200 Rides and Still Going Strong

I began writing about my motorcycle rides as a way to reflect on what I was learning as well as to record the beautiful natural sites I saw. I’ve hit my 200^th blog and my 200^th ride and it was spectacular.

I did have a rough start, however. My gym closed and I needed to adjust my training, so I added a Saturday visit in addition to my usual ride. This extra step necessitated planning and packing; while I could wear my gym clothes, I needed to pack up my riding gear. Sometimes it would be easier to not dress for the slide like the young man we saw driving over who was on a motorcycle in his shorts, t-shirt, and Vans. That’s fine and cool as long as absolutely nothing goes wrong on the road. My riding attire, though, is padded jeans reinforced with Kelvar, knee pads, Dakota boots, two jackets, gloves, and an airbag vest. I opted for my jeans as the riding temperature was in the low 80s.

As I packed up my attire—t-shirt, socks, knee pads, and jeans—I reminded myself I would need a belt for the jeans. Unfortunately, I did not put the belt in my bag right as the thought occurred to me, so when I changed into my riding attire, I was beltless. I figured I would be OK for the ride since I sit down, and I planned on tucking in my t-shirt and my Alpinestars jacket inside the jeans to give me more heft. I shared my predicament with Bill for a good laugh, but Bill’s a problem solver, so he immediately began searching the garage for options. I had considered using an old extension cord, but I didn’t want to twist that up and possibly damage it. But then Bill spotted the bungee cord around my old suitcase cart (for those that don’t know, suitcase carts had a brief heyday right before wheels on suitcases became commonplace). The bungee cord worked and my jeans were secure for both the ride and the shopping trip after.

I did take mental note of my forgetfulness and registered the need to make sure I paid extra attention on the road. I received another lovely blessing as I walked down to the R Nine T; the little cabbage white butterfly that hangs around my parents’ house, flew right in front of me between me and the motorcycle. I laughed and wondered if the little guy wanted to ride himself.

With the dogwood trees hitting peak bloom, the Kwanzan cherry trees heavy with their puffy pink blossoms, the tulips blooming, and the small flower azaleas flowering, the butterflies and bees had a lot of choices on where to go. The pollen was so thick on cars and in bright yellow puddles in the gutters. I am very glad we get to keep the motorcycles in the garage. In addition to the pollen thickening the air, the oak trees have begun dropping their thin pollen “worms.” The pollen was so thick it had collected along the shore of the river, creating a large greenish-brown arc on the water.

I spotted nine more cabbage whites throughout my ride dancing among the new green leaves and the burgundy of the Japanese maples; numbers eight and nine were dancing around each other. And I did clearly spot a tiger swallowtail again near the top of a fir tree. I saw what I think was an eastern comma butterfly, and near the end of the ride, I sotted a yellow sulphur zipping about. The great blue heron was back in the shallows as the tide began to roll in, watching us carefully as we circled around in the cul-de-sac. And a few Canadian geese were grazing in the large field behind the church.

I do love riding in the springtime. I enjoyed the cooling air washing over me and leaning into my turns. And I especially love the sites as nature enjoys its coming out from the long winter hibernation. It was a warm day, but we kept the slow speed stuff to a minimum and mostly cruised. For a 200^th ride, this one was spectacular, and I will surely be adding 200 more rides.

Sunny Sunday Ride

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.

eastern spiny softshell turtle photograph by Brian Stevens — I’m more familiar with seeing the eastern spiny softshell turtle sunning itself on a log in the river, not on a shady sidewalk.

Next Time You See a “Cool” Motorcycle Rider, Remember This

Wet underwear. James Dean, Steve McQueen, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator—all icons on a motorcycle of coolness. But even these icons were they to ride on a sunny summer day with temperatures in the 90s and humidity in the 80s would find themselves feeling damp all over. Last week I felt the heat plastering my t-shirt to my back. This week’s heat melted the “plaster” and rolled down my back.

But I’m getting used to riding in the mid-Atlantic summertime heat. We did get a little bit of an earlier start—11:00 instead of 1:00. There was an excessive heat warning, but hazy, hot, and humid in July is normal for around here. We again opted out of the Alpinestars jackets, and I kept my Klim zipper as low as possible to allow for air flow. As long as we were moving, the ride was comfortable.

Except as the heat built, the lining of my helmet began to dig into my forehead. I again turned my head side to side to let air flow through the helmet vents, and I wore my sunglasses so I could keep my visor cracked. But I couldn’t get air onto my forehead, and I had a red slash at my hairline when I took my helmet off.

The heat did get to me some. As we cruised up the fast road, I got distracted by the cool breeze. I was thinking how wonderful the air felt and forgot to check out the little church parking lot and overshot the turn. One of the churches has a wide, rectangular parking lot that Bill likes to lead us into to practice figure eights. If there’s a car in the lot, we ride by. But if the lot is free of any vehicles, Bill heads into it. Because my mind was focused on the cool air hitting me, and because Bill had checked up on the road in front of me, I didn’t register his turn signal in time to slow down and make a comfortable turn into the parking lot. I did slow down and think about turning, but I would have been wide and next to the turn in for the parking lot is a cluster of trees.

I also knew the historic house and another church were about twenty yards away, so I would be able to turn around and rejoin Bill. Of course, Bill had no idea what had happened or even, briefly, where I was. One of the few times during a ride I would have liked to be able to communicate with him. I was gone for less than two minutes, so since he was in a parking lot, I figured he’d sit there and wait until I showed up again. But join him I did, and we circled around to hit the fast road again. I was on the lookout for a pull off into the parking lot, but Bill kept us zooming.

We again skipped the slow speed maneuvers since that’s when we really feel the heat. But we did do the on-street U-turns. I was a little too close on the first turn and went to the edge of the road but stayed out of the grass. My second turn had more distance and that went really well.

The wildlife was quiet trying to stay cool. I did see a cabbage white butterfly before we left the garage, and I had believed I would go through the ride without spotting any when one intrepid little guy fluttered across my path. There were a few small birds flitting between trees, and a chorus of birds singing their hearts out in the cul de sac at the end of the long road.

It was after the ride that I realized I had sweated enough to soak my skivvies. It was then I realized the funny juxtaposition of the “cool dude” iconic images of motorcycle riders and the rather damp reality of the rider’s situation on a hot summer’s day. So as you’re out driving around this summer and you spot a motorcycle rider trying to look cool, just remember—wet underwear. I’ll be out next weekend riding in the triple H July weather with my undergarments getting damp but not my riding spirit.

bright sunshine among clouds — Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com