I was out about an hour. I still get cold, but I'm getting more used to the cold and taking longer before I get cold. Plus, I'm really bundled up now when I go ride in the cold. For instance, on my legs, I had on heavy weight long johns, a dragging liner, jeans, chaps, and a rain pants over that. I could have stayed out longer, but the wind was annoying and I didn't want to push it too much.
What was amazing is the wind was strong and I could feel it, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. At first, I thought this might be a 5 to 10 minute ride. But actually it isn't too bad. Sure the wind can push the bike around sometimes. But, I stayed loose on the handle bars the whole time and I think that helped quit a bit. I took this 4 lane road by warehouses. The first time I took that on the bike, the wind was like 10 mph and I thought man this is windy. Today I took at 20 mph wind and that didn't seem as bad as that first time out there. I won't lie. It isn't cake with that strong of a wind, but I mean compared to when I first started, it isn't as bad. Again, being loose on the handle bars makes a world of difference.
But the other thing the wind influenced me on was choice of roads and speed. This was mostly a third gear day. I went over one bridge once on a patch of 40+ mph road. You really feel the wind on bridges. That felt too fast for the cold and wind. I could have probably made it okay, but there's still good practice for me to be had at 35 mph in 20 mph wind. Thus, I mainly stayed back on those roads. Next year wouldn't surprised if I'm zooming down the interstate in 20 mph wind.
As I came back home, I stopped by the school parking lot I spent a lot of early practice in. Actually I usually stop by this on the way back home and do a few quick stops at some of the stop signs before coming back in. But today, I went through a complete tour of my old practice lot. I did some slower speed circles. I even went the loops and turns I did before. It all felt so easy compared to when I started. To top it off, there's a stop sign at the top of a minor hill. My bike would always roll back when I switch to start going forward again. But today I did the trick with using my rear brake at the same time as starting the throttle and that did the trick. No roll back at all. I haven't even practiced that particular move. But I have read about it.
The other thing I've done this year is read about motorcycles. I've read about 10 books on it and am in progress on another 2 with another 2 in queue below them. I'm going to go back and study hard the better ones. Right now, I've been reading for breadth and exploring differing views. It all has helped.
For instance, in a few conditions, I've felt my rear tire slip. The first time it did that I thought stay on the throttle. I did and it recovered fine. That's something I've read in a book before it ever happened. Other times I'm scanning stopped cars by looking at their tires because you'll notice the tires before you notice the body moving. So many things. I'm meaning to post longer book reviews when I get a chance.
Its amazing how far I've come in such a short time. I barely made it through the MSF basic rider course, because it was all so new to me. But I've really focused, studied, and practiced to get better. I'm feeling comfortable. As with other things in life, there's still much more to learn and improve on and looking forward to doing so, because it'll be fun. My plan for 2017, more seat time, more off the bike study, and more training courses.
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