What About Winter Rides?
Winter motorcycle riding can be a lot of fun, or it could be miserable, depending on if you have the right clothing, equipment, and mental preparedness. I’ve ridden in the winter quite a bit, as well as talked to some who ride all year long to work and so forth. I find winter riding to be stimulating and exciting. There are times when the roads get dicey, and you have to slow down. Did you hear that? there are times that your mental preparedness will tell you to slow down, and it’s wise to listen to your head at that time. It requires more patience to ride a little slower in order to stay safe. Unless you live in some of our high elevation, mountainous areas where the snow stops you from moving, wet roads are simply something you have to get a good feel for and know the safety standards to be put in place as you conquer the road.
I’ve thought through “5 Motocycle Safety Tips for Winter Riding” that I would like to share with you as we start into 2024.
- Check the weather before meeting with others that you like to ride with, so you can be well prepared for what lie ahead. It’s best to think through what type of clothing you might want to take along, and what you should leave home with. If the weather could change throughout the day, you could be miserable if you don’t have waterproof and warm clothes. Perhaps a good pair of goggles would be something that could make or break a good ride.
- Make sure your motorcycle is in Tip-Top-Shape. It’s important to make sure all the lights ore functioning well. People need to see you, especially during the winter months. If your lights are not on it will not only make it hard for the oncoming traffic, but also the people coming up from behind. During good weather it’s easy to keep people off your tail by making good moves to stay out of the lane where you see tailgaters are traveling. However, on wet, slippery roads, you can’t always get out of their way, so good (maybe even flashing) lights will most likely protect you. Of course, there are many other things to check before hitting the road. The thing I like to keep in mind is that it’s much more difficult to wait for long hours during the cold winter weather than during the warm riding season.
- Tires, Tires, Tires! We all know what can happen if there is not much tread left on our tires at the end of the riding season. Please make sure your tires are in good condition all year long, but especially during the winter months.
- Wearing the right kind of gear can certainly change the way you remember a wintertime ride. The coldest temperature I remember riding in is 18 degrees. My fingers went numb after about an hour and I had 2 more hours to ride. That’s when I learned the hard way that heated cloves are not always necessary, but sometimes they can be. I also rode through a rainstorm in Washington State. This time I had my rain suit in the saddle bags. I stopped at a gas station and put it on. As soon as I got back on the road, I found a truck to ride behind that I thought was going a safe speed. I told myself that this trucker was most likely going to stay back from the traffic in front of him, so there would be no sudden stops. I rode all the way to CA behind that truck and all was good. The rain suit kept me dry and warm as well.
- Make sure to stop often if you can. Winter riding takes a lot more concentration and energy due to the weather. It’s a possibility that you can feel good while riding and not realize that you are jacked up on adrenalin, due to the conditions you are riding in. If you stop, get off the bike, and just walk around for a few minutes, it can make all the difference in the safety of your ride. Of course, a cup of hot coffee and a donut doesn’t hurt either.
- Published in Motorcycle
The Open Road
There are so many ways to enjoy “The Open Road.” My wife and I love to hit the road on a motorcycle and just ride. At times it pays to have a destination in mind. However, some of our best rides are when we just get on the bike and ride. Once we are out of town it always feels like a mini vacation for us, and what follows is why it is that way.
There are majestic mountain roads to ride in Northern California. One of our best rides was when we took off from Ukiah, CA on highway 101 headed for the redwoods. On a nice warm spring day about an hour into the ride, with the wind blowing on our faces, we found that the temperature was beginning to drop. The higher elevation we climbed the cooler it got. Then the smells changed completely as the pleasant odor of Redwood Trees started to take over. Rolling along over small bridges we saw creeks flowing to capacity from the snow filled mountains ahead. To be able to feel these changes in the atmosphere around us is one of the reasons to ride the open road on a motorcycle. There is nothing like it in the world. Soon there are so many trees along both sides of the highway that the road is completely shaded. This is when it is time to slow down and enjoy being immersed in nature.
Before long we smelled campfire smoke from the campgrounds located along both sides of the road. That compelled us to ride through a campground to look at it, talk to campers and get a feel for probable future use. The truth is that you meet the nicest people who have hit the open road and are now camping. It is because they are away from the stress of the work-a-day world and slowed down to a pace that makes them feel great. For years we have thought about getting a trailer for camping that we could tow behind our motorcycle. This would allow us to have the best of both worlds. After touring the campground, talking to a few campers, and getting a feel for it, we hit the road once again. Continuing up highway 101 there was more of the most beautiful scenery we have ever seen.
Soon we came to a crossroad that, if we turned left, would take us over one mountain range and land us on highway 1 on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. This gives a completely different type of ride. The road is no longer wide, but a narrow two-lane road that was blasted out of rock years ago. There is a guard rail on our side because of the sheer cliffs below. Now we are riding in patches of fog and the temperature is bone chilling. We even stopped alongside the road, opened our saddlebags, pulled out our leathers and put them on to warm us up. As we continue to ride, we notice that the smells have changed from Redwood Trees to the scent of the ocean. The waves are crashing down below us, and the temptation is to look at them, but when on a motorcycle we know that
we need to keep our eyes forward (the driver anyway) because you tend to travel in the direction you are looking. The road winds down the coast and it is so much fun to take the corners as the miles slip away under us.
Soon we came to the town of Fort Bragg and stopped at the first hamburger stand on the left side of the road. It is well known for great hamburgers, and we sat outside next to the ocean and ate them. We took about an hour just sitting there enjoying our hamburger and soda, watching the waves, and listening to them crash on the rocks below. By now it is late afternoon and time to head for home. After riding through town, we turned left and made our way back over the mountain range to highway 101 and home.
There are many ways to enjoy the open road, but our favorite way has always been on a motorcycle. Not only are there endless ways to enjoy the open road, but the outdoor recreation you find along the way is all about why the open road works for us.
- Published in Motorcycle