Two posts in one weekend! SAY WHAT???

The weather over the past week has been rainy and generally hot and humid.  The weatherman was calling for an 80% chance of rain, but the catch was it would hit after 2 PM. 

Since it had been a while since I was on my beloved Kimmie I decided to take advantage of the cooler temps and get in a ride before the rain hit.   I also wanted to go further than I have been.  Lately it seems all my rides are either commutes or shorter jaunts of under 50 miles.

I wanted to stretch her legs a bit with a longer ride.  The last time I took her out we traveled roads I knew and didn't know, we did various twists and turns and had some fun.  I was just not happy with the mileage, doing just under 50 miles.

On Saturday I left about 11 AM with every intention of putting on 100 miles minimum.  I knew the rain was coming but I had three hours to conquer my goal.  I could do this. 

So I started with no destination in mind, but a general plan to head south towards Tampa, catching some of the more interesting and twisty roads that I knew of on the way. I sort of had a big circle in mind and stick mostly to the back roads.  I also decided to go down some side roads that I've passed 1001 and one times only to find they either dead ended or took me to a familiar road.  Plus, I always head north and west for some reason...I really have not explored the east and south of Tampa that much.

Cigar City Cider and Mead

However I started to realize that their was a flaw in my plan as my stomach started to growl.  I had eaten a bagel with some hummus about 7 AM and nothing since then.  It was also national mead day.  What many people may or may not know about me is that I enjoy a good craft beer now and again, or a bottle of wine.  Mead is basically fermented honey but it's also much more than that.  

The more I thought about this the more my stomach growled and one of my favorite watering holes I knew would be jumping with my fellow cider and mead heads.  Generally speaking they don't serve food but I knew of a pizza place next door.  Should I stop?

Of course I should!  Although alcohol and bikes don't mix, I did have two droughts of the nectar of the Gods. 

About 90 minutes later I was back on my bike and looking at the sky with a bit of worry, I was still under the 50 mile halfway mark but the sky's were beginning to darken.  I could feel the temperatures drop some and I cursed at my choice to spend some time in one of my favorite places, but I didn't curse at myself to much. 

I went towards downtown Tampa some then turned Kimmie northward towards home.  Twisting the throttle a little bit as the rain started to fall so I could get ahead of it some, and generally that's what happened all the way home.  I got wet, but not as bad as it could have been.

I pulled into my spot about twenty minutes before the skies opened up, checking my mileage I put on 73. 4 miles.  Not bad, but significantly under my goal for the day.   Still though, I had good riding weather.  Good food (2 slices of pizza and a coke for $6).  Some good mead and company which warmed my heart.  I'll chalk it up to a good weekend. 

Of course...

So how exactly did I allow this to happen?

Kimmie is slipping out from under me.  I can feel it.  I know now that I entered the turn a little fast and I'm leaning hard to get her to make the turn.  It's raining too, one of Florida's famous and brief pop up showers but it's enough to make the road a little slick.  My rain gear, of course, is at home.

Of course I had to stay late and choose to be adventurous, taking a road that I don't really know full of turns, deer and darkness.

I didn't go down.

I'm upright and in control.   I thanked a God I'm now sure exists.  Somehow...I did everything right.  I slow down to a much more manageable speed, I don't need to go through that again.

Of course, the second I slow down I've some asshole who's insisting on tailgating me.  Of course his bright lights are on.  I'm not in the mood for this crap and when he passes me, on the double yellow, I've a few choice words for him.  

I just want to get home.

I have to remind myself not to have a death grip on the handlebars.  I have to remind myself not to get fixated on any particular target.  All that training from a beginner's motorcycle class long ago starts to fill my head.  For the first time in a long time I'm miserable on the bike.

A family of small deer wander out into the road and I apply the brakes quickly, they look at me with alien eyes and move back into the woods.  I move on.

A few minutes later I come across the remains of a deer in the middle of the road and don't have a choice but to enter the other lane to avoid it.  The car behind me hits the carcass with a crunch and the slamming of brakes.

I just want to get home.  Kimmie can get me home.

I'm the only vehicle on this road now.  It's rural and there seems to be no moon or homes about.  The trees that would look like a leafy tunnel in the day now take on a more sinister view, as the branches becoming skinny arms meant to snatch the loan weary traveler.

Finally I'm near home, back on the streets I know.  I start to relax, and quickly fall into muscle memory as I lean and move around the turns that I have ridden 1001 times before.

Of course, a possum or some other strange nocturnal animal decides to commit suicide by running in front of my bike.  I, of course, hit it.

Somehow I stayed up.   Somehow Kimmie saved me.

Somehow Kimmie gets me home.

I go have a drink...

Back to the basics (feelings)

It's been a few weeks since I've written anything.  Sue is in a odd limbo of half treatment as the doctors decided the best course of treatment for her.

I ride back and forth to work when I can and now that the humidity has broken I find myself riding more.  Just the other day I left for work in the morning shortly after 8:30 and thought to myself that I would soon be breaking out the light sweater to wear under by summer riding jacket.  Then I realized how much my blood had thinned in the last few years.   The temperature was 75 F (23 C).  

In a odd sort of way I've found riding lets me turn off the 1001 or so thoughts that bounce around my head currently.  "What if Sue's treatment does not work?"  "What if the worst does happen?"  These are not the thoughts I thought I would be having at the age of 49.  Riding, at least for a short time, shuts those thoughts down as it becomes just the road and myself.

They creep in....but I force them down.  Part of winning is to stay positive.  We need to stay positive.

"I need to work on my curves." I think as I ride home on day, it's the same road I've ridden a thousand times before but I make a couple of bad turns on it.  Nothing serious, nothing that I can not recover from but more of a nagging suspicion "I'm better than this."

Like anything in life you want to get back to the basics, practice the fundamentals and fine tune the process.  Muscle memory is a great and wonderful thing but if you're remembering the wrong things, if you're doing just the slightest thing wrong on the most basic of levels...it affects everything thereafter.  I'm far from a perfectionist but I know how much going down hurts.

I also know that if I go down again...I'm done.   I'm not done with Kimmy yet.

So it's a lovely Saturday morning, I've got nothing planned for the day.  I gear up the way I always do; my ritual of ATTGATT.  I want a challenge and consider my secret place but then decide on the Green Swamp.   It's been a long time since I've ridden those roads and I'm curious to see if anything has changed.

My only concern is cracking in the front tire, but I shake off that concern.  The tread is good and although I need to replace it eventually, I did not see any air bubble the last time I washed my bike.  I'm also a little concerned about the CVT belt, Kimmie has over 25 thousand on her now and I'm not sure how much more belt life she has left.  But I force those concerns aside and stay positive.

I sit down on the bike...and it doesn't feel right.  I've a nagging suspension, a question in the back on my mind.  Again I check the tires, the brakes and run through the list...yet I can't shake that feeling.

If riding has taught me anything....it's to listen.

I ride the bike out and about town for a bit, taking it easy.   Trying to put that unease into the back of my mind or find a rational feeling for it.   I can't.

So here I am at home going over everything with a fine tooth comb and thinking that maybe I should get that tire replaced after all because of this odd feeling.  So there is no riding, no travel, no adventure for me this day.

Perhaps tomorrow.  

Connecting the dots...

It's Sunday.  Although I should be helping the lovely Susan with one of the remaining delivery jobs we have I found myself sleeping in; and when I woke she was already gone.

So I wondered what I was going to do.  The decided I was going to ride.  Sure there were other things to do, the garden needed to be weeded.  Grass to be cut.  But, for me, the opportunity to ride someplace other than work does not come about very often.

I've let other chances slip through my hands because I am still a little gun shy, I'm still a little "iffy" about things.  Sue has not ridden with me in some time.  I don't think she will again for a long time, both of us knowing the risks all to well.  Sure I was banged up and bruised and the accident was not my fault...still though my pride took the biggest damage.  There were some other issues as well which are more of a personal nature and I will not dwell on here.  Over all my stress level has been through the roof lately.

I've been looking at riding recently as stress relief.  You can't concentrate on the road when the issues of work and family are at the forefront.  I push them down, look ahead and lean into turns.  I look out for cars, animals, road hazards...and those work and family issues fade away.  When I turn the bike off and dismount, those stress seem lessened and even a bit manageable.  I've been feeling the need to reconnect with nature like I did years ago.

How can you not reconnect with that?

I planned my route carefully...I would be revisiting an old hidden path that I knew of, and maybe hitting part of the northern part of the Green Swamp Trail.  I've ridden part of this trail before but have yet to do the entire loop.

Off I went.  I took our new Canon camera with me and was immediately stuck with how many great pictures I could have taken.  An old barn covered with signs.  A old lady in a blue gingham dress feeding an old cow.  A pasture full of mules, cows, ducks and cranes that seemed to shy away from me.   I considered stopping, considered catching these images...but I rode on.  I wanted to concentrate on the ride.

It does bring up a good question...when should one stop for photo's?  But that is for another time.

Into a light rainstorm that got worse I started to carve into the turns of my hidden gem.  I briefly considered hiding under a tree till a crack of lightening changed my mind.  Another fallen tree showed the damages of a lightening strike.  On I rode.

I could have had more points for the Equinox rally!

The rain let up, into the swamp land now...till that road turned to dirt.  I've ridden Kimmie into that before, but not today.  Instead we turned into the Withlacoochee River Park, a 610 acre park that I did not even know existed till now.  Some hiking and exploring  may be required here in the fall.

I returned about 90 minutes later.  I need to conquer that ride, this is the first time I've been back to it since "the incident" back in January.  It was where I was off to when the kaka hit the fan.  The turns on that road are sharp, hidden, parts of the road can flood easily and washout can happen in parts.

 The rains, though brief, were hard at times and made me redouble my efforts to be safe.  I made it there and back again.  It was a little demon but one that tugged at me for a while.  I'm trying to fall in love with riding all over again.  Days like this do help it.

Sleepy Hollow - Part Two

I finally went on my group ride.  I've gone on rides with two other riders that are friends of mine, been involved with groups of riders that I don't know - forming a informal and unofficial group for mutual protection while zipping down the highway.  These things don't count for me.

Kimmie meeting new friends.

I've been wanting to go on a group ride, an organized ride out to somewhere I've never been, for sometime.  Finally I got the chance.  

I'm not sure how many scooters eventually made the run to Sleepy Hollow.  Kimmie was the only Kymco scooter.  The group consisted of mostly Honda Silver Wings, Burgmans and two Aprilla's.  One or two off name brand scooters, surprisingly enough, no Vespa's were to be seen.  A Harley and and Gold Wing rounded out the group.

I fell into the middle of the group and we quickly left the main part of the route (please see the map) to take some side roads.  There were some thrills as the group traveled along at about 50 miles an hour through various sweeping turns.  Over hills and through Florida's central back country.  It was pretty cool to top a hill and see all the other bikes in front of me.  During this part of the ride I was worried about two things.  I wanted to keep up with the group and wanted to make sure that I made the turns well.  Some turns I felt fine in, one I wish I could have back as I entered it to quickly and cursed to myself as I ended up wide cutting off the cyclist behind me.

On and on we went.  A few beautiful places called to me to take photographs.  An old dilapidated barn that called out to be explored.  A lake with a lone single tree sitting out in the water, the light playing over the water.  A strand of cypress trees off in the distance.   If I had been alone or a smaller group, I would have stopped, but the phalanx kept moving on down the road, and so did I.

There was an incident before we got to Sleepy Hollow which bears mentioning.  One of our group went down.  I was immediately behind him and he froze in a turn, becoming fixated on something right in front of him.  The back tire went squirrelly and down he went.  It seemed to happen in slow motion, I veered to the left to go around him and then pulled off, only to find myself in soft soil and unable to get off the bike because it would fall.  Luckily the other riders were able to see to him quickly.   He was shook up but not hurt badly (due to privacy concerns I will not go into more detail concerning the accident).

After that the ride had a different feeling,  a slower pace was called for as we negotiated the last 10 - 15 miles or so.  Each of us understanding that the slower pace was for him, and it could have been us that went down.

Once we arrived there you paid $6 and stood in line for food.  Basically from the conversations I had with other riders, it's pretty much what ever they have in the kitchen.  So it's not uncommon to switch from steak to fish or chicken without any warning.  It was actually better than it looked.

Sleepy Hollow is an outdoor restaurant that sits right on a river.  They had a decent cover band playing and lots of shade.  Sitting next to a river a few boats pulled up, air boat rides were available.  Here are some additional pictures.

An idea of the crowd

Kimmie copping an attitude around the boys

Then along came a spider....

The view from the dock.

I ended up breaking from the group on the way home.  They were going to head back the same way they came and I wanted to ride the route suggested by the motorcycleroads.com site.  I was disappointed that I did that.  The way home was more or less straight.  Little changed in the way of the view.  If I would have stayed on this road I would have returned to the starting point.  I didn't do that.  Deciding to cut cross country and head home via a different route I got a little lost, which is never a bad thing...although for some odd reason my GPS on my phone would not work.

OK...Keep heading inland and eventually you'll find a road you know.   I did it was I-75.  So I jump on I-75 for a few miles and look for the first exit sign...as it happened it was for Dade City.   Literally 12 miles from where I live.

Would I ride with this group again?  Yes.  Although I think I would do better with a smaller group.  Our group leader was amazing, keeping everyone together and driving at a pace that suited most of the riders.  He was very attentive when the rider went down.  I like the idea of being able to pull off the road if something unusual catches my eye.  I like the idea of traveling at a pace suited for me.

Overall it was a great day, the sun was shining.  It wasn't to hot.  I got to to do some much needed recreational riding and got some much needed practice on twisties.  That's all that matters right.  The ride was 146 miles total.

UPDATE:  I had to go to work this morning, only to discover a flat rear tire.  Guess I picked up a nail or something.  :(  I guess Kimmie didn't like being ridden that hard.  

A taste of the Green Swamp.

Way back on July 24, 2012...I wrote about how I was finally going to get around to riding the Green Swamp Trail.   Well leave it to a world class procrastinator like me to put it off till Thanksgiving day.   It was a clear, blue and cool day and since we were going out for Thanksgiving day there was no reason for me to stay around the house (well there is some yard work that needs done).

I actually live off of route 54 in Zephyrhills, Fl.  The Green Swamp is literally up the road from me, and I have to say I'm sorry I didn't do this before.  It really was a great place to ride, although today was different in that I was literally the only bike on the trail it seems.  I took the southern route, starting on 54 and heading down to 98 and then the left onto Rockridge Road.  Due to time restrictions I was only able to ride the beginning of Route 33.  I did manage to work in some side roads however.

I didn't travel exactly the way the map above, I stayed on 98 south to Rockridge road.  This is a nice, well maintained 2-lane highway and has some interesting land marks on it.  Sadly traffic was two heavy for me to pull over and get some pictures of two of the more unique houses in the area (one which I call the circus house, the other the bat house).  Hopefully another day.   But I was able to get a picture of an old county line marker that dates back to the 1930.  It's the only one that I know of in the area and was built during the Great Depression as a public works project.

 Rockridge Road is a nice cut of concrete ribbon through suburbia, then suddenly and almost without warning it starts to cut through the swap.  Frankly if I had not of been paying attention I would have missed the sign.  After that sign the road surface becomes rough in places, downright nasty in a few spots and with a foot deep culvert on the side in some spots.  Not knowing the roads well and on the look out for animals I took my time, which is not a bad thing because a few of the corners where covered in sand.  

I didn't have to ride to far to have my heart nearly stop.  Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of something, it was big and coming right at me!   It was an eagle.  It swooped down over my head and into the woods.  It was so low that ducked and fully expected it to hit me but there was not even a talon scrape on my helmet and I laughed with joy for a minute or so.  It was beautiful.

This should give you a rough idea of the road surface.  Some of the scenery you will see is in the next two pics.  

There are a lot of little twists and turns on this road.  Sweepers and S-bends, and some can be rather sharp. I rode at a nice easy pace, I did not see one other bike on the road with me and could count the numbers of cars on one hand.  If something caught my eye it was no issue going back for it or even stopping in the middle of the road for a pic.  

For example, this old cow chute caught my eye and I literally turned around in the middle of the road to take a picture of it.  Florida at one time lead the nation in beef cattle production and you can still see lots of beef cattle in the fields.  This little guy however captured my heart.    

Overall it was a great ride, I can't wait to do it again and am looking forward to seeing what lies beyond.  I took my time, explored some ride roads and still managed to get back in time to go to dinner with my family. I have to admit, I've not enjoyed a ride this much in some time, and I only rode about a quarter of the entire trail!

I can't wait to try the rest.  

Perspective

I've been giving a lot of thought to how I look at things lately. I was driving somewhere the other day in our car, down a semi-twisty road I ride my bike down sometimes and thinking about how the view changed.  On the bike I start at the outside of the curve, leaning into the apex and then accelerate out of it...trusting physics.  My view of the road changes as I start on the outside and then move in.  On the outside of the lane I have a much better view of what is ahead of me, I make slight adjustments on the brakes and throttle as I go...I am engaged.  Driving the automatic transmission car I felt none of this.  My view of the road never changed as I flew through the curves.  I don't think many people realize that just by changing your position, moving a few feet in either direction gives you a different outlook, a different perspective.

As I sit here and right this a friend of ours lies in a hospital bed awaiting open heart surgery.  Another friend of mine, who I know only online, has a 19 year old daughter with a brain tumor in the hospital.  I sit here and complain about my job and worry about money.  Things that are really not important giving their circumstances.  Perspective matters.

I have also run a small business over the last few years.  I started it because of what happened to the economic several years ago and I needed to work, to make some sort of living.  Today I make about half of what my "normal" job brings in and have the chance to expand it by becoming a wholesaler of fine German Chocolates.  Their is also talk of adding a "food cart" to the business between my partners and I, to serve the needs of a local community college who recently had it's funding cut.  If we do this then suddenly the simple part time job that I do for extra scratch now looks more and more like a full time endeavor.  My perspective changes again.

When you look at the famed picture on the side what do you see first?  The vase or the faces?  All this information is being processed, filtered and your brain determines what is most important to you at that moment.   I thought about this a few nights ago, Susan and I didn't have a fight about my riding the bike and she knows it's important to me.  My little jaunts down unknown roads when I run a errand is my way of exploring, of getting to know the place I now call home.  She would rather I go to the store and come straight home.  My ride to work is my commute.  I take no joy in it...even though I do break up the ride sometimes by taking a different route if time allows.   To her it is "my riding time" and she sees no difference between it and my barreling down twisty roads over a weekend.

Just a moment ago I read that above paragraph to her...I was wrong.  It's not that she minds me going, it's that she doesn't know where I'm at.  If I wreck on a back country road, and am taken to a Hospital in Tampa she would not know about it.   Perspective matters.  Her view of my little rides now makes sense to me in a way it didn't.  We now see both the vase and the faces!

What does this have to do my motorcycle?  With riding in general?  Two things happened to me this week that dealt with perspective.  First was an incident involving me sitting at a stop light waiting for the light to change.  I got involved in a slight altercation.  I'm not going to go into the details of it, because frankly I don't wish to worry those that love me.  Lets just say that I drove in angry to work, so angry that at one time I seriously considered pulling off the road to relax a few minutes...because I was afraid I would take out my aggression on the bike and ride faster than normal, or cut off other motorists.  I had to remind myself that in Florida we have "conceal and carry laws" and "stand your ground" laws.  If the idiot in the cage that pissed me off was as stupid as his actions where...then who knows how stupid he was?   Or what other stupidity he was capable of.

The second was I pulled into a store to treat myself to a drink.  A young man was there, surrounded by a gaggle of young teen age girls (perhaps this grouping should be called a "giggle"?) which he was obviously responsible for.   His eyes light up seeing the Burgie, and after a few minutes talking about the usual questions (gas mileage, can it do highway speeds?) - Questions that all Burgie owners are asked at one time or another he said simply.  "I need to get me a real motorcycle."  he said, with a look of longing in his eyes.

I let the comment slide as he piled his daughters and their friends into the mini van, a look of tired resignation on his face.  After all, it's all a bout Perspective.

 

Epic Adventures in your own backyard - part 2A. Planning for the Green Swamp

I have no more excuse.  I am ready.  I have a full day to myself, a full day with no commitments…no meetings, no deadlines.  I decided that I am going to have an epic adventure and ride the Green Swamp Trail.  What excites me about this particular ride is that it ends and begins in my home base of Zephyrhills.  The ride itself is about 130 miles (so well within the Burgie’s range) and I understand the road conditions are good to excellent with lots of twisties and little side trips to enjoy.  I am planning on doing this on Thursday, my next day off.  

Thanks to 2uptouring.com

Most of the roads however are 2 lane highways and twisty.  I’ve rode parts of this with my dear departed friend Gary, so it’s a remembrance of him as well.  I figured I would get up early in the morning and proceed.  The whole ride should only take about 3 – 4 hours.  I'm leaving time for me to explore, get lost and maybe grab a bite to eat in Webster - which is about the halfway point.  I also understand the town has some great examples of 1900's architecture.  As well as a place to eat called the Hayseed Cafe. How could I pass that up?

My only wish is that I had someone to ride this with.  I’m not worried about riding it by myself, but I am worried about getting the dreaded numb butt and being lost.  I don’t have a programmable GPS.  I don’t have a tank bag with a plastic cover for my map.  All I have is the printed out route, my brain and my sense of direction.

I may never be seen again.

An example of a cypress pond

The Green swamp covers parts of five counties here in West Central Florida.  It is the birthplace of four different rivers and home for countless species of animals.  The swamp itself is roughly 560 thousand acres and has several distinct types of ecological systems, everything from sandhills, flat-woods, oak hammocks, river swamps and cypress ponds.  The cypress ponds that dot the landscape are characteristic of central Florida.  For an old hiker and amateur naturist like me it's fantastic  Since the ride I'm planning literally loops around and through the swamp at times I will experience each of these systems.  

The park has a nice interactive website here if you wish to learn more.  

So I'm running through a check list of things I have to do for this ride.  Pictures and details to follow!

Riding and commuting

In August it will be one year since I bought the Burgie.  Since then I've managed to change out the back tire, change the oil (twice), have a semi-serious mechanical failure - which was not my fault - and put the bike  down, which was my fault. Somehow I've also managed to ride 10,000 miles.

05/04/12

I started with a little under 6,600 miles but rounded up to that nice round figure.  Today I hit 10,000 miles.   Not to bad for a commuter I think and only owning my bike for about nine months.  One of my goals in the coming year is to put more miles on the bike that are "just for fun" which means riding here and there just for the hell of it.

It also means, at least to me anyway, making some improvements to the bike.  I've talked before about how I want to install a new windshield or get a more comfortable seat, however that takes a little more money than what I have right now...so I decided to invest in Malossi 21 g Variator roller weights.  On the Burgman the standard roller weight is 18 - 19 grams.  In theory this should lower the rpm's on my bike during my daily 70 mile round-trip commute and increase gas milage.  Currently, depending on conditions I'm in the high 50's to low 60's.  I hope that these new rollers will lower my fuel consumption by 10 miles per gallon, putting me into the high 60's and low 70's.  Since I will be at 20K soon, where it's recommend I replace my CVT belt, I've decided to order one of those as well but other needs like a new dishwasher, tires for the jeep and saving for a vacation are priority.  The lowest price I've found for a CVT belt is $129 dollars.  The highest - $200 dollars.  That is not including installation and labor costs.  The fact that I'm even considering doing this work myself shows my my confidence level is increasing with every mile I ride.  Six months ago I would never of thought about tearing the bike apart in this manner but thanks to the helpful folks at the BurgmanUSA forums and Mitch's Scooter blog I feel confident.  It helps that my neighbor is a retired mechanic as well.

I know longer have a fear of twisty's, in fact I seek them out now.  Where I rarely ever passed anyone on my previous Zuma 125, I do so with joy now.   I still feel a little weird at night when a car is speeding behind me, but I know longer feel a compulsion to pull over and let him pass.  Nor do I hug the right lane anymore, I feel confident in all lanes.  I do remind myself that the second leading cause of accidents however is "confidence."

At work, my heavy motorcycle jacket no longer gets odd looks when I come in and the fact that I ride in nearly every day has forced the three Harley Owners and a Shadow owner to join me, least they be teased that the "Scooter Guy" is more of a biker than they are.    Today I plan on taking the bike to Keel and Curley Winery for there Blueberry festival.  Sadly I will not have any pictures since my camera died, but I do promise to return with a nice Chardonnay or perhaps a sweet blackberry wine.

Random roads and thoughts

I have been wanting to do a "joy ride" for a while now.  I've not had much opportunity to ride over the last two weeks or so other than to work which in its own right is a nice ride; but I've had the itch to ride different roads.  Every day I ride the same route, more or less, and I have been wanting...no needing to explore some quiet backwater places.

So today I did a little under 100 miles (93.8 to be exact) on a nice sunny day with not enough twists and turns to satisfy me, but enough to keep me interest.   Somehow I managed to get completely lost as well...since every road leads somewhere and I was  thoroughly enjoying my ride I didn't worry about it.  I don't have much chance to simply do a purely recreational ride anyhow.

I work second shift, my job can be 24/7 and on top of that I have another job that I work two days a week and takes anywhere from three to eight hours to complete.  In other words, I work a lot.    Since my girlfriend is unable to work, we spend our mornings together.  Riding 2-up with her is just not possible right now.  She feels that I need a more experience before she climbs on the back of the bike with me.  I know she is right.

All this limits the time I get for recreational riding and frankly since the untimely death of Gary B - I've no one to ride with.  That may change in the future but for now I'm a solo rider.  Riding with a friend is safer and in my opinion a hell of a lot more fun.  Not that solo riding isn't fun.  I've found a little 3 mile long stretch of road near where I work that has 15...yes, 15...wonderful twists, turns and bends.  Everything from sharp abrupt corners to a few sweeping rights and lefts.  If I get to work early enough I can be found riding that road.

One of the joys about about getting lost, I had originally planned on a 50 mile ride following a predetermined route, is finding the unexpected.  Even though I live in West Central Florida I just happen to live in Kumquat country.  A nearby town even has a kumquat festival.  I found the packing plant and a Kumquat specialty shop.  Sadly none of my pictures really came out well.

From Florida Estates Winery

I drove up the road some, finally finding a route I recognized and a little winery right down the road some.  Now having been known to indulge now and again in the fruit of the vine I stopped.  Sadly I was riding so could not sample to many but what I did try was sadly lacking.  If your interested in Florida wines I highly recommend Fiorelli Winery.  Somehow however I ended up with a bottle.

But I digress.

I've only had the Burgi for a few months and am enjoying the ride a hell of a lot more than I would have ever of guessed.  When I first considered getting a bike it was for commuting purposes only, now here I am taking 100 mile joy rides.

Givi airflow AF266 for the Burgie!

There are a few things I wish I had though - the fact that I have a AeroStitch catalog has nothing to do with it (eye roll).  The plastic on the bike needs repaired and although scars might tell a story...they shouldn't be on a bike.  My stock windshield was really designed for a person much shorter than me.  I'm 6' foot tall and 200 pounds.  Not really heavy but big enough, and the wind comes right over the windshield and catches me in the upper chest and head.  I would love to have to have a Givi Airflow windshield and a top case to go with it.  Okay, I really don't need the top case but hey, it looks cool and a little bit of extra storage never hurts.  Particularly since I hope to take those longer and longer rides.  A backrest would be nice too.

My birthday is in April.   Checks can be sent to..........

Fear of Twisty's???

Over the Thanksgiving weekend I had four days off, then worked a day and had an additional two days off.   Lots of time to get the Burgie out and do some riding, but it didn't work out that way as family obligations and other duties kept me off the bike till a glorious day just ripe for riding.   Warm and sunny the road called out...."Twisty's Robert....Twisty's".


Gary B and I headed out, him in the lead.   He in the lead through orange groves and country roads, for 110 miles we road a circle north and south, east and west.   Something happened somewhere in the route, I started to feel a bit more confident taking some turns.

I felt a little bad as Gary had to keep slowing down for me, going through the curves with practiced ease, but I needed to do this at my pace.  I felt that I was lacking experience taking the curves I knew Gary had planned.  Gary has about 10 years if not more of riding experience on me, and he knows the roads we were riding well.

I took my time, feeling better and more confident with each curve of the road.  Each time letting the road and the bike tell me how to move.  Leaning, slowing down, powering through each curve.

A little explanation is in order.  Since buying my bike,  I've been a commuter traveling the same tired roads day in and day out on my Burgman.  While my route to work offers a little variation; I can ride to work a few different ways...taking the highway briefly or the twisted back road....a straightaway country road...the truth is it's pretty much the same ride day in and out.  So I was feeling a little tentative then  as we started the ride.  I just don't get to do twists and turns often enough to feel comfortable with them.

Thanks to anonymous1310 on DA.

Towards the end of the ride I was feeling more and more secure.  The smile started to return to my face.

On Sunday, I went out again.  Driving into a blinding setting sun I had left early enough to hit some winding side roads I know of near work.  Again I went to get used to the twists and turns of an unfamiliar road.  In and out and powering through.

It sounds silly as I write this, that I should have a fear of twisty's.  It's not really a fear, it's more of a respect.  I have not had much chance to ride them. To practice, to simply ride the roads.   Florida is full of straight roads or a road that slightly curves, easy turns to make.   Some sharp curves are here and there and those are the roads that I want to ride, to practice on.   You don't become a better rider by riding the straight away...you ride the twisted roads.

Feeling homesick this time of year. Riding in the fall.

I always have mixed feelings with the arrival of fall.  Living previously in Western Pennsylvania I was blessed with remarkable colors, cooler nights, football (both the European game and my beloved Steelers), sharp apple cider - either spiked or not, warmed or not.  Egg Nog - again spiked or not and either served with or without chocolate favored whipped toppings.

It was also depressing as the nights grew longer and the days hinted of winter just around the corner.  Where I have always enjoyed working in my yard, raking leaves is a never ending task...perhaps better suited to the horrors of Hades.  I've often wondered if Sisyphus was given the choice of pushing the rock up the hill or raking leaves.  I'm sure he chose the rock.  I will not mention the four letter word starting with an "S" that always replaces the raking of leaves with another back breaking labor.

Now that I live in Central Florida there is a much subtler autumn.  Marked by the migratory arrival of the grey and blue tufted snowbirds, the drop in the Gulf's water temperature from "warm bathwater" to "bathwater" and the cooler days and nights designed for riding.  Although the other day when I rode to work the ambient temperature gauge on my Bergie said "93".   That is "Freaking Hot" for the understanding of my international readers.  When I left work at midnight the temperature was a much more manageable 73 degrees.

When I ride home at night, I normally just throw a sweat shirt on under my bright yellow riding jacket and that is the extent of my winter gear.  I certainly cannot imagine such things as heated pants and gloves and other equipment that many of my northern friends either have or are considering to extend their riding season.  Some I am sure have already started to put their bikes away.

I can picture what it must be like right now in my home state of Pennsylvania, the leaves blazing with color.  Riding at a leisurely pace along the back roads just living in the moment, pulling over in some small road side cafe', where the locals bring their own coffee mugs that hang proudly displayed behind the freshly made pumpkin pie.  I can just imagine what it would be like to put my 400cc Burgie into the twists and turns of my home.

It's not that adventures and twisties can't be found here in Florida.  A simple trip to get gas lead to my going out of my way some 60 odd miles just to ride on a clear and sunny morning, where I passed someone on a 1980's era Honda Elite that looked ecstatic to see another scooter rider.  It's these moments I am starting to realize, is why people ride.   I also begin to feel that the scooter is well suited for me at this stage in my life...where I am more interested in enjoying the journey than rushing from point A to point B.

If this is what growing older is...I can live with it.

A nice Saturday ride

It's only been a few days after my longest ride yet, easily over 150 miles including my commute to and from work that day.  I'm sure that a better writer could describe it in detail without the sickening use of so many adjectives.

This past weekend I got the chance to go over hill and dale, through valleys deep and wide and twist and turns at speed that challenged and scared me...while at the same time putting a grin on my face and a ringing laughter in my helmet that only I could hear.

Not the church in question but similar.

I lost track of the miles as my riding partner Gary choose a route through the orange groves and forgotten little towns of rural Florida.  We rode hard and faster than I would have liked at times due to a late start and the fact that I had to work late in the afternoon.  We rode for a solid two to three hours passing a small local winery...which frankly I hope to find again on another journey.  Past an old Spanish Church straight out of the American southwest which called for exploration but learning it's story will have to be put off for another day.

We rode on down tracts where farm equipment roamed free and threatened to push us off into the saw grass, past trees loaded with oranges and kumquats.  Turn after turn to the right, to the left until I was unsure if I knew how to get home if I should lose Gary around a corner.  Truthfully it would not of mattered, every road leads somewhere and once you're somewhere you can always figure out a way home.  A brief stop for gas to feed a hungry beast and his smile was as big as mine.  We were children on Christmas day again; all brought about by a few twists and turns in the road.

Just an old funky building found on another ride.

While the ride did encourage me to ride longer and harder, proving to me that I can indeed go more than 50 miles in any one direction - without numb ass too - it also got me thinking about one of the reasons I wanted to ride in the first place.  To discover the hidden parts of America you don't see from the Freeway.  That old Spanish church, a small winery, an old graveyard, some weird little building that has a story to us, if we are willing to listen.

I can also see the attraction of rallies and poker runs.  Making and sharing stories with new friends over endless cups of coffee at the local diner and then chewing up the asphalt.  I may have bought scooter with the intention of simply going back and forth to work with it, but damned if I don't want to do more with it now.  That sense of adventure...of wanderlust...is hard to explain.  I've had friends that have been bikers all their lives and who would try to explain it to me.  I don't think I ever "got it" till now.

You go into a twisty and you feel your body react...you see that butterfly at the edge of the road...Your connected to the world around you in a much different way when your riding.  Suddenly "taking the long way around" doesn't seem like it's that bad of an idea.  So yea, I hope to go riding with Gary or others again.  Hopefully we will have more than two and a half hours to spend on the road.