Balmy December Riding
I love my heated gloves.
Beautiful day on Wednesday and I rode to work. Yahoo!
It had been 17 days since I’d been on a bike, most of that bitter cold and still snow and ice on our street even once the temperatures turned up. But Wednesday was great.
Starting out in the morning it was brisk, of course, so I wore the electric vest and electric gloves. Almost felt like I didn’t need the vest but it pushed me from on the verge of chilly to very comfy.
As for the gloves, I got to do a real test there because for whatever reason, I couldn’t get one of them to turn on. They’re warm gloves in their own right, so my left hand never got cold, except that by the time I got to work the very tips of my fingers were definitely feeling it.
Of course there were a slew of bikes in the parking lot today. There are a bunch of riders at the National Park Service who are serious bikers, riding just about any time they can. Most of them ride BMWs, so I assume they have electric seats, electric grips, and all that. They’re pretty much all 1200 GS’s and RS’s. There was one guy there today on a Honda, I noticed.
Coming home I didn’t use the vest at all but I did turn the gloves on. And yes, that’s plural. The one that wouldn’t come on in the morning did come on in the evening. Except I got about three blocks and it shut off again. I fiddled with it and got it on again and it stayed on the rest of the ride. So both hands had heat and I couldn’t tell if I really needed them or not.
Of course, I was on the Concours. That’s my warmest bike. It has a large fairing and the engine pumps out a ton of heat. That heat is not particularly welcome in the summer but in the winter it’s wonderful. I would have needed the heated gear a lot more on either the Honda or the Suzuki.
And I was trying out some new ear plugs, too. These things are some kind of high-tech product that are supposed to do a really good job of muffling loud noise while allowing you to hear clearly to talk or to be aware of traffic. I can’t really say for sure yet how good I think they are, but once I’ve used them a bit more I’ll make a report.
Now the weather is turning colder again. Hope I get to ride some more this month yet. As long as the road stays clear that should happen. But there’s possible snow in the near-term forecast. Keep your fingers crossed.
Biker Quote for Today
My solution for winter riding is to buy an old bike (winter hack) keeping your pride ‘n’ joy all warm and tucked away until the sun or warmer weather returns.
Tags: winter motorcycling
February 17th, 2014 at 10:50 am
[…] Meanwhile, believing the weather forecast, I rode to work on Friday without wearing all my warmest gear. […]