Planning for the Coming Winter Riding Season
Weird, I always seem to find myself writing blog posts in the middle of the night. It’s just past 2am, the wind is blowing outside and its been cold enough that I just bought two pairs of merino wool base layers, two pairs of heavyweight Merino wool socks, and a new pair of winter gloves from LL Bean. All part of the process of acclimating to the cold and preparing for winter scooter riding.
I have to play a few mental games to gird myself against the cold weather at this time of year. Early in the season 30F feels awful. By March it’s T-shirt weather. It’s been like this as long as I’ve been riding. And since my heart attack a few years ago and daily regimen of blood thinners my cold tolerance has shifted 20 degrees. Long underwear didn’t enter the picture until 20F before. Now it’s required at 35F.
But that’s all unique to me and my odd mental wiring and physical configuration. Something that may be more universally useful for any scooter or motorcycle riders considering extending their range of riding — how to approach the appearance of ice when the temperature drops below the freezing mark.
Addressing a Massive Sheet of Ice
This picture was made nine years ago during what began as an uneventful ride to breakfast. I came across it by accident earlier this evening as I was doing some blog housekeeping (something I don’t do often or well enough) and had to chuckle at the comments I had written about it’s appearance:
This is how a rider manages shiny ice:
- Pull over and stop
- Look in the mirrors for traffic
- Push up the visor and admire the ice
- Say to yourself “What the f…??”
- Decide not to ride to Centre Hall or Bellefonte for breakfast
- Admire the ice some more
- Sigh
- Begin picking out the least slippery path across the ice
- Cross the ice
Right, cross the ice.
Made me chuckle reading it now. I remember the experience at the time to be disconcerting and I was thankful I wasn’t moving faster when it appeared.
Check out the actual post from 2009 to determine if my approach makes sense to you, or echoes your own. It’s titled, REVISITING RISK:THAW THEN FREEZE.
Stay warm!
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Steve,
Loved the posts and comments from 09.. We woke up to a foot of fresh snow here this morning. I’m not going any where. Stay warm!
Doug
A foot of snow is too much for me to ride in. I did one time ride in that much from the garage to the end of the driveway. That was enough experience to NOT continue.
Staying warm here!
Steve,
As always a wonderful post! Living in Florida as I do, the approach to Winter Riding is not too dissimilar. Of course I don’t worry about ice or snow. Now 63, I’m bundling up in layers at temperatures that not long ago, warranted perhaps a light jacket.
With new habits including a lot of exercise and improved eating, I’ve shed weight and lowered my bp. Good for health – bad for cold weather riding.
Ultimately what matters most is that when we want to ride – we do and can. When we choose to stay inside and admire the cold from a warm house – we can and do that as well.
My best from 48 degree Florida,
Mike
Those healthy habits and subsequent physical changes related to weight and blood pressure can have an effect on temperature tolerance. They did for me along with the natural march of aging. I sit close to warm things whenever possible now. Exiting a restaurant a few mornings ago I lingered under the blazing hot radiant heater over the door.
I agree with your ideas or riding and not riding. It’s nice to have that choice. And have keys to a motor vehicle at hand that has a fully functional heater.
Stay warm in Florida Mike!
The photo of your Vespa as the header for this 02:00 am post says so much about winter riding. Do you have those winter riding tires installed?
And don’t blame the lack of endurance for the cold entirely on your blood thinners. As our body ages the goal posts keep moving. Have not had a heart attack, did have angiogram earlier this year, all clear. Am blessed with thick blood and lower than normal blood pressure so my blood thinners are vastly different from yours; a needle in the arm once a month plus tablets. And I have to check how thick or thin my blood is by bi-weekly visits to a lab in the winter to have samples drawn. Come summer those same visits are once every four weeks; I also have other blood work done then too. A1c and related for starters; do not require insulin, control my sugars by diet alone.
There’s snow out there in Southern Ontario, thermometer reads – 8C whee there is no wind. The snow has stopped falling, slippery underfoot though.
I have the Heidenau tires in the garage but not on the scooter yet. I’ll get to them soon.
Aging is definitely gnawing away at my cold tolerance. At least it’s not my mind. So it means I just need to wear more stuff. Been gazing out the window as I respond to comments and wondering if I shouldn’t go for a ride. The healthy voice in my head says I should go for a walk. Both dogs agree. Not sure what I’ll do.
Take care of yourself in the slippery stuff and keep managing sugars by diet alone. That’s a big deal and no small feat for most.
Interesting topic and not one mentioned on motorcycle blogs very often. DOT spent a bundle this past summer on the main road near our house to improve the drainage. And that included fixing all the driveways that dumped water onto the road whenever things thawed out.
Now, if they can do something about all of the people who haul water in their trucks who dump water onto the road on every uphill section. A small percentage of them either don’t bother with the cover on the tank or something is leaking as the foot wide “patch” of ice go for miles.
Ice is entertaining and I enjoyed reading the older post. Carbide studs and a 3rd wheel makes the ice as something to be aware of. As long as no speed changes are attempted, no problem. Ice on a curve requires a much lower speed before reaching it. I’ve only had to chain up once. Yes, you can find chains for a Ural on the Internet. They were shipped from Poland or Romania. I don’t remember…
BTW, I’m enjoying the more frequent posts.
Other than big physical objects in the road you don’t notice that much about the road surface when driving a car. On two wheels you become aware of the myriad details which can adversely affect traction. Drainage from driveways, stuff coming out of and off vehicles to form ice, manure, gravel, pieces of cardboard. Seems like endless road mines for riders.
I’ve seen chains from Europe for the Vespa. Don’t think I’m going to venture out on days that require them. I’m getting wiser as I get older. Part of that wisdom whispers, “No URAL.” *GRIN* . I fear I would be attempting all sorts of foolhardy activities with a sidecar rig.
Regarding the post frequency changes — not sure what’s going on. Just feel like more riding related things have been popping into my head, at home, and during rides. For awhile I was just riding and not thinking much. Or so it seemed.
Yikes…reminds me of my suddenly-snowbound trip home from the train station last January – I was supposed to be on a much earlier train from Gotham that evening in order to get ahead of an oncoming snowstorm, but didn’t make it, and had a very treacherous ride home, slippin’ and slidin’ along my usual route, but somehow keeping the bike upright until just two blocks from home, when I decided to bring the bike down to an under-5mph crawl…and then lowside it. No damage to me, minimal damage to Melody (a few scrapes along its bottom pan, which I still need to get around to fixing for corrosion’s sake). Gotta watch for that stuff, so I totally avoid ice and any snow beyond the proverbial dusting.
It’s weird. Some snow covered roads seem to have good traction while others are like glare ice. I think it must be temperature related with the worst being snow at the close to freezing point where there’s a little liquid water mixed in.
Riding home in a situation like you describe is exhausting. It’s as if you are holding the scooter up by self will alone. Here’s a shot from my worst snow ride home from work. By this point I was past all the points of traffic and that concern. But it was slippery, downhill, and miles to go before I rest.
Hey, know what i do with sheets of ice or that slimy white goo that covers the road at the quarry? I drive off the road into the short weeds/dirt and go around it. That works with scooters and enduros but not R1200RT’s! In the photo above I see some nice weeds on the right. Lots more traction on that.
I try to do that when I can. In this instance there wasn’t a good shoulder. Dropped off too much.
Ice patches are much easier on three wheels….just saying. 🙂
Big enough patches of ice, give even three wheels “pause”…..stopping on ice can be interesting too, but then I just engage 2WD and my Ural gets me moving again…..
On two wheels? You’re braver than I am.
That was a huge sheet of ice for around here. Usually it’s smaller patches that aren’t so easy to see. So far I’ve not had any troubling encounters. But more and more I hesitate to venture out when the likelihood of ice is high.
Your blog was recommended by a long time friend and motorcycle fiend. I’ve recently embraced the scooter world with a Suzuki Burgman 400. In reading this and how you prepare for winter riding reminded me that I need to get on with my heated grips project. I saw where you mentioned handlebar muffs. What brand did you choose?
I purchased Tucano Urbano muffs for my Vespa. They are an Italian company that makes a variety of gear for winter. I got mine from a company in the UK but now they are available on Amazon and eBay. And they do make them for the Burgman. There are a number of other brands including Hippo Hands but I liked the look of the Tucano Urbanos better.
Hope that helps. If you have questions let me know.
Thanks for the info. Now I need to go back to the beginning of your blog and catch up.
If you got back to the beginning of the blog you’ll need to make sure to click on the individual images to see the sharp, full resolution versions. When I transitioned from Blogger to WordPress the process imported thumbnails. I’m slowly updating them but with hundreds of posts it takes some time!