Racing Isaias

Finally, we managed to ride our motorcycles again! Despite some early morning sprinkles dusting the roads with moisture, the remnants of Isaias heading our way held off and the roads dried off enough for our ride.

The wind was strong, keeping me cool throughout the ride but not allowing for any butterflies. I had spotted a few sulphurs and monarchs during the week, but I knew it would be a butterfly-free ride. Though there are those second blooming azaleas flowering along with the mums everyone sets out this time of year to tempt the little pollinators.

The roads had piles of leaves for our tires to crunch over. At one point, the leaves fell in such a way to make it seem like it was snowing. The colors were muted by the gray skies, but it was still a beautiful autumn day. Of course, I was looking through happy eyes as I was thrilled to be back riding again.

I suspected there might be some rust on my riding skills, but it didn’t appear so. My two on-street U-turns were near perfect; perfection would’ve been full lock. I even had a great 2-spot turn on the gravel lot. I did fall into a booby trap. When the leaves are piled on the roads, they can hide objects. As we were turning around in a parking lot, my front tire slipped on some hidden trap causing me to put out my foot in case I needed to dab to catch the bike. But I was able to recover without the dab. I tried to see what I hit, but it remained hidden.

But my experience did remind me to be cautious when riding among leaves. Hitting a rock or a stick just right can shoot the front tire somewhere other than expected. But that’s why one of the many items motorcyclists need to keep aware of.

With the wind and approaching storm, I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t see much wildlife. There were three buzzards trying to navigate the wind, but I had just registered that I hadn’t seen any geese when we rode by the church field, and I watched as the flock took flight. I thought I spotted the great blue heron, but it turned out to be a spindly bush sprouting up near the river’s edge blown in the strong wind. There was a bright white egret enjoying the river’s low tide.

But the most prominent sites were the Halloween decorations. Since we went two weeks without a ride, more people have put up their décor. Popular this year are large spider webs that attach to the front of the house and have LED eyes. The wind gave movement to someone’s three little witches silhouettes and caused a skeleton to dance. One house has a skeleton rock band and a four skeleton audience. I think the Halloween decorations are helpful as well as entertaining; trick or treaters know which houses are participating in the great candy-a-palooza.

I hope to find even more fun Halloween décor on next week’s ride, and I hope for some sunshine so I can really enjoy the fall colors. But as long as I can get out on my R Nine T, I’ll take what I can get.

PS–We beat the storm easily as it seems to have fizzled out over land.

autumn trees on a cloudy day — Photo by Hrushik Perumalla on Pexels.com

Two Missed Rides

My last blog was “Much Needed Moto Therapy” and, after now two weekends with no ride, I am again much needing some moto therapy.

I knew I would miss my ride last weekend. I was out of town. I also knew, looking ahead at the forecast, that rain was threatening the next weekend’s ride. As of Friday, the “experts” predicted rain arriving late in the afternoon, so I went to sleep Friday night dreaming of my ride.

Reality sometimes really stinks. Saturday morning I looked out and saw raindrops glistening off the power lines. The road was not wet—yet, but I realized that there was a soft drizzle falling. The roads would dampen as the morning wore on. My last bit of hope was that the drizzle wasn’t falling over at my parents’ house, but the text response to my query was wet roads there too. The dreariness outside matched my internal dreariness.

Eventually we went over to visit the motorcycles, and Bill added some air to the tires. I said hello to my R Nine T. We might have squeezed in a ride as the roads seemed to have dried off, but we didn’t even bother bringing the gear. Plus, the skies did look like they could open up at any moment.

The beginning of rain on the roads is considered the most dangerous riding conditions—even a light rain. The accumulation of oil, grease, and road grime rise up to the road surface creating a slick, almost icy surface, that doesn’t wash away until heavier rain falls. Of course the heavier rain causes its own risk. Hydroplaning is the obvious risk, but on the two tires of the motorcycle there are only two small contact patches of rubber with the road, so loss of traction is a constant risk. Our rule is never ride in the rain.

Looking ahead, the week looks to be perfect fall weather. As for the weekend, clouds are shown for Saturday with rain chances on Sunday. I’ll be praying all week for the rain to hold off and allow us our ride. Meanwhile, the gray day is a perfect reflection for my mood.

Rain drops on power lines with green and yellow leaves behind.

Much Needed Moto-Therapy

Avast, me hearties! It be “Talk Like a Pirate” day! If you didn’t know, that is a real thing in the same way Friday was National Cheeseburger day. There was treasure to be had, but there was also a near stranding, and my motorcycle ride provided me with some much needed de-stressing.

Our ride almost didn’t happen. I needed to help fix my Mom’s printer, so while I was working on that, Bill decided to reattach the shade hook that had broken off my rear seat shade. He figured out how to get the stuck plastic to move, but he stumbled upon a larger problem when he finished the repair and went to raise the window. The car wouldn’t start. I tried; it made that sick, gasping sound as it tries to catch but dies. The battery light was on, and the car is five years old. Even my Mom knows modern car batteries only seem to last five years. So instead of jumping on our motorcycles and enjoying the sunny day in the low-80s for a ride, Bill removed all the plastic “over-coating” to get the battery out.

We had some luck. Within my Dad’s remain tools (brothers have borrowed the rest), was the just right size long socket wrench to remove the battery bolts. And, because the battery died at my parents’ house, I could borrow my Mom’s car to head to Autozone to buy a new battery. Three hundred dollars and almost two hours later, Bill was installing the new Duralast battery, the car started and, hot, sweaty, and tired, we could finally ride.

While the car repair operation was underway, I had the chance to watch the Blue Angels which were performing at the air show. They were miles away, but I could clearly see two blue jets flying up and around in a tandem loop. Mostly I listened to them as I held an umbrella to provide Bill some shade from the sun. I hoped for a close fly by like I saw last year, but no luck. Our luck was used up with the car situation. I had fun spotting the tiny jets flying in and out of the fluffy clouds. I managed to catch the wavy contrail of one of the jets as it flew straight up.

Later than planned, we finally were able to gear up and head out on the motorcycles—the reason we were there. I had managed to fix my Mom’s printer; the computer mostly just needed some serious updates. Because the afternoon had been so stressful, I was extra careful with my awareness. I noted the shadows from the trees were longer across the roads, so I looked more carefully for hidden hazards. That didn’t make the ride stressful; it was the opposite. The air rushing over me cooled me off, and I enjoyed the R Nine T leaning and falling away from me in the turns. Bursts of speed made me laugh out loud, and I almost thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Almost.

Halfway into the zooming, my chin started to itch badly enough that I actually tried to get to it. My full-face helmet prevented me any access to scratch the itch. I tried blowing air down on it. But I had to endure it until the itch went away as mysteriously as it appeared. I laughed about it because it seemed par for the day.

The only wildlife I spotted were two squirrels off on the sidewalks. The mornings have been dipping into the 60s, so butterflies are soon going to disappear for the season. Fall arrives next week and, if it keeps giving me cool days like today for motorcycle riding, I’ll take all they bring.

blue sky with jet contrail rising up from wispy cloud

Look Out!

The weather pattern as we approach autumn seems to have hit a rut. The days warm up into the week, and storms break out as the weekend approaches. Friday night hit us with some heavy rain, and Saturday held on to large, looming storm clouds. Luckily, the rain held off and the roads dried enough for our ride, but it does seem like we’ve depended on luck a lot lately to get a ride in.

Since it was so cloudy, I didn’t expect to see any butterflies. I did get to spot a monarch, black swallowtail, and a large orange sulphur butterfly the day before as my job let me spend most of my time outside. I chased a summer azure in the grass trying to get a picture, but no luck. I enjoyed the distraction from the heat of the day. Saturday gave us a slight break from the heat but not the humidity. Bill noted that just get the motorcycles out of the garage left him with a plastered t-shirt.

But as we rode, there was enough of a breeze to keep me comfortable. I did enjoy every opportunity to zoom a bit and increase the wind flow. I noted more signs of autumn. Joining the brown pine needles along the berm of the road were brown, red, and yellow crape myrtle leaves. Among the trees, more colors beyond green could be spotted in the leaves. Even as the magnolias kept their blooms as did some of the crape myrtles.

People are ready for fall. I spotted someone with a pumpkin already sitting on their porch, and I even saw my first Halloween blow ups, including one that was a “ghoul” bus. A “Welcome Fall” flag was flying as were several NFL team flags. We passed through a gauntlet of parked cars as someone held a watch party for the college games. I even saw my first eddy of brown leaves dance across the road.

About half way through our ride, which was going exceedingly well for me—all street on the U-turns, lovely leaning in on turns—when the collision happened. I saw it coming, and I suppose I target fixated just a bit. Seemingly from nowhere, a maple tree seed pod came spinning into my line of sight. By the time I went to swerve, the pod collided with my visor with a thwick before moving on. I am disappointed in myself for not swerving. As we head fully into autumn, I should have more opportunities to dodge flying debris. And I can hardly wait for the chance on next week’s ride.

yellow, red, and green leaves against a cloudy sky

Roadkill Ride

When it comes to riding motorcycles, riders are at the whim of the weather. Looming storm clouds gave me an “iffy” feeling about a ride. But my weather app said storms weren’t expected until later in the afternoon, so we headed out despite the skies looking ready to open up at any moment. As long as the rain held off, it was a perfect day for a ride. The temperature was in the low 80s and, even with the large clouds, the humidity wasn’t too bad, making the ride quite comfortable.

I remembered to lift up my kickstand before shifting into first starting off the ride right. Before we headed out, I spotted three different butterflies—a black swallowtail, an Aphrodite fritillary, and a cabbage white. I thought that meant I’d have a butterfly filled ride, but those three were it!

However, I did see signs of autumn’s approach. We passed several larger flocks of geese with two different groups crossing the road in front of us. Our engine roars also disturbed a flock of robins who’ve been congregating more as they prepare for their annual migration.

The pine trees have also begun shedding their needles leaving clumps of brown needles along the berm of the roads and a delicious piney scent in the air. But not every scent in the air is pleasant from the seat of a motorcycle. As we rode past where the river abuts the road, I noticed a furry clump on the berm what looked to be a run over muskrat. Heading out for the ride, I did what I always do when spotting anything like roadkill; I held my breath until we were well past.

Soon after passing, we rode past a clump of gardenias in bloom, and I breathed in their sweet scent deeply knowing they won’t be blooming for much longer. I love the colors of the flowers under cloudy skies. They seem like a muted oil painting adding splashes of color to the deep greens but not vivid bouquets dominating the landscape. I looked for changing leaves among the trees but didn’t notice too many though the Japanese maples are beginning to deepen in color.

My ride went well, no mis-shifts at all, though my U-turns were kind of lazy and wider than when I really work them. I didn’t mind; I needed this ride to restore me after my first week back with students; kids are energy vampires and they had zapped me. So my ride was in part restorative. But I did have one major slip up.

As we headed back up the river road, and since we were on the opposite side from the dead muskrat, I wasn’t as focused on my breathing as I should’ve been. I caught a whiff of roadkill through my helmet vents (thank goodness my visor was down). The scent of decay lingered until I passed a large stand of crape myrtles and was able to breathe in deeply their fresh, clean scent. But I’ve learned that even when I desperately need a relaxing ride, I can’t relax my road awareness even for a moment. If I do, the consequences can be nasty.

I did spot several vultures during the ride, but they hadn’t found the muskrat yet. It did remind me of the ride where Bill on the Rocket startled a group of vultures dining on some roadkill once. Even roadkill needs defensive riding when on a motorcycle.

Hopefully, next week’s ride will give further hints of autumn with less unpleasantness.

muskrat entering a river — Photo by Tom Fisk on Pexels.com

Muggy Ride

As we enter August, we usually start hearing about the triple Hs—hazy, hot, and humid. There’s even a saying, “It’s not the heat; it’s the humidity.” And today’s ride was proof it’s all due to the humidity.

We hadn’t ridden half a block before I felt that uncomfortable moist sensation in my armpits. The day itself was beautiful for August—sunny, breezy, and temperatures in the upper 80s. But it was humid. I kept my visor up for the ride so I could feel some air flow. It didn’t really help.

Since the sun was out, I was hoping to see some butterflies. During the week, I’ve spotted tiger swallowtails, black swallowtails, cabbage whites, and even one sulphur. But during the ride, the wildlife was mostly absent. There were a few bees and dragonflies about, and I spotted some ducks on the river in the shade, but I didn’t see any butterflies, birds, or squirrels. Except, I did spot two raptors high aloft in the sky; too high to determine if they were vultures or something more interesting. It was only as I headed toward the garage that I managed to spot an osprey rising up for an afternoon snack hunt.

Most of the activity we encountered was in traffic. Many people were zooming by in their air conditioned cars. A few intrepid young men were out doing some yard work, and we did cross paths with a young man riding a white sports bike, a Kawasaki Ninja I think. I gave him the two-fingered motorcycle wave back and wondered briefly as he went past us again if he was going to try and join us in our parking lot drill. He didn’t. We must’ve looked odd to him. He was out riding in jeans and a short-sleeve t-shirt, his only protection his helmet. We’re geared up in thick riding boots, Kevlar jeans and jackets, safety vests, gloves and our helmets, even on a summer day. But perhaps we gave him something to think about. Jeans and t-shirts are fine as long as one stays on the motorcycle, but any kind of tumble onto the pavement, and bare arms get shredded.

I had a near tumble. I finally returned to the gravel lot for some practice, and I expected my skills to be rusty. So when a large rock caused my front wheel to slip, I was ready to dab and catch the motorcycle, but I didn’t have to. I was able to recover my balance and keep going, but I laughed to help relieve the adrenaline rush. And it made me hope for nice enough weather next week to return to the gravel for some more practice even if it has to be a muggy ride.

white sports bike Kawasaki Ninja 650 — Similar to the sports bike that passed us twice.

Soft Summer Ride

Cool air and cloudy skies met us on the road. A cold front came through giving us a break from the usual July heat, and we were heading out on our motorcycles on a day of 72 degrees.

Before we left, however, I learned a new trick from Bill. The new trick built on a trick I had learned from watching motorcycle videos. How does a woman straighten up a 500+ pound motorcycle? While I do work out with weights, muscling the motorcycle up can wear the rider out before the ride even starts. So the original trick was to take the front wheel out of the lock position and straighten it up before pushing the motorcycle off its kickstand. And this does lighten the weight to make it easy for me to pull the R Nine T off the kickstand.

The new trick Bill discovered while preparing to move the motorcycle out of the garage was to turn the front wheel all the way to the right. By doing this, he could easily pop the bike up off the stand with a bump from his left inner thigh. He then asked me to try it, and I found it super easy to lift the bike.

I then confidently tried this new trick on the street as we prepared to head out. As far as lifting the R Nine T went, it worked brilliantly. But I encountered an entirely unexpected issue that gave me a moment’s worry that I might drop my bike. Once the motorcycle was up, I went to lift the kickstand, but for some reason my boot decided to do something it’s never done before. My boot heel seemed to hook against the kickstand in such a way that I could not kick the stand up. After a few attempts to move the stand up, I reset the motorcycle down on the kickstand and tried again. This attempt was successful, and I learned that the new wheel to the full right trick does make lifting the motorcycle off the stand even easier, but I was spooked by the weird hookup.

Setting out, however, I soon left the weirdness behind. I knew the day would not bring out the butterflies with looming clouds promising rain at any moment. I enjoyed the soft sheen the cloud cover placed over everything. The greens of the leaves and grasses are peaking and provide a deep peace as I gaze out at them. The flowers gave a soft glow of color to the green landscape with deep yellows from the brown-eyed Susans, bright white from the gardenias and magnolias, and glowing fuchsia from the crape myrtles. Lovely pine sap scented the air alongside the crispness of the crape myrtles. The day was cool enough, however, that I kept my visor down for most of the ride.

I did spot some large gaggles of geese as the goslings are now adult sized. Some ducks were out, of course, on such a day. And I did spot the great blue heron hunkered down on a dock piling while he waited for the tide to go out. I checked; the roar of our motorcycles didn’t startle him into flight.

And we did ride by some future motorcyclists. One was a little girl in a toy motor powered Barbie jeep wishing her little car could zoom around like our motorcycles did. The other was a toddler boy on his tricycle maybe two years old. His mother heard our motorcycles approaching, and she pointed them out to him. I gave him a toot on the horn as well as a wave and wondered what was the mom teaching her child? The red and yellow colors on the motorcycles? The word “bike”? Or was she hoping he would watch us zoom by and start zooming along on his trike? I do appreciate her teaching him at such a young age to be on the lookout for motorcycles. It might help make future rides and riders safer.

white gardenia blossom among green leaves

A Quiet Day for Riding

Due to a forgotten key fob, our usual weekend ride was postponed until Sunday. Sunday actually worked out as a better day for riding as long as the rain held off, which luckily for us, it did. The temperature hovered around 80 with the sun hidden behind large, ominous clouds. But we risked heading out and were able to ride.

The looming rain clouds provided a hush over the neighborhoods; mostly our motorcycle engines roared past dog walkers getting out ahead of any storms with very little traffic. Most of the animals seemed secreted away to wait out the impending rain, except for a rather fat dragonfly that was buzzing around the motorcycles.

My focus was much better during this week’s ride with no distracting discomfort due to the heat. I checked my mirrors before all stops and looked ahead to each intersection. Bill had set a new challenge to me. As I went to counter steer, that is apply a push on the opposite handle to turn the motorcycle, Bill challenged me to start the push at my fingertips. This challenge proved trickier than I realized because it felt very odd to apply pressure on the clutch or brake lever without actually pulling in the lever.

In between my counter steering work, I enjoyed the soft air and lush greenery the recent rain brought. The crape myrtles were heavily laden with blossoms pushing their clean scent into the air overpowered at one point by the large gardenia collection blooming along one road. Also in bloom I spotted white hibiscus flowers and will keep my eyes peeled for the bright red flowers I’ve seen in the past.

A day like today is a gift for motorcycle riders in mid-July, and we did spot many other riders taking advantage of the cooler air. The heat will return for more rides, but I can always hope for another summer day for motorcycle riding like today.

white hibiscus flower blooming — Photo by Austin Briones on Pexels.com

Triple Blacks

What does one get with 86-degree temperatures and 80% humidity? A very sweaty motorcycle ride. Large storm clouds loomed overhead, but the sun showed up enough to keep our ride on the toasty side. But we are now officially in summer, and with July and August still to come, I should expect triple H rides from now on (hazy, hot, and humid).

Due to the summer swelter, we mostly cruised to keep cool air flowing. But I did execute two great on-street U-turns. And I worked a little bit on zooming and diving into S-turns.

The wildlife wasn’t like last week; I barely spotted a squirrel munching a nut by the side of the road. However, there were some butterflies out enjoying the cone flowers and brown-eyed Susans that are now blooming alongside the roses, day lilies, begonias, magnolias, and gardenias. For some reason all three butterflies I spotted during the ride were black which I find an interesting color for butterflies.

The first one I spotted was unmistakably a spicebush swallowtail due to the white markings at the base of the wings. The other two went past so quickly that I can only surmise that one may have been a pipevine swallowtail and one may have been a red purple admiral butterfly. While it is fun spotting butterflies from the seat of a motorcycle, sometimes it can be a little frustrating as I zoom by in one direction while the butterfly flutters off in the other. I can only hope for more sightings in future rides especially while stopped.

spicebush swallowtail butterfly black with white markings on purple flower — Photo by Brian Forsyth on Pexels.com

Wild Wildlife Ride

A warm but not hot summer’s eve greeted us with clouds in the west but plenty of sunshine on our roads. We headed out with a plan to cruise around and not do too much slow-speed maneuvers. We set off with the scent of magnolias, crape myrtles, and mimosas filling the air.

Our first wildlife encounter was with a crazy squirrel crossing the road in front of us. The squirrel was in the oncoming lane to us about two feet from the other side when he heard the roar of our motorcycles. He stopped as we slowed down, looked at us, and proceeded to head back the way he came with several stops to check us out on the way.

Soon after as we headed up the road, our engine roar startled a rabbit nibbling along the berm, the first rabbit I’ve seen from the motorcycle that I can remember. Usually, rabbits come out at dawn or dusk, but he must have been hungry.

The first butterfly I spotted was a zoomy great purple hairstreak zipping between the clover. A block away from him, I spotted the only cabbage white I saw during the entire ride. I spot more butterflies driving to and from the motorcycles than I do during the ride. Perhaps I am not spotting them because I am working more on my street awareness.

As we headed along the final loop before ending our ride, we saw the very unusual sight of a racoon crossing the road into someone’s backyard in front of our motorcycles. I’ve no idea what would’ve made the nocturnal creature feel the need to be out in the middle of the day, but he was, and he was large. If he was returning home, then whoever lives in that house might want to call animal control because he was a large fellow.

In all my rides, this one definitely had the most diverse wildlife. I was disappointed not to see any birds soaring aloft in the thermals, but I did spot an osprey as we headed home. I look forward to spotting more wildlife among the day lilies and hydrangeas next week.