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I rode yesterday....

xp8103

xp8103

New member
Nothing special, or even long. But the turkey was on the pit, most veg that could be peeled and cubed was ready. The sun was shining. It was 40 degrees in my garage. I've never ridden that late in the year. Heck, half the Thanksgivings here have snow on the ground.

But I took a ride around town. The roads were wet and dry, many had sand on them as there was a lot of moisture in the air from the previous night's storm which caused a thick frost. But by 10 they weren't too bad. Rode over to the "office" (the bank nearby said 32 degrees on the marqee), back across town to my parents' place for a quick visit then across the new bridge for home.

It wasn't much but it'll likely be the last ride of the year. Time to get the K packed away in the shed for the winter.

I guess I can hope for an early spring like '06 when I rode in March.....
 
Some of the best rides are the ones you didn't think you'd get a chance to do. Thanks for the gentle reminder.

Fingers crossed for an early spring for you.

Voni
sMiling
 
yep, i was out today!!! :dance nothing long, but I was out!!! -- It felt SOOOO good to feel raw power as I headed downtown for a quick loop. Yeah, needed to watch out for the sand on corners... but it sure felt good.
 
Yeah, today was my LAST ride for the season. Rode 40 miles in the sunshine to Beemer Hill-Motorcycle-Rest-Home to park it for the winter. 3 to 4 months without. So sad! :cry :cry
 
You guys and girls bring back some ( not so fond ) memories. In Feburary 1976 my Dad and Brother helped me get my bike out of the driveway, so I could ride to Daytona Beach for Bike week. This happened in northwest Pennsylvania, and I was riding a 1972 Kawasaki 750 triple. In 1980 I moved south for good... :dance
 
39 and overcast but I had to get out for another ride before ski season takes over. Start ski racing this week so I had to do it!.

:dance
 
xp8103 said:
Nothing special, or even long. But the turkey was on the pit, most veg that could be peeled and cubed was ready. The sun was shining. It was 40 degrees in my garage. I've never ridden that late in the year. Heck, half the Thanksgivings here have snow on the ground.

But I took a ride around town. The roads were wet and dry, many had sand on them as there was a lot of moisture in the air from the previous night's storm which caused a thick frost. But by 10 they weren't too bad. Rode over to the "office" (the bank nearby said 32 degrees on the marqee), back across town to my parents' place for a quick visit then across the new bridge for home.

It wasn't much but it'll likely be the last ride of the year. Time to get the K packed away in the shed for the winter.

I guess I can hope for an early spring like '06 when I rode in March.....
Click to expand...
Maine is really beautiful, if you like winter scenes!! I was stationed there in the late 60's and had never imagined a chill factor of 75 below, but experienced it around Bangor. My CAR didn't even like it! More power to ya and ride all you can whenever you are able. :p
 
That would be around the old Dow AFB then? Still the longest runway in Maine. One of the very few "alternate" runways where the Concorde could land in case of emergency. :)

Yep, cold.
 
xp8103 said:
That would be around the old Dow AFB then? Still the longest runway in Maine. One of the very few "alternate" runways where the Concorde could land in case of emergency. :)

Yep, cold.
Click to expand...
Yes, Jan. of '67. It was so cold ( how cold was it?) , that the next morning after I shoveled out my Ghia, the plastic trim broke and fell off the dash and the electric wind clock spring went berzerk. Beer was placed on the window sill outside the barracks for --2-3 minutes, any more was ka-froze!! Snow plowed on the runways and taxiways never melted till mid-June. Best thing I ever saw was "Dow AFB" in my rear view mirror. :rofl
 
LCLEGG said:
Yes, Jan. of '67. It was so cold ( how cold was it?) , that the next morning after I shoveled out my Ghia, the plastic trim broke and fell off the dash and the electric wind clock spring went berzerk. Beer was placed on the window sill outside the barracks for --2-3 minutes, any more was ka-froze!! Snow plowed on the runways and taxiways never melted till mid-June. Best thing I ever saw was "Dow AFB" in my rear view mirror. :rofl
Click to expand...

I went to school at the University of Maine at Orono, just a few miles up the interstate (although I guess back then, there WAS no interstate!) and have fond memories of walking across campus in mid-February...... Ok, NOT SO FOND memories.... :)
 
Good to hear you're getting out in the frozen north. I got out for a short ride, maybe 45 miles, yesterday, just a few around town things to do. We've had overcast and sleet with most of the country roads covered in ice for the last week, nothing like Maine though. Don't think TDOT even knows we have roads around me, never seen a plow or salt/sand truck around here. Yesterday was sunny with the roads dry, temp never broke 27F though. Bike didn't want to start but once going it ran fine. Can't say the same for my nifty BMW digital tire gage, it just gave a half hearted gurgle and wouldn't read a thing. Great to ride though. Got plenty of strange looks from drivers and got stopped at a flag man (actually woman) who couldn't believe I was out riding. Everyone in my stops though I was crazy.

I went to SERE school back in '89. It was based at NAS Brunswick but they took us up north for the school, don't even know where I was. It was early April and I darn near froze even then. I was actually happy for the interrogations, got me into a warm room for awhile.
 
RandyW said:
I went to SERE school back in '89. It was based at NAS Brunswick but they took us up north for the school, don't even know where I was. It was early April and I darn near froze even then. I was actually happy for the interrogations, got me into a warm room for awhile.
Click to expand...

And we have plenty of cold remote places to hold that school too!! :)
 
That's for sure. Have to say of all the schools I went to in 21 years of the military the SERE schools I attended were some of the best things I did, in hindsight....sure wasn't happy during them though!
 
RandyW said:
That's for sure. Have to say of all the schools I went to in 21 years of the military the SERE schools I attended were some of the best things I did, in hindsight....sure wasn't happy during them though!
Click to expand...

What stinks is that I would assume that the school up here is going away when the base does in 2010... :( Maine used to be on the front line when the war was cold with the eastern-most AFB in Loring. Cutler Naval Station, Dow AFB, and now NAS Brunswick. All gone.
 
xp8103 said:
What stinks is that I would assume that the school up here is going away when the base does in 2010... :( Maine used to be on the front line when the war was cold with the eastern-most AFB in Loring. Cutler Naval Station, Dow AFB, and now NAS Brunswick. All gone.
Click to expand...

I would imagine so. Actually not sure they are still running it. When I went through the Navy was just starting to integrate women into combat aircrews, which ment you needed SERE, but Brunswick wasn't set up for women. They sent all the women to the Air Force SERE up in Washington state because they had already been putting women through that one. Talk at the time was the military was going to consolidate the schools and go with the Air Force. I went through several other SERE's during my flying days and they were all Air Force run.

It is a shame that they are closing so many stations. I was lucky and was in at a time when I got to go to some wild places, all of which are closed now.
 
I had always wanted to go into the AF and nearly did when in college, AFROTC. Took the physical and the asvab, filled out the paper work. But it was right at the start of the first RIFs and base closures in the late 80's. I decided at the last minute not to go. In hindsight, I don't regret my decision (not because of the confrontations we've been in at all) as I since married and have a wonderful son to show for it.
 
I went in in '75 and it was a foregone conclusion for me. I was an Army brat and had only known the military life. Knew I didn't want the Army, didn't even look at the Air Force, and would probably still be in boot camp trying to iron my creases if I went in the Marines, so Navy it was. First tour was spent jumping from ship to ship in the Pac and Indian oceans, and despite being a sea service I decided there had to be a better way so I went flying. First tour I was gone so much (don't think I was home more than 6 months in the first 4 years) that the first wife quit. Ended up with an active duty Navy girl who retired the same day I did. Thanksgiving was 26 years with her and it was the best move I ever made. Funny thing was I was gone more flying than if I would have stayed at sea. Spent almost a year gone during the run up, war, and aftermath of Desert Storm, but at least wife two was part of the program and understood. Have to say that my original plan was not to stay in but it just sort of grew on me. Very happy I did, wouldn't have changed a thing.
 
Plan to ride all year.

After a week of rain, Sunday December 21 (shortest day of the year) showed sunny skies and 35 degrees.
Put on First Gear Jacket and Pants warm gloves and took off for a few hours of backroads. There are plenty of small backroads in TN, at one point I wasn't sure if I was on someones private lane or just a regular road. Turned out to be a regular road but really was just one lane wide. Had to be carefull on the corners as two vehicles would have a hard time getting around each other. Eventually that one lane road dumped me out on a two lane blacktop, nuttin but corners, hills and grins. 35 degrees in TN is near death for these folks, got alot of funny looks wondering why someone would be out riding in such weather. Guess they never been on a beamer!
R1150RT
 
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