Today was a beautiful day for the mental escape riding a motorcycle provides.  Sunshine and fifties for our temps with gusty wind that didn’t affect our ride.  We headed out for our neighborhood cruise, and I found myself cracking my helmet visor as I had overdone the clothes and was actually a bit warm.  I had on my Rev’It Taurus GTX gloves for the colder temperatures, and I spent a good part of the ride analyzing the feel, grip, and comfort of these top-of-the-line gloves.
Because these gloves are insulated for warmth and have Goretex for weather protection, the fit is bulky.  I have to push down between the fingers when I put them on to tighten the fit, but even then, there is a lot of fabric between me and the throttle.  This is my fifth ride wearing these gloves, so they are new and naturally stiff.  Today I wondered if I could wear the gloves around the house to try and loosen them up some as I do with my boots.  I’m not sure, but it is worth a try.
	I have established, after getting to wear my Klim summer gloves last week, that the gloves do affect my pull on the clutch and brake and my roll on with the throttle.  In fact I had several excessive roll ons due to the gloves, so I have to work on getting a better feel on my right hand between the glove and throttle.  I had no difficulty shifting with my left, perhaps because these thicker gloves cause me to pull harder on the clutch.
	Where the gloves shine is the warmth they provide.  Today was only slightly chilly, but I’ve worn the gloves while riding on 30-degree days with no chill to my fingers.  I look forward to discovering whether with more use the gloves do loosen up and flex better; I certainly hope so.
	As for our ride, every court we entered we circled three times, and I worked on watching over my shoulder for any potential cars.  Last week Bill pointed out that as we enter a court to turn around, a car might be entering behind us but heading straight into a driveway, not realizing that we are circling.  So I worked on checking my mirrors and checking over my shoulder during all of the circles.
	We did S turns on the gravel parking lot, and I had two heart pumping moments when I felt the back tire slip.  One day I’ll train using that slippage to help bring the bike around (backing in), but that will have to wait until we are on a softer surface than even the gravel.  We did some more S turns in the hospital overflow parking.  I was being cocky and doing tighter turns than Bill, so I had to dab my foot as I did too tight a turn.
	Other than crows and a few gulls, I only saw one sole Canadian goose.  Seeing that, and someone in the neighborhood flying a Canadian flag, brought my escaping thoughts to the terrible events happening in Ottawa today.  I don’t want to be political, but I do want to say I support the Freedom Truckers.  Motorcycle riding is freedom in motion; I’m glad I get weekly reminders of what it means to be free.