Attention, there will be no riding in Kalifornia today, we have rain. At least we won't have to here em tell us to save water...I think i'll go out and hose down the driveway.
I see no rain... and the ride was great this morning!!
Hi Dave - No rain around here in Colorado today. We didn't even get the snow Denver had the last couple days (fairly typical) but we did have some rain the night before last. It was in the low 70s(F) right up to Monday of this week. We're in the low 40s(F) now.
All the fun roads west of here have seen a few snow storms in the last couple weeks so they've had sand spread on them. Went on a 65 mile ride Monday - from Ft. Collins, around Horsetooth Reservoir, up Rist Canyon to Stove Prairie, on down to Poudre Canyon Road and back to Ft. Collins. Rist Canyon road goes over a small, unnamed pass. About three miles over the top was total sand from edge to edge. Even though it's a fairly twisty road, (closest to Caliente - Bodfish we have around here :) )the sight lines are fairly good but the speed was still very slow. Kind of like riding on a skating rink.
The rest of the ride had small patches of sand in many corners so careful cornering & good line choice was the order of the day. Temps near Stove Prairie were in the high 40s - chilly but not unbearable, thanks to good riding gear.
Looks like the riding here is over for me for the season. We'll have some very nice days off & on through the winter but with all the sand that's applied to the roads, it makes riding a bit more treacherous than I prefer. The sandy conditions don't clear up until late April or early May. I'll be out riding on city streets probably by late March, though. Guess its time to get started on the winter maintenance projects.
H2O
I went for a ride Tuesday. Actually, I rode to work. It was 50+ degrees on the way into work at about 4:30 PM. On the way home, it was 19 Degrees at 3AM. BBBrrrrrrr.
Nice that I dressed correctly. Ice alert was beeping like crazy. Looks like my winter project will be rebuilding the front forks... Yippie.
~Chris
19 degrees! Sounds like maybe you ended up with molasses for fork oil! How does one dress for 19 degree riding? There aren't enough geese for that much down. ;D
H2O
Let's just say that my JoeRocket was still just over my t-shirt, however I had many more layers on over the top of that. The Vision full fairing really is not "all that" at 19 degrees in the full "warm" setting. I am looking at heated grips or heated gloves at this point.
Winterize? Never.
~chris
How I whish I could even consider not winterizing my bike every november / december...
Latest I rode in Ottawa: December 1st. (Early 90's).
Earliest I rode : February 27th 1996. The following morning: snowstorm; biked again a week later.
Very different now with wife and kids...
Louis
I used to ride 'year round' when I lived in Columbus, Oh. 20 degrees and sunny isn't too bad. But I did get to find out what riding an RD400 in snow was like. I'll take Florida, hurricanes and all!
So Cal sucks, but at least the riding season is longer, I just put a fleece jacket under my leather, and a good pair of gloves, and it is 85 mph down the 14!! Sometimes it gets a little chilly (not like Canada chilly, but chilly for here) so I guess it is a trade off.