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January 2008
I hope you are still riding even though we are in January. I know many of you make it a point to ride ever month of the year. Hopefully we see a mild winter and it will be easy to keep the engine running during this season. If you are worried about the cold weather, check out Gene Kuentzler’s winter riding attire. He will be more than happy to tell how warm he stays all winter now.
Since the nights are longer, we are faced with more ride time in the dark. I hope you are thinking about ways to make yourself more visible to traffic. Cagers already don’t pay enough attention to us, so night riding with only one headlight puts us at risk. Passing lamps and other additional lights definitely help us get spotted. Not that we are big fans of light colored clothing (when was the last time you saw a white leather motorcycle coat), but that can help too. In saw in a catalog, which I have since lost, some reflective material that is black instead of the reflective gray material I am used to seeing. I would love to have some of that black reflective stuff to put on the black frame of my bike. I think it would make me more visible from the sides without messing with the look of the bike. Being predictable and signaling your intentions will help. In the end though, if you think a cager doesn’t see you, you are probably right and should make immediate adjustments to avoid a crash.
Snow is a fairly big deterrent to riding. Not only is it cold, there is a 95% chance you are going to wipe out if there is enough on the road. Years ago when I was much younger and not as wise, I thought I could tool around in the snow on my dirtbike. I was tearing around the yard with no problems. I figured with those knobby tires, I could just ride on down the road in the snow too. So I shot across the yard and into the street. That was a big mistake. As I tried to straighten out and head down the road, the front end washed out. I’m not talking about a slow slide of the front tire. I’m talking the front tire disappeared. The bike was on its side as I was still trying to figure out what happened. I was lucky that I had my inside foot down for the turn as if I was on dirt. I ended up straddling the bike on my feet before sliding and tripping over the fallen motorcycle. My inevitable roll in the snow wasn’t graceful, but thankfully it was painless. I think if I was out somewhere on the Harley and the snow came down enough to build up on the roads, I would be looking for another ride home. Oh, yeah, and who wants to wash that cruddy salt mess off the bike when it is over?
Let’s pray for a warm winter….
Ride Safe! Rich
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