What Season Is This?

I haven’t ridden my motorcycle since we went looking for tulip fields. That day was our only warm day so far this year.

The weather has not cooperated this spring and can’t make up its mind what season it is. It has rained non-stop for, it seems like, forever. We also have had much cooler than normal temperatures for this time of year.

Totally out of character, last Friday Mother Nature played a trick on Seattle. At my house it did this:

No chance of riding on the weekend!

Today, Tuesday, the sun came out, the roads were dry and the temps were near 50. I decided my little Suzuki needed to get out of the garage. I filled her up with new gas, and rode to work. The Suzuki seems small to me now, but very familiar. It is the bike I learned to ride on and gain my confidence. Now when I ride her, I want to pick up speed, tear up hills and toss the cycle around the corners. The Boulevard S-40 is so light and responsive that I can see why people have a lot of fun riding her. My husband got her out a few weeks ago on the freeway and was proud he had her up to 80mph. She will go faster, but not with me on the seat!

It is starting to cloud up again, but today the roads are dry and I am happy to be out. If we could only get more than a day at a time of good weather, I would be even happier.

Now I must go watch NBA Playoffs………

All Motorcyclists Were Out Today

Today was an unusual day for being Jan.13. The sun came out and dried up the roads for the first time in a couple of weeks. The temps eventually got up in the low 50’s in the sun. Western Washington has been very cold and wet lately, which makes it difficult to ride a lot. This was the day I’d been waiting for.

I first got out my little Suzuki which hadn’t been ridden in a month. She turned over after the 4th try, and then had to be warmed up for nearly 10 minutes. I took off and did a loop that I sometimes do when I am just getting the bikes out for a while. I was 2/3 of the way home and the bike started sputtering and jerking. I had filled the gas tank quite a while back, but it had only been ridden 3 short times since then. So I thought that it probably didn’t need to go to reserve just quite yet. I came down to a stop sign on a 2 lane curvy wooded road. The bike died. So I put it on reserve, started it back up, and took off again. This time it rode like charm. I decided that I needed gas, so stopped on the way home and filled up. By then the bike was warm, full, and ready to hide in the back of the garage until another sunny day.

I came home and got out the Vulcan for a real ride. Once I got my husband rounded up and ready, we took off on a ride to Fall City. We rode into Woodinville, took the road to Duvall, and followed Fall City road all the way through Carnation, and into Fall City. These are all very small towns with rural areas in between, and there are little Pubs and Cafes in every town that bikers like to stop for a meal and a break. I think it would be safe to say that today every motorcycle owner living in Western Washington was out on the roads. Literally every 4th car was followed by one or more motorcycles. There were lots of groups out riding and everyone was waving and giving the biker ‘high five’. It was such a joy to be out and a beautiful day at that.

All along the ride I am passing up lovely photogenic scenes of rivers, farmland, snow-capped mountains, and Mount Rainier in all her glory. Could I get the husband to stop? Could I pull over along the gravel shoulder of the road in a split second while cars were following me? I saw about 20 shots and places in my mind that I will go back to and take photos. Today it was really all about the riding, so I didn’t mind not stopping. I did get a couple of shots from the roadside in Fall City, which happened to be across from a great little Bar & Grill that served a hamburger on a bun as big as your head! I know where we’ll be riding next summer when we get the urge for a great burger.

The round trip was about 100 miles. There were lovely, smooth and gently curving roads. Plenty of cars out on them, but we didn’t care. It was good just to be out and actually feel the warmth of the sun, and my face shield didn’t fog up once!

Still Riding in December

As a motorcycle rider living in the Northwest, I try to keep my rides in working order all year around. The last few weeks Mother Nature has been throwing some weather challenges at us and winter has just begun.

First, we’ve had lots of rain, more than usual for the Seattle region. This makes riding a little less attractive on those days. Second, it has been cold. I mean COLD. The temps have only dipped into the 20’s at night, but the days have been barely reaching 40 degrees if we are lucky. No matter how I try to bundle up, I always get down the road and have qualms whether I should continue or go back home to get the forgotten item that would make my ride more comfortable. Third, we’ve had a few snow showers that were unexpected, with many more to come. I, for one, don’t ride in the snow. I witnessed a few people around downtown Seattle last week who ride through rain, snow, sleet, etc.

I was able to get out and ride my Vulcan on Saturday. The sun was out, and it was cold. As I started out, my chin and neck felt the cold air hitting them. It was almost painful. I had forgotten my neck gaiter. I decided my chin would go numb soon enough, and then I wouldn’t notice it. I continued on.

The roads had been littered with gravel and debris from overflowing streams and water run-off from the floods we had last week. I knew there were a lot of places where I would need to be careful. I decided just to get the bike out and run it around town awhile, to keep everything circulating and the battery charged. I did a large loop around Lynnwood, took a stretch of I-5 and came back home another way. It felt good to be out.

The roads were remarkably clean. I had seen a few street-sweepers near my business park, and apparently they were working all over town to get the debris cleaned up. It was actually great for the motorcyclists, except for the potholes here and there where the road had given way.

I came back home and felt that I hadn’t ridden nearly enough. I worked my older bike, the Suzuki S-40, out of the garage from behind the other bikes. It hadn’t been ridden in a few weeks, so I started it up. She took a few tries, and then I had to let it warm up quite a while. Since I have the Vulcan, I am spoiled with no warm up time or choke to deal with. I finally was able to take off without the darn thing dying. I took a short ride around some hilly areas nearby, enough to get it warmed up and running smoothly. I had a happy Suzuki by the time I got back home.

It is a conscious chore to keep both of my bikes running smoothly over the winter, since I don’t use a trickle charger either. If I get them out at least every two weeks, and more often than that if the weather cooperates, they seem to run great. I usually try to do a Christmas Day ride and a New Year’s Day ride, however short. I’m looking forward to that this year too. Hope Santa brings more warm riding gear……..

On the road again

Our Northwest weather has been cooperating lately, and the roads have been mostly dry and perfect for riding my new motorcycle.

Last week I rode my Suzuki S-40 down to Seattle where I purchased it. I left it off for its 4000 mile service and oil change. After all the trouble I had with it dying at a stop, even after being warm, the guys found nothing out of the ordinary. Spark plug looked good, as did everything else. So then I rode it back home Tuesday evening from Seattle to my home about 20 miles north. It was a chilly 40 degrees and the sun was going down as I rode. I had bundled up knowing that it was necessary lately to ride any distance. By the time I was about 2/3 home, I started getting chilled through. My mind was thinking about a fresh, warm fire in our woodstove at home. And a hot meal…..I hadn’t eaten dinner yet. That kept me going until I got the bike home. By then it was dark and I immediately went in and started a fire.

I rode the new Vulcan last weekend and put a couple hundred miles on it. I am becoming much more familiar and comfortable with the bike. My only hesitation is when I am entering or leaving a parking lot. I still have trouble rolling the bike back if there is any hump or slight imperfection in the surface I’m parked on. I started wearing my Harley boots ( I know, I don’t ride a Harley) because they have a higher raised heel and I have a little more leverage to push off with.

So far I have ridden the Vulcan to work as much as possible. Our mornings have been slightly above freezing, so I have come home at lunch time and ridden the bike back to work because it was sunny and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. This time of year some days are just too cold and you want to be warm for the ride to work, as well as stop for my double tall non-fat latte on the way. I can’t do that when I am riding.


I love my new bike, but here are a couple of things I’ve noticed that are weird:

• The speedometer reads about 5 to 6 mph faster than I am really going. When I am pegging the bike at 60, I am really only going about 54 mph. This sucks, because I have to calculate in my head while I am riding and I don’t like to do that. I sure don’t want to be going slower than the speed limit!
  
  
• Almost all the chrome parts on the bike are plastic. You wouldn’t know by just looking, because they are done very well. But they’re PLASTIC.
  


• When you fill the tank with gas, the gas gauge needle doesn’t go all the way to Full. That makes it kind of useless. It is only a ‘suggestion’ of how much fuel you have. And by the way, the Vulcan 900 Classic takes Premium gas. Pretty expensive these days…..

These are the things I love:

• The floorboards. My feet are sitting on them and my legs are in the most comfortable position I feel like I could cruise forever and not be tired.
  
  
• The heel-toe shifter. I was a little hesitant but I absolutely love it. Shifting up with your heel is a very satisfying feeling……I don’t know why.
  
  
• I love the color and the look of my Vulcan. The sound makes me very happy too. I love to hear the low rumble that gets louder as I accelerate. It’s cool.
  
  
• The smooth handling and shifting make the Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic a pleasure to ride.