In bed, dog still asleep, a glow of pre-dawn light illuminating the curtains, I sneak a look at the iPhone to look at the temperature — five degrees below zero. Winter has relentlessly chewed on souls and psyches, turning even the most positive outlooks into jagged personas. Fighting winter has become a full-time job to keep depression at bay and not feel like life has become a massive landscape of failure.
Call me gray cloud.
And like the Peter Finch’s character in the motion picture Network, I got out of bed saying to myself, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’
And the decision was made and a methodical undertaking of steps led me to be standing in the driveway with the Vespa scooter idling, ready to head to work in spite of the frigid temperature. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and the roads were mostly clear.
I should add that winter riding is a game of relativity. My cold weather concerns are nothing compared to the weather that Dom Chang and Richard Machida endure in Colorado and Alaska respectively. My cold weather is their balmy weather. Richard doesn’t seem to worry about the temperature until it nears -40F and then only because “things” don’t sound right on the machine.
So maybe call me wimpy as well.
The ride to work was almost uneventful save for two unexpected stops. The first was to put air in the tires. In the cold I guess the pressure decreases, in this case by seven pounds per square inch. Nothing like fiddling with tire valves with your bare hands in sub-zero weather. On the heals of the tire maintenance was a need for fuel. Best to keep the tank full in cold weather.
On the bright side, the heated grips are fantastic. They get so hot that I can feel them almost burning my hands through heavy winter gloves. The Tucano Urbano muffs keep the wind off my hands with only some minor impairment of access to the brakes. Not so much impairment but a need to adjust how you manipulate your hands — you need to use exaggerated movements.
And another unexpected surprise was with the First Gear Kilimanjaro jacket. I usually ride in cold weather with several layers underneath the jacket but was distracted this morning and left without them. Didn’t want to turn back to make adjustments thinking I would be fine for the short trip and it turned out I didn’t need them at all. I was toasty warm with just a sweater on. First Gear considers the Kilimanjaro a three-season jacket but unless they are excluding summer I would think you could wear this year round.
Last time I rode to work in sub-zero weather I had a fuel line freeze by the end of the day and I was fearing the same this time. But the day warmed and there were no problems. Since having the fuel pump replaced the scooter has run like a champ again and I’m thinking of bigger trips. The ride home was pleasant and I was able to be on the road before sunset when it becomes harder to spot stray ice spots. Generally the road is clear but you can never be sure which requires major adjustments in riding style. After dark is an even bigger challenge.
I’m not mad as hell anymore. Life is good. A few miles on a scooter can serve multiple roles — an attitude adjustor, or an interventionist.
Are you needing to ride about now?
You’re not wimpy at all Steve, heck you’re one if the pioneers of moto-blogging and riding no matter the temperature! Now if RichardM and I could get you to join us on the three-wheeled side of the dark side…..
Every time I would look at the road and wonder whether I could manage to ride I would think, for a few seconds at least, how much easier the decision would be if I had a URAL. But then I would come to my senses and go inside and brew a cup of tea and scratch the dog’s head.
But who knows what the future might bring right?
Like Dom said, I wouldn’t of even considered riding in the winter if I hadn’t run into your blog. In fact, yours and Dom’s blogs were some of the first moto-blogs that I’ve ever run into.
I wonder how many dark sides there are….
RichardM, perhaps….50 shades of “Dark”? 🙂
Makes me think about what pushed me into riding in the winter. I suppose it was Gary Charpentier’s Rush Hour Rambling blog — he was an early moto-blogger and riding in some serious winter stuff, and Dan Bateman, author of Musings of an Intrepid Commuter. Dan really supplied some of the technical riding advice I needed to get my head around what I was getting my body, and scooter, into in the winter. So I suppose I just passed on their gift to you and Dom. Funny how the world works.
Well you truly are my hero now. Brent.
Hero? Not me. I’m just a poor old Vespa rider.
“Winter has relentlessly chewed on souls and psyches” pretty much sums it up. Usually I can survive winter and even enjoy it, but the unrelenting record cold temps combined with frequent high winds and perpetually grey skies, have made this winter a challenge. Well, another month should see the back of it, I hope!
I hate to think that age has something to do with my winter blues but my body definitely doesn’t respond as well to the cold. I feel the need to push harder to do things.
Spring can’t come fast enough for me at the moment.
“Are you needing to ride about now?” Yes, one of the bikes is in the back of the truck, and we’re leaving for Florida in 3 days.
Robert,
That sounds like the best plan I’ve heard in awhile. Have a great time! Sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk at the Moto Swap Meet on Sunday.
If it’s any consolation, you were present in spirit during our Everglades run.
Thinking “that gator could eat a Vespa” no doubt. Checked out your blog earlier this evening and your assessment of my reaction to seeing Clyde Butcher’s work was accurate.
So, Harley or Triumph in your future???
Having the sun available, in the early morning and all during the day while you are working inside is good. And because we have daylight for a longer period each day, as opposed to mid-December of last year; which in turn means first the sunlight shall evaporate the extensive amount of snow remaining on the ground. Second, the extreme cold we have experienced this winter (and the previous winter as well) shall mean the next few months shall be cooler than what we have experienced in prior summers. (Not including the immediate past summer). In the short term it is possible you shall have more looking forward “nice” days on which you are able to drive to and from your employment. However due to the cold, being for lack of a better term, hanging on this year, the days when you have a cold day, it will be a colder day than what your brain and body have been acustomed to over the past few years.
Keep in mind too, your/we/all of us are aging. And as such you/we/all of us shall experience weather variants far more than we have in the past.
IN the interim; keep writing for us the over viewer and keep doing your photography
for us the reader of this blog.
Are you saying I’m just getting old? *grin*
I am but try and ignore it. Part of what drives me to ride in the cold, write about the experience, and photograph what I see on the way is a desire to more fully appreciate how my aging bones are engaging the world.
More and more aging is becoming a theme in much of what I do whether fighting winter or trying to tie my shoes…