IT WAS on the frosty side, as you may imagine. Around 20F, windy. My intention was to take the iron piggy out for a blast around the Scituate Reservoir but we never got there. Ended up riding mostly in & around town because of an electrical issue.
Rolled on home around 11 p.m., stripped out of the cold boots and leathers in front of the wood stove, and she who is made of love handed me a bourbon hot toddy. Life could be tougher.
I typically don’t bother with the heated gloves and jacket liner unless I’m going to be out half a day or longer. For an hour or two it’s not worth the fuss; I dress for the ride and feel warm enough on my own.
Last night was kind of a dumb escapade, because I thought, well, you’ve had a bad cough for a week, use the electrics. The electrics failed, of course, and for some kind of full-moon fool reason I hadn’t anticipated the ever-present possibility of the electrics failing. By the time I got cold I didn’t have enough clothes with me to get warm again. Had a pair of mittens in the saddlebags but not the wool liners.
On my way home, my hands were pretty frozen so I passed the highway entrance, pulled a U-turn at the next light, pulled over and warmed my hands on the engine for 2 or 3 minutes.
Blown fuse, most likely, but it could be the controller is shot, too. It’s had a lot of weather exposure over the years.
I had a gopro in my pocket last night and a couple of fully charged batteries. Wasn’t sure I would bother to stop and set up the camera (same principle as the electrics, I’d rather ride than fiddle) but then I did stop; stopped at a gas station where there was light to work by.
The batteries usually last an hour. Last night, the camera got so cold it quit after 19 minutes. And its ability to record sound was breaking up for about a minute before that. After I warmed my hands on the engine and got on the highway, I passed a pickup on the right because he was hogging the left and on the clip it sounds like the motorcycle’s coming apart.
The surface of the road felt good. Good grip. I had aired down both tires by 6psi so they’d warm up a little faster. Not that they ever really warm up this time of year.
On an unrelated matter, I’m likely in the queue for another six-month ass kicking in the chemo arena. Knew I would have to deal at some point with the RADCAT 4 results I started to get… when? Must be a year and a half ago by now.
Anyway… situation is developing. Will let you know.
Cheers to all, and thanks for reading.
Tony DePaul, January 15, 2025, Cranston, Rhode Island, USA
Jaysus! Route 37 is STILL under construction??? They were working on that road when I left 5 years ago!
Good thing you were riding down there, Tony…..it hasn’t been warmer than 12 degrees at night here for the past three weeks. We have about 2 inches of snow on the ground which helps with the icebox atmosphere.
Still working on 37. Did you know that D’Ambra went belly up on that job? Other companies appear to be on it, in fits & starts.
Hi Tony. Nice you were out for a blast on your bike. I see you have the curtains on your crash bars. I can relate to all your leathers laying on the floor in front of the stove.
I don’t use the electric stuff as I don’t trust it after failures. Longjohns always travel with me and layers of windproof clothing.
Hang in there buddy and keep the shiny stuff up. Say Hi to Pam!
Hey, bud. The curtains are great, they keep the 70mph wind off the boots. They go on in the fall and stay on until spring.
Best to you & lovely Janey
Hey Tony, big brass ones you got there for riding in 20 degrees! Electrics for heated gear are a pain on any bike I think, I hope you get it sorted out. I’ve had good luck with the Gerbing stuff on my Versys, although the battery on the Versys just took a crap after 4 years of use. Because I’ve got four different circuits piggy-backing on my battery terminals, I’m finally going to put a power distribution box of some kind to clean things up.
I hope your chemo stuff goes smoothly; you seem to handle this stuff with the cancer much smoother than I imagine I would. I will keep you in my prayers and I am sure Pam will keep us posted if it gets to be too much of a pain for you to scribble about it.
I haven’t been out on the bike since the last day of 2024, but am hoping to take a short ride this weekend.
Have you had the old red Ford out recently?
Cheers,
Will
The Ford sits, Will. If we had snow I’d be using the old truck to haul firewood. There are trees down behind the kids’ house that I want to sled out to the road if & when we get snow.
Nothing like a wood stove. Hang in there, Tony, and by all means, please keep writing. I’m out here in LA dodging wildfires left and right. The only thing I look forward to reading is your post.
Best,
M
Thank you, Michael. Hey, send me any scripts you can’t bear to read, I’ll be happy to write coverage on them.
Be careful out there.
Get that chemo procedure done and dusted. We have shit to do this summer!
Gosh, I know… had hopes of avoiding it until September but lately I’ve been catching every bug there is. My immune system must have its hands full with the lymphoma, nothing left over.
I would have told you something different two weeks ago, amigo… that I was up for riding all summer while covering up on the ropes… you know, on the ropes trying to rope this dope, hoping it’ll punch itself out. It doesn’t seem inclined to.