What is it about motorcycles that make people stupid?
Some people ride them way too fast. That, however is not my problem. I read too many stats and I often think about what could happen, so I consistently ride the speed limit.
Other people do all sorts of stupid stunts: Catwalks, riding with no hands, standing on the seat... you see some really dumb things. No me.... I can't afford to fix my bike after dropping it. Besides, mine does not have enough power to do a wheelie or a catwalk anyway...
Some people are stupid in that they spend way too much money on a bike. I know guys who have $30 000 in their bike (or more). Now, if that is how you want to spend your money, have at it, but it seems like a sketchy choice to me considering you can only ride them about 6 months of the year up here and not every day at that. No me.... my bike is good enough for me but it is on the "budget" end of the scale. I know people have twice as much in accessories as my whole bike cost.
No, none of those things are my issue. What is my issue???
I am that guy who always says, "Oh come on! How cold could it be???"
Case in point: Today I decided to ride my motorcycle to a stock car race in Manor, Sask - just over an hour from here (I will post some pics from the races tomorrow). Forecast for the day: High of 15. Wind SE at 20 km/h.
Now that is not a bad fall day.... unless you are riding 100 km/h on a motorcycle and then sitting in that temp for 6 hours and riding back..... in the dark..... when the sun is gone ...... when the temp is dropping like a rock.
I was smart enough to bring extra layers of clothes (I am not fortunate enough to have a bike with a big fairing to keep the wind off and I do not have heated hand grips), so I put a few more layers on before I came home.
In the end, I had two layers of stuff under my riding pants and I had 6 layers - yes 6 - on top (an undershirt, a long sleeve shirt... another long sleeve shirt .... a sweat shirt.... a fleece jacket and then my riding jacket...... I felt like the Michelin Man!)
Even with all those layers keeping my core warm, my fingers got cold. I wondered why it felt so bad when I was basically dressed for a training mission in the Artic....... so I checked when I got home and it was 5 degrees outside!!!!
5 degrees!!!! Add in about 90 km/h worth of wind chill (I went a little slower than the speed limit b/c it was dark and I wanted to have an extra second of reaction time if a deer jumped out) and that equals.... well ......
5 degrees x 90 km/h x my IQ at that moment (not a large number) x more than an hour = really cold!!!
But I made it home. And, as I see it, it could have been worse.
I could have been one of those guys who saw my bike and wished they were riding theirs! :)
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