Summer Doldrums

I woke up this morning about 7:40 AM with the intention to get some yard work done (the never ending job of weeding) and my phone was showing the temperature was 77 F (25 C).  By the time 11 AM rolled around the local temperature was 85 F (29 C).

When you consider the heat index, it feels more like 103 F (39 C).

Or in other words, it's to hot to ride.  Nor does this pattern show any signs of breaking anytime soon.  Florida is not currently in a drought situation, but we are under our normal rainfall pattern by a significant amount.

I hope to get back on the bike this week.  I've written about hot weather riding before, I know how to handle it.  The problem of course is that it's much to easy to ride sans jacket or pants in an effort to stay cool.  Wearing shorts, flip - flops or other things is generally a bad idea.  All you need to do is type in "motorcycle crashes" into YouTube to see some of the horror riding without the right gear provides.  


This last week has been tough, as three day weekends always seem to throw me for a loop.  I want to get back on the bike for one reason and one reason only.


Mileage.

I've a goal to beat last year's mileage.  I did not put much mileage on last year, only about 5,000 miles.  My goal is to beat that mileage this year.  While I'm on a good pace to beat that (currently I have a little over 3,000 miles on Kimmie) I'm not happy with myself.   I understand it's not the mileage one puts on the bike, but the quality of those miles.  This year I've not done many quality miles.  While becoming a "Scooter commuter" (with apologies to David's fine blog) is all well and good.  He's moved beyond that.  Sometimes I wonder if I ever will.

I'll be celebrating five years of motorcycling soon.  I still have not ridden over to the Atlantic coast or down to the Keys.  Or even up to Ocala.  Which is only about 72 Miles (or 116 KM) from me.  A good day trip away.  I have only ridden over to St Pete twice. 

Orlando, home of various scooter clubs and events, is about the same distance away.  Although I've found a home in the Scooter Crew, I would have like to haven taken care of my recent electrical issues myself, learning something on the way.

That, my friends, is the summer doldrums.