Nobody to Wave To

Well, I avoided it for as long as possible, but now it's done. Yesterday morning, I took my last ride of 2009.

I guess I really can't complain too much, as we had what I would consider an "indian summer" this fall. October and November's weather was really great - much better than June and July - when it seemed like it'd be cool and rainy forever. The trade-off was that a shorter fall day means a shorter ride, but even so, Susan and I rode 3 out of 4 weekends in November. Jackson and crew rode all 4. I almost put the bike away after the 28th, but I was hoping to squeeze in one more ride on December 6th. It snowed. Seeing my bike un-covered in the driveway with snow all over it was not pleasant at all. It was time to put her away.

By this past Saturday, most of the snow had melted and the roads were dry, but it was pretty chilly out, around 30ish and windy. Between the bitter cold and the busy day we had planned, I held off on the bike for one more day. On Sunday morning it had warmed into the 40s, so I geared up and headed for my ex's place to take advantage of the garage one last time. It was a cold, lonely ride on a gray day, but perfect for the folks (not including me) who hate doing "the wave" to other passing bikes...there was nobody to wave to. I got a few strange, sort of whimsical "that guy has to be crazy to be on a motorcycle in this cold," type of looks from a few people.

Once again I was grateful for my investment in heated grips, and was thinking if I had a heated vest I could probably ride all day in the cold. Unfortunately, rain was on the way and I had things to do, so my last ride was only about a half an hour. I made the most of it though, taking a few backroads faster than usual and leaning for a board scrape or two in the curves. Then on the last mile before the house I slowed way down, barely chugging along in 3rd through a corridor of bare trees and dirty snow by the roadside. But there was no avoiding the driveway, and in a few minutes, my ride was over.

When I dropped the stand and shut her down my head was filled with a slideshow of the season past. Arizona...Laconia...Maine...Sturgis...the Kancamagus Highway...lots of local bar-hops with my friends...one HELL of a riding season! Back on March 1st my odometer read 463; it's now at 8,686. That's 8,223 miles I put on her for the 2009 season, and honestly...I loved every single one of them.

God I hate the winter.