Sometimes a ride takes shape long before the tires roll out onto the road. Last night Kim, Junior and I were wandering through the evening, air thick with moisture with a distant whisper of cold. Junior raced across a water soaked field wondering why the tennis ball wouldn’t bounce while Kim photographed reflections in the swollen waters of Spring Creek. As I considered the swaying flag I was already making plans to ride the next morning. Calculations turning and mental evaluations of temperature, persistent snow and ice, precipitation, and most importantly, mental status, occupied the scene before me.
While the meat-based computer chewed on the problem at hand something new was added to the equation — “Is there fun in winter riding?”. A question raised in comments some posts back it’s come up more than once. Riding in cold and gloom — how can this be fun?
If you ride enough in weather that provides less than ideal conditions you’ll probably find yourself questioning your riding decision. And if you never ride in unfavorable conditions you’ll likely be wondering what’s wrong with those who place themselves and their machines at risk. Riding into Rothrock State Forest I knew there was a possibility that the roads would not yet be clear having once stranded a pickup truck with chains on the tires in the mountains at this time of year. Since then I’m grown wiser and less foolhardy. Standing above the Vespa I could imagine the road ahead growing worse and the narrow tracks between the ice would soon vanish. Time to retreat to the relative safety of the valley.
What’s fun about this? There’s no freedom of movement or sense of flying when your path is 12 inches of mostly clear pavement between solid curbs of ice. Movement is slow and tortured at best. The air temperature floated at 35F which compared to recent months feels almost balmy but still requires considerable attention lest a rider fall into agony. There is nothing fun about being cold and it’s easy to understand why so many riders dismiss their motorcycles when their summer gear ceases to keep them feeling fine with the wind in their hair.
I wonder if scaling a cliff face or braving a blizzard on the side of a mountain in the Himalayas is fun. Or camping rough along the trail during the Iditarod-the last great race on earth — is that fun? Thinking for the past couple weeks about the fun question keeps bring me to the same answer: “Yes, it’s fun, but not in the way you may define fun.”.
For me, riding in “bad” weather is only fun in a narrow definition of the word. If fun equals satisfaction than I have a lot of fun riding in the winter. The feeling of accomplishment can be strong. Persevering against the elements requires commitment, focus and strategy to succeed and each positive outcome yields it’s own unique rewards.
For me. But what works for me may be disastrously wrong for another rider.
The difference in the landscape from the blue skies and sunshine of summer to the hard steel cold and grit of winter is dramatic. It’s as if you’re a player on a cinematic stage. I feel different and my mind responds differently. Fun? It’s not like riding on a water slide on a warm sunny day or wrestling with a puppy, but it is addictively satisfying for mind, body and spirit for the right rider.
Unfortunate things can happen when you ride in the winter. Some slow, hardly noticeable, like salt slowly eating away and key mechanical components or rapidly aging the finish of your machine far ahead of its time. Other events are instantaneous, like a sudden slide out of the front when on snow and your immediate destination becomes the ground. Gravity has more power in the frictionless cold or the water sodden earth of thaw.
The Vespa looks safe and content in this picture, awaiting my return after a quick portrait. Ten feet from the scooter I saw it start to fall over as the center stand sank into the soft mud. I was able to catch it before it hit the ground but I could not help but think of all the times I was fooled by the winter landscape. It’s part of the challenge to be assumed, managed and embraced. Nine years ago was my first and only drop on two-wheels — early in my winter riding adventures and with little skill to help navigate the variables. I didn’t stop then and have never looked back.
So, is it fun to ride in the winter? For me, absolutely. For anyone else? Only they can answer that.
I’m told by some that I’m cheating but I find that a third wheel turns winter riding into fun. It doesn’t have anything to do with “surviving” by not falling or “look at me, aren’t I phenomenal” or some other drivel. Being able to slide around corners is fun. Especially when you lessen the risk of falling. Modern gear makes the cold temperatures manageable and there are few things nicer than riding in a snowfall at night. Folks on snow machines, skiis, dog sleds and other winter activities spend days out in the winter usually far away from rescue and in much harsher conditions. After many trips of solo backcountry skiing, winter riding seems like a walk in the park.
When I think of dog sleds and snowmobiles riding in the cold doesn’t seem like all that big of a deal. More mental than physical perhaps.
Having a third wheel makes a big difference in the scope of your winter riding, the safety, and speed. I have to pick through some very slow stretches at times that I’m certain your could run through with reckless abandon!
Though a thoughtful examination of a question that one might never be able to answer satisfactorily, it is–once again–your photographs that struck me. They speak volumes, Steve. (Yet I guess that stands to reason.)
I especially love the forest photo, with the roots in the foreground; the dramatic pic of the Vespa in profile before the tan (corn?) field and beneath that gloriously gray sky–an image that wouldn’t have been half as impressive in black and white; and the well-balanced photo of the scooter beside the road vanishing to the right, into the trees.
Fine work… Mighty, mighty fine work. Thanks for transporting me.
Ry,
Thanks for the kind words about the photographs. You’re right about the black and white having less power for these kinds of shots. The color and atmosphere are part of the experience. Makes me wonder why I am still shooting black and white film.
Lots of things to experiment with on the road when you have a camera handy.
As RichardM says, adding a third wheel into the equation means you can laugh at the worst that Winter can throw at you.
No longer confined are you to the garage while you await the clearing of a path to the main roads, you forge your way through the snow to the still snow-packed main roads and stare Winter in the face.
On two wheels, its a different story. I was quite skittish in simple muddy dirt roads today while on my R80 Beemer, Brigitta, I was missing that third wheel. It was nice and warm however so I just took things slow. Winter is truly winding down here in Colorado, and I am sad in a way, I do so enjoy riding on snow with Scarlett, my URAL sidecar rig.
Without a doubt, a sidecar rig is a far better choice, or at least a safer choice, for riding in winter. But for those cold days when the roads are clear, you can fly along, leaning, flowing along the road. That’s the thing I would miss on a hack.
Spring is definitely here. Not that we still couldn’t have some snow but it won’t last now!
Yès , the winter riding with a vespa or a motorbike is very fun and very nice !!!
It has unexpected rewards. Sometimes it’s the feeling of accomplishment, other times the overwhelming feeling of heat when you walk inside a cafe after a frigid ride.
It is fun!
Yeah, the salt spray attached the chrome and bare metal on my bike for the last two weeks too. That’s the salt spray off the Atlantic Ocean in Daytona Beach! Ha, ha! Temps were in the eighties.
Rub it in Robert, rub it in!
Soon we’ll have some similar days here.
Steve I remember your ‘off’ clearly, from your blog post of course.
All that winter riding and a single off, that’s an amazing record.
That flag photo is very good. It could be better, of course, but playing with it by playing up the light on the flag 1) would be cheating, and 2) would be like all the other photoshopped sentimental patriotic photos that are legions, and 3) it would lose its reality. So that makes it not just very good, but damn near perfect.
That fall stuck with me. There were the obvious technical lessons but that single event really forged a different kind of attention for me. Sometimes I think I’ve been lucky not having fallen during the past nine winters, and I’m sure there is a measure of luck. But it’s also a result of some careful riding.
When I looked at the photo of the flag I realized I could have changed it dramatically in Photoshop. But I kept is subdued because it felt more like what I had seen rather than inventing something different.
Steve, thanks very much for addressing this question. My understanding of your view on this is that, first, the definition of “fun” is personal and different for everyone; and also that, if somebody thinks winter riding would be “fun”, they need to be very prepared and very careful, and understand clearly that it will be different kind of “fun” than summer riding. Do I have that right?
Yes, I think you have summarized my feelings about winter riding and fun. It’s definitely different than summer riding and in the end each person describes what fun means for them. I know guys who think fun is tearing their machine apart in the garage and rebuilding something.
Thanks again for raising the question Maestro. It was good to think about.
Nice post. Rare that I’m disappointed when I venture over here. Maybe riding in the snow isn’t quite my thing, but I love reading/watching YOU do it.
I can appreciate your rescue of the tipping scooter. When I park on ground to explore somewhere (typically an old cemetery), I always worry about that possibility. Lucky so far.
There are lots of situations where the scooter can tip over. Soft ground is certainly one of them but more than once I’ve parked the scooter “into the wind” so it would be blown over.
Like you, lucky so far.