The comfy time for riding is quickly passing for this year. Of course I don't know how much more riding I will get before next summer, but so far this year I have around 20,000 miles on my NT1100.
The Honda has run like a champ, I've not had any problems at all. However Mother Nature has not been so easy to get along with and in recent months and during a particularly nasty storm on the last ride I penned these thoughts;
I love
this miserable hobby
Ok so the
title is a little harsh, after all the first day of this trip was as close to
perfect as you can get; sunshine, excellent roads, the uncrowded byways one can
expect after school starts and the numbers of families on vacation drops
dramatically. The entire day I
thought:
“I love
this wonderful hobby – it brings me joy and happiness!”
So yes, the
first day was pleasant beyond belief.
The second
day….started out as riding days often do, a bit chilly. But no worries – it
really wasn’t that bad as I loaded my bike. I knew it would be much colder at
highway speeds but hey…the Sun was coming up and in a short time the ‘chilly
ride’ would go to ‘not bad riding’ which in turn would change to ‘just right
riding’ and then after Mr. Sun bore down with full power it would then go to
‘man its hot today!’
So, being positive
that I had the day’s weather figured out (eye roll) I set off….underdressed for the moment
but fully confident (another eye roll) that El Sol would soon make an appearance (brrrrrrrrrrrr) C’mon Sol…. And he did show
himself….albeit briefly, then he promptly hid behind a dark grey cloud…a Very
dark grey cloud. Ohhhh great...
Which kept the
temperature pretty much the same (brrrrrrrr) and as I started to shiver the
thought came to my mind:
‘I love
this miserable hobby – it brings me joy and happiness!’
At somepoint numerous miles later the rain graced me with its presence. It was a middlin storm, a mild wind and a sprinkling rain that was not an issue. The storm stopped briefly as I approached a pull off where I could have swapped out my gear for some warmer, waterproof riding gear. But as above mentioned. the rain and El Sol conspired to make me think the weather was improving so I passed the pull off thinking the storm was blowing itself out, haha….the joke was on me! Less than a mile past the pull out the rain started pouring down, and I mean POURING!
And I thought
‘I love
this miserable hobby – it brings me joy and happiness!’
Aaaand then
several miles later – the wind started. ‘They called the wind Mariah’….I called
the wind something entirely different! Mile after mile, on and on it blew. My
bike leaning hard into the exhausting blow on a rain-soaked road (wet roads and leaning into a wind - not my favorite riding conditions) Speaking of
the bike, it handled the wind just fine, the rider on the other hand (me), well
my heart was pounding from the gusts that snuck up on the bike and rider
causing uncertainty about where in the lane the bike would be at any given moment.
And I
thought;
‘I love
this miserable hobby – it brings me joy and happiness!
Because many miles
and several hours later, unfortunately I had to stop my trusty bike and
dismount for the night.
And I
thought – ‘I love this hobby – I can’t wait until tomorrow, so I can ride
again!’
Written -Oct 2026 sometime during an 8400 mile ride
Thanks for reading! :)
2 comments:
A good title for certain times of the year. For me, summer comes to mind due to the stifling heat in TX. Even though we are not there, generally, in the summer, the shoulder seasons get pretty hot and humid as well.
I read all your posts even if I don’t comment often.
Richard, thank you for commenting, and certainly for reading my very amatureish blog. Believe it or not during the hard windy and the few cold rides I go on, you and your hacks often come to mind. The extra wind protection and more importantly the stability of the hack are very tempting. Two friends that I do an annual ride with have both in the last year gone to trikes, an HD, and a Spider.
Plenty of choices......
It was nice hearing from you!
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