Man, it’s hell getting old.

Saturday was bright and sunny, though rather cold. It was in the low 40s (F — 5.5C) on Saturday afternoon when I decided to leather up and ride my Harley to run some errands. I want to ride when I can, before the crap is spread on the roads when they may get icy.

Anyway, I checked the bike over for safety issues as I always do, mounted and took off.

Each time I mount and dismount my Harley, I have to lift my leg rather high to get on the bike and off of it. Honestly, the height of my motorcycle’s seat has always been difficult for me to get over, especially since I cannot swing my leg over the back of the seat since the Tourpak and back rest is in the way.

During my day’s errands, I stopped at various places along the way — a senior pal’s to check on her recovery from surgery, another senior friend who needed a light repair job done in her kitchen, and my Harley dealership to pick up a part.

Unfortunately, I must have swung my leg in the wrong direction and strained a muscle in my lower back at one of the times that I mounted or dismounted the bike. I woke yesterday morning barely able to move. I managed to get up, get dressed, and go with my partner to do our weekly grocery shopping. That was not much fun, as I was in pain and his temper was brittle.

We made it home and I took the rest of the day off. Well, I cooked a batch of soup and pasta sauce, but for me, that’s essentially doing nothing.

I will not take drugs except over-the-counter pain relievers. My partner gave me a massage and we sat in our hot tub for a while. Went to bed early… I sure hope this resolves by itself. I hate going to doctors, especially for something for which they can’t do much.

I learned a lesson: I need to stretch before I get on my bike each time I prepare to ride it. Stretching perhaps could have prevented the strain that occurred.

Life is short: relent to aging; I ain’t gettin’ any younger.

Woo-hoo! I can’t believe it… Sunday, November 27, and it reached 70F! (21C). By early afternoon, my partner and I had done all we could do on our home project. He said, “it’s so warm and sunny, why don’t you go for a ride?”

He didn’t have to ask twice.

Then I got to thinking. Day before yesterday, a buddy mentioned in a comment on Facebook that he would be interested in going on a ride with me on my Harley, as he had never ridden on a motorcycle before. I called him (he shall remain nameless, but if you saw his face and lived in my county, you probably would recognize him). He happily said, “yes!” when I asked if he wanted to go with me on a ride. I went over to his house, gave him instructions on riding as a passenger, handed him a helmet, put my helmet on, then we mounted the Harley and took off.

Yep, two guys on a Harley. Oooohhh… some people get all tworked about two men riding on the same motorcycle. Sheesh… get over your hang-ups, stereotypes, and homophobia. My buddy is a happily married heterosexual. I am a monogamously-partnered gay guy. So what? My buddy and I have been friends for over 25 years. Sexual orientation has nothing to do with our relationship as friends. Riding a Harley as a passenger doesn’t, either.

We enjoyed a 40-mile ride along Maryland’s beautiful country roads and byways on what I term a true bonus post-season riding day. Smiles for miles…

Life is short: RIDE!

This post could have been posted yesterday, the day before, or even on Thanksgiving (Thursday). Man, we have had a wonderful streak of delightful weather.  I am sorry about seeming to rub it in to my biker buddies in locations where the weather has not been nearly as cooperative, but whenever I get a chance, I ride…

Thanksgiving Day was great… 101 guests along with 11 family members and my partner celebrated a ban on loneliness throughout the day. Everything went smoothly, and our guests had a great time. Cleanup was easy since my family and a few senior pals helped out at the end. All my partner and I had to do on Friday was return some borrowed chairs and tables and drop off a load at the dump (sorry, I forget. Here in Snoburbia, we call it a “transfer station.”)

After taking care of those chores, I hopped on my Harley and cruised by my dealership to have the bike’s battery replaced. The original battery was not holding a charge and it was time for a replacement. I bought a new battery last week when they offered members of our riding club a 20% discount. After the battery replacement was finished, I cruised for a couple hours to nowhere. I loved it. Beautiful late autumn day, sunny and bright w/o a cloud in the sky, with temperatures in the upper 50s (~14C). I wore full leather, Wesco boots, and a huge grin on my face.

Yesterday, Saturday, I had some chores to do at home with the partner, then with some senior pals, as usual. I did some minor home repairs for them, and took a few to the grocery store. By then, the temperatures had reach 68F! (20C). Amazing for this time of year. So once again, I leathered up and went for a ride.

When I rolled up to a stoplight, I met a younger guy from my club who was riding alone. We teamed up and rode together for a couple hours. We both had a great time!

Today probably won’t find me out riding, as much as I would like to be doing it. I have a rather major home repair that has to get done. My partner and I will be replacing the floor of our master bathroom shower, and caulking it in. Let’s hope it works as planned.

Life is short: RIDE! (when you can… it won’t be long before weather keeps even the most hardy bikers indoors and off their rides.)

As my regular blog followers know, I ride a Harley. One may think that given the opportunity, I would be out there riding all day, every day.

Well, not quite. While I ride during the week to commute to work, that’s about all the riding I can do during the week due to time constraints. During the summer after work, I may ride my Harley to get to a meeting, but if I do not have a specific place to go, then the Harley remains in the garage and I stay home.

That leaves weekends. My motorcycle club offers a lot of rides from which to choose every weekend. But then again, my partner “offers” a number of activities that also have to be done to maintain our home and the rental properties that I own. My senior pals need some attention, too. Such is life with competing demands on one’s time.

Fortunately, the rides that my club offers are scheduled far in advance, so if there is a ride that I want to go on, I can negotiate the time for the ride and get time off from my partner’s never-ending list of “honey-do” projects when I know a date certain.

As I consider rides to go on, I think about the following factors:

* Where is the ride going? — I enjoy discovering new places that I have not visited before, or riding on new-to-me roads.

* How long will the ride be? — an estimate of the distance and time of the rides from which I have to choose is provided. If the ride is scheduled for the whole day, then I usually cannot go. I have a lot of things that have to be done crammed into a tight weekend and cannot spare a whole day and leave my partner at home (who will do lots of work while I’m away, making me feel guilty that I was not there to help him.)

* Is it an overnight ride? — as I have mentioned before, I do not go on overnight rides. The guys like to sit around and drink after dinner. I don’t drink alcohol, and though I don’t mind if others do, what I do mind is that their tongues get loose when they get intoxicated, and they say things about gay people or about women that I just don’t want to be subjected to hearing. So I avoid being in such a situation.

* What distance will the ride cover? — distance is a major issue for me. Rides over about 200 miles are out. I have a physical condition that tires me faster than the average bear. Riding when tired is unsafe. I will not put myself in that situation.

* What is the purpose of the ride? — is it a casual ride on back roads and byways, a ride to support a police or fire charity or memorial, or is it a poker run sponsored by another club? I like the casual back roads rides, and have supported more than my share of memorial and charity events. But I don’t like poker runs and will not go on them.

* Who is leading the ride? — every ride leader brings his or her personality to the ride. A ride leader known to “ride aggressively” is not someone who I want to ride with. I don’t have any fun trying to keep up all the time. I realize that my riding skills are not the same as others, so I want to “ride my own ride” — relaxed, casual, and unhurried. I will not go on a ride with someone who I know to ride too fast for my liking.

* What roads may be involved? — I have learned my lesson. I will not (deliberately) ride on roads that are unpaved, covered with gravel, or that involve stream crossings over fords. I also will not go on rides where I know there will be turns that are too tight and impossible for me to handle. (Believe me, I know my limits!)

* Safety factor — implied in the above considerations is how safe I think I will be on a ride. That’s based on my health, the road conditions, and what I know about the ride leader’s attention to safety.

* What’s the weather? — always a last-minute decision, but if I want to enjoy a nice, casual ride, I want to do it when the roads are dry and preferably when it is sunny. I won’t go if the roads are wet or if it is raining or rain is predicted. I also have my low-temperature threshold. I will not ride when it is lower than about 40°F (4.5°C). That’s about as cold as I can take it, despite all my leathers and gear.

So there you have it — how I, personally, choose to go on an organized motorcycle ride (or not.) Every biker is different. Some have more time, some have better skills, some don’t have a non-riding other-half with a long honey-do list. Most of all, the motto is, “ride and have fun.” If I think the fun would be limited for me on a ride due to its purpose, destination, choice of roads, ride leader, or the weather, then I may go for a short ride by myself, or stay home and tackle the honey-do list.

Life is short: make your choices.

I work with a bunch of meteorologists.  You know something is wrong when they say, “oops, seems that ‘they’ got the forecast wrong.” Yep, despite a forecast of rain later in the evening yesterday, it began to rain hours before I was scheduled to leave the office — on my Harley — for my commute home. Yuck. I hate riding in the rain.

Fortunately, traffic was rather light and people were behaving. That is, I kept a good distance between me and the vehicle in front of me, and no one cut me off. Thank goodness.

I rode steadily. I had plenty of stopping distance for traffic lights. I applied the brakes slowly and evenly when I had to stop.

I came up behind a cop along my way, and began to follow him. He saw me, and drove steadily and slowly such that I could follow safely. He went almost completely on the route to my home, so I felt safe.

I was wearing good, solid boots with lug soles (Wesco Motor Patrol Boots), so I had good traction. The boots resisted road spray so my feet and legs did not get wet. I wore thick leather chaps and a solid leather jacket, with my full-face helmet. I didn’t get wet, though my bike sure will need a good cleaning after the rain and road splatter dries.

Oh well… weather is not as predictable as one may think — even meteorologists get it wrong sometimes. And reading the commentary on my Facebook posting about this situation (from a bunch of meteorologists and allied professionals) is hysterical.

Life is short: ride safe!

I ride my Harley as often as I can, which includes my short commute to work on busy suburban roadways.

There are three things that other drivers do that could kill me if I were not prepared for their thoughtlessness:

1. Three lanes of traffic, riding in the middle lane. A bus is up ahead in the right lane. People keep driving along but as soon as they see the bus slowing down to make a stop, they dart into the middle lane without looking. Some may say that they scan their rearview mirrors, and they might just “scan” but they don’t really look. So yesterday, like many other days, I avoided getting clobbered by a nim-nose-ninny by expecting him or her to cut me off. Without fail, they will.

2. People yapping on their cell phones while driving. Despite that behavior being against the law in my state and many others, in their minds, the law applies only to other people. You can often tell who is doing that, because they drive 10mph below the speed limit. Then they react suddenly, or may swerve into another lane (my lane) when they discover that another car is in their way or traffic is slowing for a light or whatever….

Please, hang up and drive! Do not talk on a cell phone while driving. Even if you have a hands-free device, you are still distracted and your driving abilities suffer — and sometimes us bikers “suffer” the consequences. Turn off your cell phone while driving a vehicle. Honestly, you are not that important, and neither is that call!

3. Animals. Yep, particularly this time of year, it is quite common in the early morning for herds of deer to be along the side of the road. They see your headlight, and you think, “they realize it is a vehicle so they will stay away.” Not so. Just yesterday morning, like many mornings, a deer darts into the road, followed by the remainder of the herd. Those animals are dangerous, and won’t watch for you so you have to be extra alert to watch for them and be prepared to stop or take evasive maneuvers.

I don’t know which is worse — the four-legged or the two-legged animals that make driving hazardous. I just wish the two-legged variety would pay attention — completely — to their driving while operating a 5,000-lb death machine on the road.

Hang up and drive. Really use your mirrors. While your taxes pay for the road so you own it, my taxes do too, and I have as much of a right to use the road safely as you do.

Rant over.

Life is short: pay attention!

An old adage of experienced bikers: If it looks slippery, assume it is.

While autumn is my favorite season, it comes with one of the worst road hazards for motorcyclists: wet leaves on roadways. Wet leaves are worse than ice. At least with ice, you know you have absolutely no traction, and it’s not likely you’ll be on the road. With wet leaves, it’s usually still warm enough to be riding weather, yet you can and you can’t have any traction and you don’t know which — so always assume that wet leaves are slippery. Period.

Lately, I have not been riding my Harley very much. We had a stunningly gorgeous weekend, weather-wise, last weekend. However, I had to make my biannual visit to the mother-in-law’s, and was stuck in a cage for the entire weekend. Blechhh…

I did ride my Harley to work on Tuesday, but then the rain started again Tuesday evening and rain is forecast for the remainder of this week. Blechhhh….

Unlike some other places, we do not have a “wet season” or “dry season” here in Maryland. It is customary to have rain throughout the whole year, about once a week or so. But we go in cycles of no rain for weeks and then days like these past several weeks, where it rains for several days in a row. Blechhhh….

Wet roads are enough to cause me to think twice about riding. I don’t like to ride when visibility is poor, because “cage drivers” can barely see me in broad daylight, much less when the skies are dark and leaden with rain. However, wet roads covered with wet leaves is the decider to make me hop in the truck if I have to go somewhere instead of hop on the saddle of my trusty iron steed.

In doing some research, I found the following information on various websites, but it all said the same thing. Thus, I believe it was pre-written by a knowledgeable author and distributed for publication on these websites. It is useful information. I abide by it, and recommend it:

Riding a motorcycle in slick conditions requires the rider to make every movement s-m-o-o-t-h. Slow down and concentrate on making each input into the bike gentle and gradual. Try to avoid turning the bike while you are passing over obstacles. Reduced traction could cause you to slide. Don’t panic if the rear wheel slides a little. It may not feel stable, but as long as the front tire is going where you want it to, physics will hold the bike up.

Besides the misuse of the term ‘panic’ (which means an irrational response to fear), the content of this article is right on. And that’s how I ride: smooth and steady, with very careful application of the brakes when needed.

And I always ride with full protective gear. My cool/cold weather gear includes: solid, tall motorcycle boots with good tread on the soles, layers of clothing for warmth and protective leathers as the outer shell (if not inner, as well), gloves with gauntlets, and a DOT-approved helmet. Always, without exception.

Life is short: ride safe!

I see this all the time when professionals ride motorcycles in competitions, yet I remain in awe every time I see it — look carefully at the photos below. My friend-the-cop is demonstrating a riding technique that is very difficult to master. The technique is, “look where you want the bike to be, not at the path of travel.”

This is how such professionals — and some friends in my motorcycle club who have overcome fear of dropping the bike — get a heavyweight motorcycle to turn in a 16′ (4.9m) circle.

Personally, while I have practiced, I cannot do that. You have to be able to turn your head 90 degrees to the left and to the right. Unfortunately, due to a past skydiving injury, my head no longer swivels like that. I barely have a 30-degree turn to the left and a 45-degree turn to the right capability.

Oh well, it’s great to watch the pros do it.