Went for a night ride last night, left the house at around 10:30pm. Beautiful; wispy clouds with the moon shining through, cool night breeze, pleasant smells, fresh cut grass, poplar trees, smoke from a brush fire in someones field, etc. Was around 48F, a bit cool, but still a great ride, wish it could have lasted longer, but it is what it is. Loved it. :)
Sounds like one of those magical rides that we all get now and again during the ridin' season. Mind if I ask what you wear to keep that chill out of your bones. 48F is quite chilly to be ridin' especially without the sun. Do you have a windshield? I don't have a windshield so my early morning rides to work lately at 52F get quite chilly on the highway even with 3 layers on. Days here are still getiing into the low 80's so ridin' home is great! All the morning gear stuffed in my back pack. I can ride down to about 55F comfortably, below that it starts getting difficult to stay warm after about 1/2 hour ridin'. Legs and chest seem to be the hardest to keep warm.
I had on jeans, (with a hole in one leg), hoody, leather jacket, denim vest, (blanket lined), leather boots, nose-picker gloves,(no fingers on them; I nicknamed them that after seeing a guy booking down the highway and digging in the nose at the same time), and my helmet with a skully on under it. When I get too cold, I put chaps on,(leather) regular leather gloves, in REALLY cold weather I wear insulated gloves and use an electric jacket under my leather jacket; it plugs in to the outlet for my battery tender. Sometimes I use a helmet with a face shield as well. I do have a windshield on as well, but last night it wasn't doing a lot of good as it was quite windy. Wasn't a long ride, or would have put on chaps and full gloves.
Always found that traveling at night was the best. There is nothing like experiencing the sunrise on a motorcycle...
Nighttime can make familiar roads new again. Darkness,cool, a little fog, fewer people on the road...it's nice.
I recently rode the length of Scotland at night time, I got lost in Glasgow and went through the city centre, I was glad it was too late for most of the traffic.
John.
Quote from: John Hopkins on August 22, 2013, 15:14:58 PM
I recently rode the length of Scotland at night time, I got lost in Glasgow and went through the city centre, I was glad it was too late for most of the traffic.
John.
Wow... the LENGTH? how long did that take you? I've gone across Scotland a few times east/west.. but never all the way North/South.
50 F is normal temps for a fall ride, I wear a textile coat, Tour Master Rincon with the quilted liner, (which I have yet to zip into the coat) best coat I have ever bought for riding. I normally wear carhartts and I do have leather chaps for the cold days, but just bought a pair of textile pants, again Tour Master, but have not worn them yet, but if they are like the jacket it will be toasty warm I am on the next fall ride.
I will wear my suede jacket and glue-on mustache. I've got another suede jacket in mind, with a different color scheme, for a later date, when funds are available.
Quote from: Troll on August 22, 2013, 14:54:34 PM
Always found that traveling at night was the best. There is nothing like experiencing the sunrise on a motorcycle...
Early morning rides are great; worked a lot of night shifts in my day, 12 hour shifts, 7:30 pm-7:30 am; used to sit out on the loading dock and watch the sun coming up down the Peace River valley; mid summer the sky would start lightening around 2:00am; beautiful. Then in the fall, managed to score some "sunrise rides", but not too often.
Fog in the night....way back when, when the earth was flat, (early '70's) I was riding home from a buddies; hit some ground fog. Handlebars down was in fog, I was able to look over top of it. Looked really cool, the glow of the headlight in the fog, and seeing it from above. Really cool ride; never had that happen since.