Cold Weather Riding in the 50s

The other weekend, the high on Saturday was 50.  I tried going down a state highway at 55.  It is like driving into an deep freezer with an industrial strength fan blowing on you.  My jacket and chaps work great.  But I can feel the cold air on my face, my hands, and my seat where the chaps don't cover.  I went to lower speed limit roads and it felt better.  Still cold, but better.  Cold is a natural deterrent to going fast.  They should add that into cars somehow.  It would really help speed limit adherence if the faster people in cars went the colder the air blowed in their face and bodies.  It was a short day of riding, but hey at least I got in some miles.

Then Sunday the high was in the mid to high 50s.  It was like living in another state.

Riding Two Up

The other week I did something new for the first time - I drove with my wife as a passenger.

First I gave my wife an overview of what to expect and what to do.  Don't lean, just look in any direction I lean too.  And hold on to me.  Then she suited up in her riding gear too.

First Time Riding At Night

I haven't been riding in the evenings since the time change.  By the time I get home, eat dinner, and am ready, the sun is setting, rush hour traffic is on, and it is cold outside.  Then if I wait until traffic dies down, then it only gets darker and colder.  I can feel the end of the riding season approaching, but everyday I hope for one or two more rides.

Then it happened, we had a nice day up that hit up to 70 in the daytime and about 6pm it was still in the 60s.  Of course it was pitch black like it was midnight, but still the temperature was good and rush hour traffic was past its prime.  Thus, I decided to venture out.

Recent Road Ramblings

Fellow Cyclist: Sam The Semi Tailgater

I was on the interstate in a car.  Another interstate was merging in from the left.  Ahead and to my right, I saw a semi trunk with a typical trailer coming down the lane.  Nothing out of the ordinary there.  But right behind, like a few shoes back - a guy on a motorcycle.  He had on an upscale racing suit and helmet.  Full gear.  I gave him props for full good gear.  But I'm not sure what he was thinking.  If that trucked stopped for anything, he wouldn't have time to react.  There's no quick stop or dropping down in speed when the distance is a few shoes length away.  I don't even think you can swerve, not enough room to maneuver.  Let alone reaction time.  I'm not sure if reaction time counts.  He was so close, the trucks brake lights would be just in his peripheral vision.  The motorcyclist passed the truck on the right as soon as the interstate finished merging in.  And he zipped off ahead.

Fellow Cyclist: Winter Hat

Its fall and its cold outside.  Getting too cold to ride.  I had all my gear on, and it helps keep you warm.  I pulled up to a stop light and there were two fellow motorcylists in the accompanying lane.  They didn't have helmets on, but instead had on a wool winter hat.  Coming down to just above their eyes and ears.  Damn, if you already have to put something on your head to keep your warm, is it really that much extra inconvenient to wear a helmet?  Personally, I'm a fan of a full face helmet, but even a partial top helmet is better than a winter hat.

You Turning Left or Not?

I was at someone else’s house in a subdivision parked along side the curve in front of the house, where cars often park. I put my kick stand up, turned on the bike, looked behind me, and was preparing to go. I saw a car coming down the road in the upcoming lane. That didn’t seem much threat, but I was keeping an eye on it. I was still parked.  I didn't plan on starting out until I knew what they were up to.  They seemed to be slowing down. Then the car came to a complete stop in the road, directly in front of the driveway of the house in front of me.

Now you might be thinking, maybe they are turning, maybe they are. But no turn signal on and they didn’t go to take the turn. Just a slow decrease in speed and then come to a complete stop. No turn signal. I don’t know what they are doing. I’m guessing they want to turn into the driveway.  I waved to them to go ahead and they didn't go ahead.

Maybe they stopped for me, maybe they stopped for an interesting conversation on their cell phone. I don’t know. I haven’t started moving yet. I’m still parked with my feet on the ground. I waved again with my arm for them to make their left turn into the drive way. They didn’t move. There was no wave back from the other driver, no headlight flashes, no turn signal, nothing to acknowledge me.  And I couldn't make out the driver behind the windshield due to tinting.  After the third wave, they still haven’t moved. I was about to turn off the bike and go back inside. This is a good time for the "Go Get Coffee" response they talked about in the MSF course.  I'm parked, not out in the road, not  driving down it, and not in any rush to take off.  Finally, they made their left turn into the driveway. As the right side of the car comes across I can make out the driver.  They never turn thier head or face towards me, just keep looking straight ahead.  But as the side of their head comes into view, I see a cell phone in their hand.

I think the driver had one of those highly interesting cell phone conversations.  The kind that you can only have while stopped in the middle of the road.  Heck, maybe they were talking to that biker on the cell phone at the stop light from the other day.  Guess I'll never know.

One Month and 500 Miles

One month ago on October 8th, I drove a motorcycle for the first time in a Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) riding course put on by Harley-Davidson.  Since then I've been driving over 500 miles, trying to get in as much practice as I can before the riding season comes to end.

When I first thought about this motorcycle thing, I wasn't aware of how complicated it was.  Actually change that, I wasn't aware of anything to do with a motorcycle.  I thought it would be like a bicycle with a motor.  It is more like a helicopter.  Helicopters are insanely complicated and only work based on some bizarre form of physics magic.  And that's a good description of motorcycles too.

Intersection of Compare and Contrast

I had a good ride on a state highway.  Most of the time it was 55 MPH and divided median and light traffic.  A great day to be out riding.  I was dressed in full riding gear: full face helmet, heavy leather jacket with armor, riding chaps, riding boots, and riding gloves.  If you crash, what you wear is what you crash in, so I always wear my riding gear.  Heck, I'm looking at even more gear upgrades.

I was heading back home and coming to my turn off the state highway.  I come up on an intersection.  My side of the road had a left turning lane, two lanes going forward, and a right turning lane.  The intersecting road had 2 lanes in each direction.  A lot of lanes, lots of potential for misunderstandings, and potential for things to go wrong.  Out in the country with limited connecting roads, divided median, and light traffic, it was much safer.  Here with all the cars and lanes, it is much more dangerous, even though I'm not moving.

As I came over into the left turning lane, I shifted down to first gear and kept it there.  My hand was on the clutch ready to move.  This is something they taught in the MSF class.  And I always do that.  The only time I am in neutral is when I am off the road and parked somewhere.  I kept looking around the intersection and analyzing everything going on.  I kept a watch in my mirror for cars behind and watched the other lanes and pattern of the lights.

Then a guy on a bike pulls up one lane over in the forward direction lane.  I look over at him. He's on a bigger bike than me.  But, no riding gear that I could make out.  No helmet and a t-shirt.  He puts the bike into neutral.  When my gaze swept back to him, it kind of looked like he was looking at the indicator lights to confirm neutral.  (Tip, don't trust the light.)  Then this is the best part.  He stands up, gets his cell phone out, sits back down in a relaxed stretched out position, and starts playing away on his cell phone.

I see fellow bikers with don't share my attitude on riding gear.  Often I see no helmet and that makes me cringe.  Before today, my favorite was a guy I saw riding with no helmet, shorts, and flips flops.  But that all just pales in comparison to seeing this guy without any gear get all cozy with his cell phone at the red light at the intersection.

Over the Hill and Tight Right Turn

I was doing my Kroger to Kroger run. (A long stretch of divided median highway with a 55 MPH speed limit with a Kroger at the start and end of the median division.) When I got to end, I took a side road back to increase my variety of practice.

The road was a two lane with a speed limit of 50 MPH. That speed seems so unsafe without a median. I mean think about, even in a car, you're doing 50 mph with another car going the same speed, in the opposite direction, a foot or so apart from you?  Who thought up our road system?  But back to my story.  Traffic was light. But, the quality of the road sucked, bumpy, patch repairs, etc. I made a mental note not to take this road again. I kept my speed lower, because the road seemed so crappy.

As I approached up a hill, I moved towards the center of the lane to increase my visibility coming up over the hill. I rolled off the throttle, because you never know what’s going to be on the other side of a hill.

And I realize now, I’ve gotten spoiled by turn/corner ahead signs. The deluxe versions of those even have suggested speeds. As I came up the hill, I could make out one single arrow a way off near the far left of the road. That was the only signage. I figured the road must have a curve coming up, but one arrow off on the left didn’t exactly tell me what to expect. I eased off the throttle and was mentally prepared to brake.  I was trying to figure out which way this road would be going.

Then when I came over the hill, there was a sharp right turn and with a slew of cars coming in the other direction. I was on my brake and positioned in the left of the lane before I fully registered the situation.  Then I leaned in to the right and made the turn.  I went through ok, but I just didn't like the surprise.

I may go back and practice this particular last length of the road with the turn right after a hill, useful situation to practice.  And while I'm getting better at curves, I have an opportunity to practice at higher speeds.  In the future, maybe I wouldn't feel the need to brake at all for that particular curve.  I've noticed I can take more curves at faster speeds.  I'm not out to go too fast.  But I do hope to be feel comfortable at tight curves at normal suitable road speeds.

Other than annoyance at the road surprise, I’m happy with my responses and instincts. Going up a hill, prepare to expect anything, crappy road, expect worse to come, a strange small single arrow sign, expect a screwed up turn. And general don’t go barreling down an unknown road, roll off throttle at uncertain times, always be prepared to brake. And I think how far I’ve come.

Breaking 300 Miles

I’ve driven 311.9 miles. Its been fun and educational. I approach this with my eyes wide open. It is dangerous and you can die or get hurt. I never lose sight of that. But on the same hand, I can’t live in my life in fear. And the key to staying well in this venture as other things is practice practice practice. I try to get out when I can and practice.

I’m getting pretty good at curves. In fact, as I approach 298 miles, I made for a road I practice on that has 2 90-degree bends. I hadn’t been on it for a week. Those curves were much easier than I remembered. They don’t feel hard anymore. I’m still not perfect and can still get better, but I’m amazed at how easy that road is now. Now when I went to make a U-turn on that same road to try it again, I notice I didn’t go so smooth on my U-turn, so a bit out of practice on that. And on that note, as I look ahead, I debate what is best to practice, the street driving, higher speed driving, low speed maneuvers, or what?

I still want to do many more runs on the 55 mph road. I’m feeling good with it, but I keep going over the last milestone over and over again until I’m past the feel good and into the been there and done that phase. I want the mastery level without question. Because the next big phase I want to do is to try out a mile stretch of 70 mph interstate outside of rush hour. It should be a pretty safe road, the newer thing is just being comfortable with the even higher speed. And once I get good with that, I want to be able to work up to driving to the harley dealership and to my work. Though that might not be until next year. I’m not in any rush. I’ll take each phase as I feel comfortable with it.

I’ve been making good progress in my practice, been getting in the hours and miles. But it is getting colder and the days are getting shorter. Soon it’ll be dark when I get home and maybe even snowing. I think there’s still some riding left this year, but I don’t really know just how much is left. So I expect my practice time to slow down. This isn’t completely bad.  They say the first 5 months of driving is the most dangerous, so this helps stretch out my 5 month risk window.  Also, I’ve started reading books on motorcyling. (Future review posts pending.) Plus, I’ve got all the other things going on, so plenty to do.

Looking back, I’m feeling good with the controls now. Still can get better, always can better, but just feeling good with my progress.

Still impressed by all the morons on the road. Much of my street practice is really learning to watch other people and try to predict the situation and the safest course of action. I’ve concluded while I still have lots to learn about motorcyling, most car drivers still have lots to learn about car driving :) Of course, the bike lose in the clash, so I’ll be doing what I can to be defensive and safe.

Also, I’ve upgraded my riding gear. (which btw, is just as confusing as models of bikes.) I started kind of cheap and low end because I wasn’t sure how this was going to go. But once I decided to stick with it, I invested in quality gear. Future posts there too.