Warmth Brings Some Riding Days
I didn’t just shoot this picture but this is pretty much what it looked like just a few days ago.
The cold finally backed off a bit on Sunday and the mid-day high was around 60, so I went riding. I wasn’t the only one.
The thing that gets me about the guys who are adamantly opposed to wearing a helmet is that in the winter a helmet keeps your head warm. I mean, there was a time–years–when I rarely wore a helmet but I always wore one in winter. There were two reasons.
One, as I said, was to keep my head warm. Sure you can wear a stocking cap and that would be better than nothing but it doesn’t compare to a helmet. And I especially like my helmet that has a velcroed cloth that encloses my chin to keep my face warmer. It’s probably not my highest quality helmet but it sure as heck is my warmest one.
The other is that from the first snow and ice of the season you are guaranteed that in some spots on the road there is sand and gravel. And with sand and gravel lurking, the likelihood of going down is increased by a lot.
I guess in my younger days I told myself I was not going to go down so I didn’t need a helmet, but I couldn’t convince even my younger self of that in winter.
So I dressed warmly and wore my helmet and it was a darn nice day to be out on a motorcycle. First I ran some errands and then I went for a cruise. And yeah, let me tell you about one crazy move I witnessed.
I was westbound on Hampden and traffic was heavy. Coming up to an intersection the guy in the second lane from the right suddenly sped up and shot in front of the car next to him to make a right turn. Holy crap! Keep that in mind any time you find yourself losing your focus on riding safely and being aware of what the folks around you are doing.
There was nothing else eventful on my ride but coming home I got to where I turn south off Hampden onto Tamarac. I’ve made that turn a few dozen thousand times but this time I thought maybe I ought to take it a bit slower. There might be sand there.
So I slowed and what do you know? There was a bunch of sand. No problem for me.
Biker Quote for Today
Why bikes are better than women: You can kick your motorcycle to wake it up.
