Blowing the Dust Off

Man, it's been a looong wait for the kickoff to this year's riding season. Back in February, the last time I posted on this blog, we'd been hammered with one serious snowfall after another, and it seemed like the white stuff would be on the ground until June. Okay, that's an exaggeration ... actually, the snow had disappeared by March, but then, I was waiting for a day that was at least partly sunny, and 60 degrees or better, before I would venture out. Oh, and that day had to be on a weekend, since my girlfriend Anna and I both work full-time (I was blessed to find a full-time job, which I started on March 1). Our New England weather has been stuck in a holding pattern the last few weeks, with most days reaching only into the 50s, so, I decided that today's forecasted high temperature in the mid-50s was close enough. That's right, time to ride ....

My 2002 Harley-Davidson Dyna Wide Glide (nicknamed Annabelle), hadn't been started in four months. I never installed a Battery Tender trickle charger after I bought the bike, because it had started after the 2009/10 winter without one, so I figured it would be okay through another winter. Wrong. The starter cranked slowly, and then the starter solenoid just rattled. I took the seat off my bike, and asked my girlfriend to bring a set of jumper cables, but the owners of the house where I store the bike returned home a few minutes later and graciously produced a pair of jumper cables that got Annabelle's motor purring in a jiffy. After letting her idle for a few minutes, I shut the engine off to make sure it would restart, before I ventured out on the road. It restarted under its own power now. Lesson learned: a Battery Tender is a must-have.

I discovered a curious fact about my motorcycle. A factory quality control sticker on a wiring harness underneath my seat was dated 09/12/2001 - which is the day after the terrorist attack that downed the World Trade Center in New York City. Also, a mouse or mice apparently had taken shelter in my seat at some point in the past, as some shells of sunflower seeds fell out of the bottom of the seat as I lifted it off the bike. Fortunately, the wires seemed to be intact.

Anyhow, my girlfriend arrived at the garage shortly after I got the bike started. She couldn't wait to ride. My bike desperately needed a bath, but this "ice breaker" ride wasn't about showing off - it was about a revival of soul and machine.

Even the route or destination wasn't important. We headed south, riding through West Greenwich, Exeter, North Kingstown and South Kingstown, stopping for lunch in Wakefield. By then, my fingers had started to turn white and numb, even with insulated leather gloves (oddly enough, after I thawed them out under warm water, they didn't get numb for the ride home).

On the way home, we stopped at Summit General Store in Greene, R.I., which bills itself as "Rhode Island's Only Real General Store." Anna had wanted to take me there in the past, but had been unable to find it.

During our ride, we covered a little more than 80 miles and passed a fair number of motorcyclists, though nowhere near as many as we would have seen on a Sunday with temps in the 70s or 80s. Admittedly, 'ideal' riding weather hasn't arrived yet, and true fair-weather riders' bikes are still in hibernation, but I wasn't about to let another weekend go by without blowing the dust off my bike.

Itchin' to Ride

Yesterday, it was sunny and 46 degrees, so I couldn't resist taking a quick motorcycle ride to combat cabin fever. My Yamaha Virago has a Battery Tender pigtail on it, so I threw the charger on it a couple days earlier. It was at full charge in about an hour, so it really hadn't discharged much, despite the fact I haven't really ridden it in about a month. The bike started right up and idled smoothly (which I attribute to using Sea Foam fuel additive and stablizer). I checked the tire pressure and neither tire needed air, so I took about a 20-minute spin that included a short stretch on Route 1, where I got up to 65 mph. There is still snow on the sides of the roads, with some wet areas from snow melting, but the temps are slowly getting close to the bearable range.

Earlier that day, when I was driving my van, I saw one other motorcyclist on Route 1, riding a metric bike. While I was working in my garage, I heard what sounded like a Harley in the distance, but I wasn't sure. The farthest I ventured out in my Harley was my driveway, since I'm waiting until ALL the snow is gone and we have a heavy, soaking rain to wash all the salt away.

The first and only time I rode my Harley Wide Glide was also about three weeks ago. I had filled the gas tank before I parked it, but didn't add any fuel stabilizer (I ran out of Sea Foam at the time). I was a bit concerned about the fuel going bad and the battery discharging, but three weeks is apparently not long enough for either one of those things to happen. I added some Sea Foam, backed it out of the garage, and it started on the second or third try. I let the engine run for about 10 minutes to charge the battery a bit, while I sat on the bike and enjoyed the good vibrations.