I rode down to the Big Bend area on December 21 to meet a friend for riding. It was 29 degrees the Saturday morning I left. It was a little nippy and I always enjoy sharing the road with people who don’t scrape their windows and leave me wondering if they can see anything much less me on a motorcycle…
I don’t know what you should expect from riding 70-75 mph at that temperature, but I was bundled up with my Gerbing jacket liner and pants liner, my heaviest winter gloves, toe warmers in my boots, my windproof fleece gaitor on my neck, and my heated grips cranked up to high – and I was still cold. It was a strange sensation since I could feel the heat the Gerbing stuff was putting out, but I could also feel the cold coming in from the wind on the front of my Aerostich. Maybe guys that are more protected by fairings would have been more comfortable. The only things to get really cold were my nose, finger tips, and toes. I was confident it would warm up and it did. It took me a long time after the temperature came up into the 40’s and then 50’s for my body to warm up though.
I was a little nervous getting started this morning since I wasn’t riding with my usual buddy. I guess I was a little scared to be riding alone again, but settled down once I was on the road and got over it. Thank god – it would have worn me out to be that jumpy all day.
Even with the cold it was a wonderful day to be on the road. I left before the sun came up since we have about 10 hours of daylight these days and it can run ten hours to get to Big Bend. No traffic getting through Dallas and Fort Worth, just a little annoyance with side wind on the way out to Abilene, and then pretty perfect the rest of the way. Riding just makes me happy for some reason and I was motoring along with a big smile.
When I headed down 277 to pick up 67 it was a beautiful sunny day in the 60’s. Saw the wind farms along 277, cotton fields along 67, and then finally the buttes and mountains heading into Alpine. I was unloaded and settled in my room by 4:30.
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