrians on this pleasant day out for a pre-holiday walk. But at the next stop sign, he came to a stop over toward the left, and I realized that he wanted me stopping on the inside of him should there be any cut off turns into our lane. Realizing how we managed the communication got me to thinking about helmet audio systems. There are communication systems that would allow Bill and I to talk to each other while we ride. My mind then wandered to people who have their helmets connected to their phones. While I ride, my phone goes into a driving mode so there is no audible signal of a call or message nor is there a vibration (not that I would feel that through the layers of protective gear nor over the vibration of the bike). But I don’t even want to listen to music while I ride. Maybe if my ride lasted more than an hour or so, or I was trying to ride six or more hours on a trip, music would be a desired distraction. But while I’m riding for my hour or so, I want to hear the rumbles and roars of the motorcycle shifting, accelerating, and decelerating. One of my all-time favorite sounds was the Leo Vince exhaust we had on the Ducati Scrambler. So I found myself recognizing the enjoyment I have in hearing the sounds of my ride.

The trees are wintry in their bare branches with some dry, brown leaves clinging in places. I only saw crows flitting about and squirrels rushing around. But I did enjoy even more of the Christmas decorations; by Christmas Eve pretty much all the decorations are out and inflated even during the daytime.

One thing I worked on during my ride was turning my head all the way during U-turns. Bill had suggested it after watching my practice in the gravel lot last week. I learned that I have been cheating on my head turns and stopping them short. This realization became obvious to me after I had to dab my foot four times during U-turns. A “dab” is when the rider puts a foot down to protect the motorcycle from a fall. I haven’t had to dab in a long time as the R Nine T is such a well-balanced bike. I will be spending the week thinking about what it is about the head turn is causing me to feel unbalanced. And I will spend the week excitedly waiting for my chance to practice and ride again.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Christmas inflatables including a polar bear wearing a Santa hat and waving; Santa and two pigs in an airplane; a tall Santa; a Grinch; a Santa in row boat. — Christmas inflatables seen during my ride.

What’s the Deal with Triumphs?

A beautiful Saturday afternoon greeted us for our ride with sunny skies and warmish temperatures (mid-50s). As I visited with my mom, Bill rode the bikes down to the street as he always does. I haven’t gotten a motorcycle out of the garage since I dropped the Ducati Scrambler in the driveway. I think this is a little unfair as I realized what I did wrong (not in gear) on that drop, but Bill really loves the R Nine T, so I understand his overprotectiveness.

Anyway, Bill had both motorcycles down on the street. We put on our gear—I was wearing my Schott’s leather jacket without the liner; Bill was sticking with the Klim. I finished dressing first and headed down to my bike. I noticed Bill heading out without his Helite airbag vest and gestured to him so he would turn back and put it on before he came all the way down the driveway. I started my bike enjoying the back and forth shake of the boxer engine and waited to hear the rumble of the Rocket. It didn’t come.

Now to get the motorcycles down to the bottom of the driveway, Bill starts them up and shifts into first gear to use the power of the engines to help move the bikes. So the Rocket had started up in the garage, no problem. Yet just as we were ready to start our ride, the Triumph wouldn’t turn over. Having experienced no starts on the Rocket, Bill patiently took out the key fob to check the battery. Dead.

Two and a half months ago, the key fob received a brand-new battery. The fob gets used once a week, and with the rainy weekends and the tire puncture, not used every weekend. The fob has been used maybe 7-8 times. Why, then, is the battery already dead? The fob for my car has gotten two batteries over three years and that fob sees daily use. So what is the deal, Triumph? Why does the Rocket fob burn through batteries? It is a keyless ignition; is the fob constantly searching for the bike? Or is our fob poorly wired?

Whatever the reason, the frustration of having to dismount, disrobe (the gear), dig out a battery, pry the old battery out, and hope the new battery will work. Luckily for our ride, it did. But it sure allowed frustration to build and nearly ruined our ride. However, once we got underway, the joy of riding drove away the frustration.

A lot more Christmas decorations were out including several Grinches, a walrus, and a polar bear delivering a Christmas tree. My ride went really well. The curvy road was fun; I focused on balancing my speed and my lean. The no look turns are improving, and my U-turns were really tight even on the gravel.

The squirrels were out and making up for missing last week. We had five encounters. I saw a turkey buzzard circling just before we headed out. And I saw either the same one or another later into the ride. Other than the turkey buzzards, I saw some large crows enjoying the day, but despite the warm day, it is looking more and more like winter.

As beautiful as the day was and as enjoyable as the ride was, it didn’t end well. As I dismounted the R Nine T, rather hastily as I really needed to use the bathroom, I inadvertently kicked the right turn signal on the back. As well built as the BMWs are, the two turn signals are rather flimsily attached. It doesn’t take much to knock them out of their seating. Bill did it once, and now I’ve done it too. It’s not as bad as the Rocket key fob, but it did let the ride end on a sour note. Overall, however, the light is a minor repair and, doing some work on the motorcycles is part of the fun of riding.