What to Do When You Can’t Ride?

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What to Do When You Can’t Ride?

There are a lot of reasons why you may not be able to go riding on your motorcycle. A few things that may stand in your way are, work, health, financial, weather, equipment, and To-Do Lists. Of course, none of them are good reasons not to ride. Here is a short list of suggestions of things that you can do that are motorcycle related when you cannot get out on the open road:

Wash your bike

Catch up on your biker forum dejour

Perform routine maintenance on your bike

Go shopping for motorcycle equipment or paraphernalia

Read a good book about motorcycling

Read some good motorcycle blogs

Watch motorcycle shows on TV, the Internet, or DVD

Catch up on the latest motorcycle news

Perform modifications on your ride

Check in on your Twitter friends

Install accessories on your bike

Join a motorcycle organization

Read a good motorcycle magazine

Browse or buy some motorcycle art

Plan your next trip or long ride

Go shopping for more motorcycle accessories

If you are a blogger, update your blog


You get the idea. Now I’ve got to get to work on my new header….

Ride on,
Torch

Attack of the U.F.M.

Attack of the U.F.M.

It all started on a sleepy autumn morning. I rode to work early, usually getting up around 4:30 – 4:40 am and left around 5:00 – 5:10 am. Needless to say I’m usually only partially awake at that time in the morning. I don my leathers and head out to the garage.

I opened the garage door and backed Mistress, my V-Star1100 Classic, out and got the rest of my gear on, gloves, face mask, clear riding glasses, and half helmet. I tucked my lunch inside my right saddlebag. It was cold enough outside that I had trouble keeping the glasses from fogging up when I breathed out my nose. I closed the garage door and proceeded to start the bike.

First I turned the ignition key all the way on. I made sure the choke, (fuel enrichment knob), was turned all the way on. Then, I made sure the fuel cut off valve was turned down to the on position remembering that if I do not turn the fuel knob back on, I will not make it out of my neighborhood with out running out of fuel and stalling the bike. Don’t ask me how I know. I pressed the cut of switch to the run position and hit the start button.

Mistress’s 1100 V-Twin roared to life. With the Cobra exhaust, you can bet my neighbors know when I leave in the morning. I slid the fuel enrichment knob, (works like a choke), over to idle her down some and headed carefully out of my driveway onto the dark, damp streets.

It was a cold, dark and foggy Monday morning. I turned out of my neighbor hood and headed eastbound on Cheek Sparger Road. I straightened out from the turn and started to accelerate. Just then, I caught some movement just barely visible at the far reaches of the headlamp and riding lights off the side of the road. At first I didn’t pay to much attention to it, thinking it’s probably just a rabbit on the side of the road hopping around.

Then I noticed the anomaly is headed perpendicularly to my track on the road and will cross right in front of me. That’s when I spotted the glowing white beady eyes of this creature fixated on my Mistress and myself, reflected from the lights. As I got closer I could make out its size. It was larger than an alley cat and more like the size of a small dog. Now I could make out some large teeth and huge fangs in a pointy snout and large whiskers with foam trailing out the corners of its mouth.

Just then I realized what the Unidentified Flying Marsupial was. It was a very angry opossum running at full gallop across the road and headed straight for me. It looked like it was out for blood. For all I knew it could be rabid. I raised the angle on my right wrist and Mistress responded by slowing down some, both of us hoping to throw the attackers timing off. I just new it was going to either try to get up underneath my front tire and knock me off my bike or just jump straight up for a death grip on my throat.

My change in speed to throw off the timing ploy did not work. My next tactic was to aim my V-Star 1100 right at it. Mistress nodded in agreement. The logic in this approach was that, if I tried to hit a moving target, more than likely I would fail. The gargantuan opossum was at a full out run and just fixing to spring at me, its claws glistened in the riding lamps, when its head hit my front tire. It made a hollow thump type sound.

At this point neither one of us could adjust the momentum we had built up. The killer slid underneath the path of the bike. I could feel the rear of the bike lift up as the rear tire ran over the marsupials head. I knew it was its head because if it had been its body the back end of the motorcycle would have bounced up a lot higher.

In a flash it was over. Mistress and I had thwarted a deadly attack from a killer opossum and barely survived. I tried to glance back behind me and saw nothing on the roadway. But it was foggy and dark so I might not have been able to see it. I called my wife when I got to work and asked her if she had seen anything in the road, she leaves for work right after me, she had not. I looked closely again at the scene of the assault on my way home and saw nothing. The Attacker had made a clean get away.

Opossums are the other brown meat and tastes like chicken, I would imagine. Otherwise, they can be just another large, rodent looking, Unidentified Flying Marsupial obstacle in the road. Most of the time, you only get to see them with their little feet sticking up stiffly. Yep, they are just another obstacle you have to watch out for while riding a motorcycle in the Texas suburbs.
What is the moral of this story? Be prepared at any time, any place, and any conditions to react to changes in road conditions or obstacles in your path. Also remember, not all obstacles hold still for you. Sometimes obstacles have a mind of their own.

Ride on,
Torch

Cold Riding Hands are Sluggish Riding Hands

River Road Cheyenne Cold Weather Gloves Review

This December my fingers were really getting cold during my morning commutes to work. I had been wearing a pair of inexpensive leather gloves purchased at Wal-Mart that had a thin Thinsulate liner. They worked great for driving a cage and if you were out of the wind. On a cold winter’s day though, at any speed over 40 mph, the cold wind sliced right through the seams. These gloves were not designed for motorcycling. I needed a pair of cold weather gloves.

I was off for the Christmas and New Years holidays and taking some vacation time from work and decided to take my V-Star in to get the front tire replaced. So, I was browsing my local Bikers Bay store while they were mounting a new front tire on my Mistress early on a Saturday morning. I looked at the gloves rack and found the River Road Cheyenne Cold Weather Gloves. The pricing was fair so I tried a pair on. They fit well despite my large hands although they sure felt bulky as all cold weather riding gloves will. I bought them and a neoprene face mask when my bikes front tire installation was complete.

The Cheyenne Cold Weather Gloves by River Road got their first trial as soon as my vacation and holiday time was up and it was time to get back to work. These gloves had a reinforced leather palm with good grip traction. The back side of the glove is made of a durable looking textile material. They have a breathable windproof Hipora liner they claimed was waterproof. These gloves are also equipped with a Thinsulate layer for warmth as well. They have two hook and loop adjustable fasteners one for the wrists and another for the cuffs. This makes them very adaptable. On top of that, they have reflective piping in several places on the seams for safety.

I have now ridden with them through our short Texas winter. These gloves kept my hands and wrist warm down to about 35 degrees Fahrenheit at 60+ mph. If it gets colder than that your fingers will still start to get cold. I would recommend a thermal glove liner to go with them when riding in temperatures freezing or below. I will invest in a pair of these for next winter. The gloves do an excellent job of blocking the wind. Finally, I also had the chance to wear them in the rain. I had my doubts, but the Cheyenne Cold Weather Gloves are indeed water proof. These River Road Gloves in conjunction with my frogg toggs kept me completely dry. The fact that I had dry and warm hands really impressed me.

The bulkiness of the gloves does have its cons, but the pros far outweigh them. If you have ever been caught in the cold without gloves, or just too lazy to pull over and put them on, and had to ride, you know what I mean. It takes a little adjusting to, to ride and use your motorcycles controls with the gloves on. The hardest thing to get used to for me was the starter button. However, I found that if I just kept moving my thumb around it would eventually make contact. They have held up good for the first winter riding season, although some may debate that Texas really does not have a winter season. Torch gives the River Road Cheyenne Cold Weather Gloves a M.M.M Rating of 9 on a scale of 1-10.

Ride on,
Torch

Motorcyclists Make Safer Cage Drivers

It takes a lot more cognitive awareness to negotiate a motorcycle down the road than an automobile, or cage, as we like to call them. I have been riding my 2003 V-Star 1100 motorcycle now for almost a year. I have noticed some of my motorcycling cautiousness has rubbed off on my cage driving. This is a good thing.

When I’m in my cage at a minimum I tend to keep a better watch out for motorcyclists on the road. I am always taking my time to double-check my mirrors and physically turning my head to check blind spots and the lane next to me before changing lanes. Cagers have no grasp of just how fast a motorcycle can speed up and how nimbly they can change lanes.

While piloting a cage around I now find myself much more aware of my surroundings. When riding a motorcycle you are much more intimate with the road, traffic, and weather, after all, we have a lot more at stake because we have less protection. I find myself keeping a closer watch out on vehicles waiting to pull out of a side street or parking lot now. I’m also a lot more cautious when approaching a yield sign, stop signs and stoplights, always looking twice before proceeding.

I even caught myself slowing down in my cage the other day coming to a stoplight when it was starting to rain and the road appeared real slick, and the cage has anti-lock brakes! I find myself always watching the road for its condition and debris that might make navigation harder. I now approach cagers that are talking on the phone, driving erratically like they are intoxicated, or going slow doing a lot of stops like they are lost a lot more timidly. I try to give them a wider birth or go around when it’s safe to do so.

Even cage drivers that I know that have a relative or are close to someone who rides tend to be more cautious. I think its because they get to hear first hand of all the issues motorcyclists have to deal with. That alone is enough to make them a little more aware, hence safer. Take for example my lovely wife. She called me at work to let me know that on her way home from her job, when she went through a construction area on the freeway that we both have to drive through, she saw a gravel spill. How considerate is that?

I have come to the conclusion that maybe a part of drivers’ education should be to teach motorcycle riding to everyone. Then make them ride a motorcycle for a couple months. Heck, one commute on the freeways where I live in the Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex would give them a real eye opener. Or, maybe they should just have to take a ride with someone to get a glimpse of what it is like to be on the other end of a loaded cage. I can say that the motorcycle riding experience has definitely made me a safer cage driver.

Ride on
Torch