Sometimes the best laid plans....(The unscheduled review of the Freeze out jacket)

I can not speak for my fellow bloggers and how they write but for me it's either one of two ways.  The first way is what I'm doing right now...writing off the top of my head, trying to pay attention to grammar and such but getting out exactly what my impressions are minutes after getting off the bike.
Or, the more traditional way of actually doing some research and then trying to fit my ride around that certain destination.  Generally speaking most of what I write in the first type of article.  Free flowing and relaxed...I blame Jack Kerouac's influence for that.

The second type of writing is where I have a pure destination in mind.  Various reviews, updates, and day trips fall into this category.  I originally had one of two day trips planned.  If I didn't go on one, I would take the other. I already had most of the blog piece written, I would just have to fill in the details.

This little piece of fluff is a combination of the two.  My original plan was to take off early on a Saturday morning and travel north to Brooksville, Fl (about 33 miles away or 53 KM).  It's a pretty well known destination for bikers in Florida since its surround by some lovely rural and twisting roads.  Or I would use my back up plan to visit and explore Ybor (EE-bor) City (about 30 miles or 48 KM  away) if that trip fell through for what ever reason.

Well....it was 31 F (0 C) when I woke up this morning and was slow to warm up.  One thing lead to another and another and another till I finally left the house at 2:45 PM for a ride.  Which got cut short due to a phone call telling me about a family emergency.  I will not go into the details but everyone and everything in fine.

What I will say is that this is the first time I've worn the Freeze Out Jacket I received as a gift over Christmas.  I've been wanting to review the jacket for some time but wanted to take it on a longer ride to fully form an impression of it.  I'll say this.  My first impression is very good.

Taken from the web

It's a tight fit which is good, you want to keep that heat close to you.  I did feel a little bulky with it on but then again, I'm used to throwing on a sweat shirt.

The temperature gauge on my phone stated the high today was only 52 F (11 C) which was not a great test of gear that is supposed to keep you warm in cold weather.  The wind however was blustery and that is the main concern for me.

As I rode one thought kept popping into my mind.

"I'm hot."

I was wearing a pair of jeans, long johns and a long sleeve shirt.  I had the Freeze out gloves on but other than that just my usual riding gear...and I was warm.  Hot even.  Even my hands under my gloves were warm which I can only contribute to my core being warm.

Even though my ride was cut short (total about 40 miles or 64 KM) it was a good ride.  The wind cut across the open plains but the only place I really felt it was around my neck and I could not help but think that if I had a balaclava I would have been happy as a clam.

I know, not much of a review but I was sort of weary of wearing this jacket.  I can take my hooded sweatshirt and wear it into work with no issue.  Fold it under the seat.  Tuck it up around the back and bottom of my neck when I ride home of cool nights.  Or wear the hood under my jacket.  Old habits die hard I guess.

But I'll say this.  This jacket made a believer out of me after a short ride on a cool windy day.  I can't wait to see it handles the cooler temps that are in the near future coming home at night.

Cold Weather Challenges - Part two

I have to be honest, I was not sure if I wanted to return to this topic.  After all, I live in Florida and our "cold" is completely different from the "cold" of my home state of Pennsylvania or even the "cold" of Virginia.  But I was looking through the stats of the site and searches for "cold weather" and "cold weather riding" seem to be one of the driving forces for generating traffic to this blog right now.  That means many of you are reading this old post, which sadly does not contain much, if any, useful information.

So frankly, gentle reader if your looking for information about riding your motorcycle in the snow, or what tires are best suited for winter traction, your in the wrong place.  There are way better blogs and forums to get that information from.

All that I can do is pass on my little tidbits of knowledge that I've learned.  So read on, you might learn something.

What I will talk about is wind chill and preparation for those cold days.  We do have cold snaps here in Tampa that can be in the low 30 to high 20's (0 to - 6 C).  First thing that we as motorcyclists need to remember is this.  It's not the cold that will get you.  But the wind chill! 

All that graph shows is a loss of heat.  So if your traveling along at a nice clip of 50 mph (80.5 KPH) and the air temperature is 40 F (4.4C) your body is thinking that it is actually 26 F (-3.3 C).  The faster you go, the colder it's going to seem.  The cold can affect your reaction times, your judgement and finally your body.  This is called Hypothermia and is the rapid, progressive mental and physical collapse accompanying the chilling of the inner core of the body.  It's caused by the exposure to cold and is aggravated by being wet, the wind and exhaustion.  In fact, the state with the most reported cases of Hypothermia is Florida.  We are simply not used to the cold or understand how it can affect us.

BUT understanding some things and doing things right can extend your riding season into the cooler months and into into the winter.  PLEASE remember, for information about riding in snow or ice you need to go elsewhere.  I can not be held responsible for your decision to ride in that type of conditions.

What I can do is this.

STEP ONE - LAYERS (pay attention to the base layer!) -  For me the base layer is often just a pair of long johns (sometimes called thermal underwear) or a pair of fleece underwear.  It should be tight against the body but comfortable at the same time.  The snugger the fit means that less air will flow between your body and the clothing.  This retains your body heat for a longer period of time.

If your commuting like I do I would recommend the fleece underwear.  It breaths a bit more than the thermal underwear and that will make you a bit more comfortable at work.

An excellent example of layers

After that layers can be added or subtracted as needed.  I might wear a long sleeve shirt over my base, then a sweater over that.  If its colder still, I will throw on a hooded sweatshirt under my jacket (the hold fits under my helmet and keeps my head and back of the neck warm) and to protect my legs - a pair of sweat pants.  No, I don't look sexy but I am warm.  Yes, I've pulled over to put on a pair of sweat pants over my jeans.  I've even heard of riders slipping on their rain gear to help them stay warm.

My jacket is waterproof and I zip up the vents to keep the cold air out as much as possible.  Remember that air can act as a barrier, so when you layer your actually trapping warmer air close to your body and that helps protect you.

STEP TWO - AVOID THE WIND - Or in other words, make sure there are no gaps where the wind can get in and start to cool you down.  Gauntlet style gloves fit over the sleeves of your jacket and protect you that way.  "Hippo Hands" do the same thing.

An example of "Hippo hands"

Things like wearing a full face helmet and heaving a good windshield help as well.   You want to direct the wind around you if at all possible.

A Scarf or Balaclava (or even a ski mask) will help protect the face and neck; the neck actually has two large veins that bring blood back to the heart.  Keeping these veins warm will help keep you warm.

STEP THREE - KEEP YOUR HANDS AND FEET WARM - You should already be wearing waterproof and slip resistant sole boots.  If not, buy some.  I'll wait.

Back so soon?  Good!  The reason why is simple.  Your body will want to keep the core warm and your brain functioning.  Keeping your hands and feet warm is low on your body's list, plus there are lots of small blood vessels that can transfer your body's heat to the outside air if exposed.  Wearing wool socks in your boots or two or three pair of socks will help.

Find a good pair of windproof riding gloves.  If possible the gloves should have some sort of clasp or elastic to tighten it against your riding jacket.  The gloves should also be insulated.  Heated grips and electric gloves may be a solution as well.

A simple and rather elegant solution believe it or not is to wear a simple pair of latex gloves under your gloves.  The latex does not breath so the air trapped between the glove and your skin serves as another insulating barrier from the outside cold.

STEP FOUR - EAT! - You want to eat to keep your energy up.  You want to eat to healthy of course, for your body is producing a lot of heat.  Heat which you now have trapped in layers of waterproof and warm clothing.  There is a reason why we humans generally gain weight during the winter months and no it's not because fat is a insulation.  Your body produces more heat on a full stomach than it does an empty one.

So there you have it.  Remember these are just tips that I picked up.  Your mileage may vary and the smartest thing you can do is know your limits.  If your feeling cold, then stop.  Have a cup of coffee and a few donuts in a nice warm place.  Know the symptoms of Hypothermia and never ever be afraid to ask for help or go get help.

I want to see you out on that road.

The tire(d) post

Sometimes you need to get a thought out.  No matter what day, what time...it calls to you, demanding to be let out.  It's 1:36 AM when I started this post.

I try to post a new entry to this blog about once a week.  Sometimes if something is stuck in the back of my mind demanding to be let out I'll update a bit early.

Sometimes I got nothing to say.  It's been one of those weeks where nothing has happened.  No epic rides off to places unknown.  No interesting stories; but I will write something anyway to keep the two or three people that read this regularly happy (Thanks Mom!).

Tonight it's tires.  A few weeks ago I rode down to a Buddhist temple for something to do.  I also had to check on a friends house and decided to do a bit of joyful riding as well.  Towards the end I heard a "POP" and pulled over to the side.  My bike tire had blown.

I was able to pull over quickly and realized that I had gone flat.  The good news was that I was able to keep the bike upright, it happened in a safe area (I had been riding on the highway before that), and that no one was on the bike with me.  Kimmie is good bike, she and what ever Guardian Angels I have kept me safe.  The bad news was it was on a Sunday, my mechanic could not look at it till Tuesday and the tire would arrive on Thursday.  So I missed out on a week of riding basically.

Tonight on the way home I pulled up to a red light and put down my foot...and slipped.  I run my foot along the surface looking for someplace solid.  The roadway felt like glass.  It could not have been cold enough for black ice?  No, I was in my regular jacket nice and warm in the high 60's (18 C)!  It had to be road wear, somewhere where the traction had worn to nothing.

Gingerly I moved the bike ahead and made the turn carefully.  Curious now to know what was going on.  Another spot at another light.  Now I was concerned.  Hitting a slick spot at any speed would not be a good thing.

Recently I replaced the rear tire with a Shinko product.  I was not that familiar with them, but at the time of the blow out due to some unforeseen expenses I went with a cheaper product.  Now I have my doubts if that was a good idea.  The tire is only rated for about 4,000 miles (6437 KM) and frankly I should wear through that tire pretty quickly.

Now I've a bit of a pickle.  Kimmie just doesn't "feel right" with the Shinko's on.  I know it's a perfectly good tire and I'm not experienced enough or an expert enough to say..."Hey this tire is good because".  I also understand that the tire needs to wear in a little as well.  I feel safe on it...but the tire does not "feel right" for what ever reason.

Which brings up a good question.  I replaced the tires on my Burgman three times (2 rear and 1 front) and used Pirelli Diablo's exclusively.  They came highly recommend by the good people on the Burgman USA forum and I figured they would know.    Yet what highly recommend for the 400 model was universally dismissed on the 650 model.  When I visited the Kymco forums asking for advice on tires the Michelin City Grip model was the preferred one to use on the Xciting.  Not so much on other models.

So...does it really matter?

Are certain brands of tires better for certain bikes?  Is it just a matter of personal choice?

Or does cost, quality of the materials used, tread design actually matter?  How does a new motorcyclist choose the tire that is best for them?  Is the all weather radial the best option?  How about the mysterious "Dark Side" where a motorcyclist actually uses a car tire?

How does one determine what tire is best for them?  I use my bike for my daily commute, so I need a tire that will perform well at highway speeds and in traffic.  Living in Florida means dealing with the heat and humidity...so I need a tire that will stand up to that.  Also, do to the high amount of sand used in our asphalt and concrete mixes...slick spots will and do develop.  Should I invest my money in a tire designed for touring?  Tires designed for the rain?

In the end I suppose it's up to the individual rider what tire will work best for them.  Where there confidence, ability and yes, even their pocketbook will bear.  I know enough about materials science and engineering to know that tread design does matter.  That rigorous testing is done and done again.

Earning my Rounder stripes

Living in Florida, it's easy to be a Rounder.   According to their website a Rounder is:

The Rounders are men and women who enjoy their motorcycles so much they ride them year round. The group was founded by a bunch of Mid-Westerners (inspired by a Kook on the East Coast) who ride them even when the temps are below freezing or above hot. The object of becoming a Rounder is to have fun, promote safe, responsible motorcycle use on a regular basis for as much of the year as you can. In the spirit of fun we have concocted the following levels of Rounderhood following the Fahrenheit temp scale:
100's+ Red Hot Rounder
90's Sweating Rounder
80's Half Baked Rounder
70's - R&R (Rounder Relaxing)
60's -Jr. Rounder (Just Riding)
50's - LOTF Rounder (Looking Over The Fence)
40's - FOTF Rounder (Fringe of the Fringe)
30's - Half Rounder
20's - TQ Rounder (Three Quarts)
0-20 - Rounder
Sub Zero - KHOF Rounder (Kook Hall of Fame)

Members can proclaim themselves to be in the various categories based on the truthful telling of their riding conditions. If you lie, then a pox be upon you and may your valves need constant adjustment.

To be a True Rounder, you have to ride every month of the year.

If you have a motorcycle and like to ride it, then you can be a Rounder.

I have ridden my bike in 90 degree weather, I have ridden my bike into the low 20's here in Florida.  It has been miserable to ride in sometimes, with rain so hard that I have been soaked to the bone in.  Winds so fierce that I felt I was leaning at 30 degrees just to keep the bike up straight.  

Photo from Redlegsrides.blogspot.com

These idiots ride in the snow.  

I want to be one of them.  

It's only in the last few days that I have truly felt like belong to such a honored group.   Over the past few days here in West Central Florida we have had rain and wind gusts up to 30 miles to hour.  At night, when I ride home from work at 1 AM, the temperature's  dipped to freezing or below.  

I feel like one of them because I was one of a handful of bikes on the road.  Even during the day when the temperature was in the mid 50's...I counted maybe a dozen bikers.  Here I am on my little scooter doing what "real motorcyclists" are afraid to do.  I am out nearly every day riding, in all types of conditions.

I'm proud of that.  I am also amazed and impressed by the insanity of taking a bike out in "less than ideal" conditions.  Of course, if I still lived in Pittsburgh, would I feel that way?   I have to say that yes, I would. I don't get to do much recreational riding. But when asked what I like about riding...I said the following "I think it's something primitive. Just you, the machine...no distractions. Your fully committed to keeping yourself and the bike safe...because the road below you is unforgiving. It's being on that edge...not being stupid, not being foolish...but connecting to the world around you. Smelling the flowers as you pass, feeling a stone as it kicks up and strikes you. Your fully alive.  Your fully engaged."

Now that being said.  I'm not stupid.  I'm not going to ride if I don't feel I can't handle the circumstances.  There have been times when I just didn't want to ride in because it didn't "feel right."  So I guess I'm hooked.  I guess I'm a "Rounder."

To read more about the Rounders see this article from Rider Magazine.   

Storm Chasing

It was one of those days where I should have paid closer attention to the weather.

Burgie in the rain, such a sad site.

The weather here in Florida seems to follow a pattern.  I enjoy my day, soaking up the sunshine and doing some odd errands and odd jobs.   It's when I get ready to go to work...and the skies do open up and it doth rain upon me!

I drove in sans rain gear about two or three days ago since the sky's were light.  However the closer to work I got the darker and darker it got.  I realized that it was going to miss me, so I kept going...pulling into work and hiding the bike under the loading eves about 10 minutes before the rain hit.  "I was lucky" I thought.

Two things happened during the day that bothered me however.   The first was that someone moved the Burgie out of the dry area and into an area of standing water.  I know they did this for a UPS truck but no one bothered to get me?  Or even look for the owner?   Would this have happened to a Harley rider?  I think not!  Hell I would not of minded so much if they would have moved it back to it's original spot.

Plus what would have happened if they caused the bike to fall?  Damaged the forks?  I felt more than a little violated here, and frankly it made my desire for a motorcycle cover all that more meaningful.  Then I had to ride home after pulling on my rain gear.

The weather has been bad all week and I know that eventually I would have to ride home in a storm at night.    It's not something I've been looking forward to, I know that my vision would be lessened due to the darkness and I could imagine that the rain would not help any.  I started my steed up after carefully checking her over to make sure nothing was damaged as the first drops started to fall.   Mumbling, I pulled away into the night taking it easy at first allowing the tires to warm up and any excess water to dry off the brakes.

Traffic was unusually heavy for this time of night and somehow I got stuck behind a tractor trailer which not only moved slower than I would have liked and no matter how far I seemed to ride behind him kicked up a nice amount of water right into my path.  A sharp wind didn't help matters.

I finally got around the tractor trailer and a few miles down the road was blocked.  "An accident, got the whole side blocked.  Your going to have to detour."

Muttering again I took the detour, I know the road well and have often ridden it into work but I know it's full of deer.  Luck was on my side again as there were no deer to be seen.  Finally I made it home, about 10 minutes later than normal and well soaked.  My rain gear was probably one of the better investment's I've made as its kept me relativity dry.

The truth be told is that the ride was not as bad as I feared.  The downpour never came.  I rode in a steady but manageable light rain the whole way home.  I did wake up with a nasty cold the next day however.

Highways, bridges and soccer.....a punishing night on the Burgie

I've been wanting to ride the Burgie down into St Petersburg for some time.  After all I would be able to get some glorious shots of my ride against the ocean, the yacht club and other interesting things.  This past Saturday night the local soccer team, called the Rowdies were playing, and I could not think of a better reason to ride down.

As it so happened though life through me a couple of twisties before I could even start to plan to go to the game. My camera went boom, meaning that any picture I took with it was a fuzzy mess. My wallet was either lost or stolen, and since my bank is up north it would take several days to get my bank cards straightened out.  My license reissued, etc.  I questioned if I should even bother going down but as a nearly perfect Saturday dawned I had my answer.  I would ride the sixty miles down to the game, enjoy it and spend some time exploring the city.  So I jumped on the Burgie and went.

Traffic was not this bad on Saturday.

Frankly there are lots of ways to get into St. Pete but generally speaking the easiest and quickest is to cross one of the three bridges that connect Tampa to St. Pete.  The Howard Frankland being the one I choose.  This is also a major highway (I-275) and a very long bridge which is open to the water on both sides (remember this, it's important for later).  At various times I've seen dolphins leaping from the water, sea birds hunting from fish and several species of fish break the waterline for whatever reason.  All while traveling at a nice clip of 70 miles per hour.  The ride down into St Pete was uneventful, I don't care for driving on highways but felt pretty secure and sure of myself on the way in.

Photo courtesy of Jay Anthony

Once into St Pete I drove past the famed Dali museum, the Pier with its upside down pyramid (which has since closed and is being rebuilt.  For pictures of the old pier please use this link), around the lovely yacht club with the boats flying their multicolored flags. The real fun started when you get to the game.  I'm a member of Ralph's Mob, where your expected to stand, sing, clap and generally yell yourself hoarse for the entire 90 minutes of a soccer game.   It was a pretty good game, with the Rowdies dominating it for the most part - but their is an old saying in soccer.  "Football is a lot like life sometimes despite the effort, it's disappointing in the end."  The Rowdies lost 2 - 1 in a game that they should have won.  The reasons for that loss is for another blog.  So I considered my options and decided that after the game instead of enjoying a soft drink or two at the after-game party, I would head home; after all I lived 60+ minutes away.

Courtesy of Jay Anthony (find the author as well)

St Pete's offers a lot of motorcycle/scooter parking which is nice, I found a spot 2 blocks from the stadium earlier that eveing and started home.  I pulled out and the wind off the water hit me like a ton of bricks.  It got worse as I entered the highway...hitting me from both the side and the front of bike.  My speed dropped as I turned the throttle up, but if I turned it to much I didn't feel safe from the side winds that seemed to want to drive me into the next lane over.   I moved over to the right as far as I could, feeling the bike be pushed, fishtailing a bit, the wind relentlessly pushing me over to the left.  The bridge went on and on, I leaned forward and into the wind never feeling that I would lose control but feeling I was on the edge.  Again and again I was buffeted.  It seemed to take forever to cross that three mile span.

I got off the bridge safely and I'll be honest, feeling a bit lucky but decided to cut through town to avoid the rest of the highway as the wind was still playing havoc on the bike.   What I didn't think about was the part of town I would be riding through.  I was riding through an area of town so rough that even the cockroaches were packing guns.  I never feared for my safety, I actually thought I was safer on the city streets then on the highway at the time and besides...I was on a scooter.

The last 15+ miles of ride was into a strong headwind but this I could manage.  So eventually I made it home, safe and sound and with some knowledge under my belt about how to drive in unpredictable gusts of winds.  I would have to work on that.

Cold weather challenge

**For information about preparing for riding in cold weather please go here.**

I live in Florida.   Land of Sunshine.  Orange groves that stretch on forever and a day, home of the mighty Kumquat.   At our most southern point we are only 90 miles from Cuba.  In theory it should be warm.

Original photo by Ryan Robinson.

Every year the grey and blue tufted snowbirds come from the north to escape the cold weather and miserable white stuff that is considered a four letter word by your friendly author.  Now sadly due to several reasons I've not been able to ride as much as I would have liked over the last two weeks or so.

When I've been able to ride, it's been a bit...well shall we say freaking cold.  Over the last few days the temperatures have varied from in the mid 50's to as low at 19 degrees.  It's put me into an interesting position and something I never really considered.  Riding in the cold.

It's easy to forget that we do have cold snaps here.  I am originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and still don't consider anything below 40 degrees or so "cold" but I also lived in Charlotte, North Carolina for about ten years or so, so I know my blood will eventually "thin out" and what was once "cool" will become cold.  Then  freezing and finally freaking cold.

Yes, you actually see this in Florida.

Luckily this cold snap only lasted a few days.  Still though it was long enough to see the natives break out the parka's to go along with their flip flops.

So I did what all geeks do.  I turned to the internet for research, reading that it's not so much the cold that will get me as the wind chill.  That made perfect sense considering I'm buzzing down the road open and exposed to the elements.  About warming my hands on the headlights, which is a little tough to do due to the design of the Burgie.   About how to protect my exposed skin from the wind.

I ended up taking my car in most of those cold days.  I felt more than a little embarrassed by doing so, after all I am planning on letting my bike replace my car. In fact, one of the reasons I settled on the Burgman was because it was designed for commuting and touring.  In my mind at least that means riding it every day to work and to the store no matter what the weather.  Cold and rain be damned!

Actual reading at 8:45 AM one morning.

OK, maybe I'm being a bit to hard on myself.  In the end it's all about safety for me and although it was unlikely to deal with ice on the road it was a possibility, and yes the temperature was low enough in some areas to allow it to happen.  I have to be at work in business attire most days, do I really want to drag sweaters and long underwear to work?  Do I really want to change in the bathroom just to drive the bike home on a 32 degree day?

The day will come where I will have to deal with cold weather.  Understanding and preparing for it just makes sense.

EDITED:  A nice little chart dealing with wind chills and ambient air temperatures. Something to consider when you ride brought to by the nice people over at Keep the Rubber Side Down blog.  What's interesting is that 10 additional miles of speed does not really effect the "cold" your feeling that much.