This time of year always put me in a bit of a funk. The days get colder and darker, the wind whips up. Just having the dark shield on my Arai makes the prospect of a later-in-the-day ride a concern. The stake to the heart is the time change. Once the day starts getting dark (and chill) by 4:30, I'm done. We eked out a few later season rides, thanks to the unseasonable weather. And, I invested in a new bike.
And perhaps that's a bit of my sorrow. Having just got this great end of the year deal, I'm not even close to breaking this in. Hell, I can only think of 1 time that I switched it out of Road mode!
The long, cold, winter nap that is yet to come is a motorcyclist's endurance test. When spring comes, I will be out on the road on the first warm, dry day. We'll shrug off sand season and mud season, and ride like it's our first time again.
Until then, I'll sit by the fire and conspire to travel the globe via Google Earth. I'll travel down some international roadways that I may never get to see. And I'll peruse the pages of the "goodies" catalogs and look for that one last grommet thingie that I don't yet own.
Winter is a good time to purge too, so I will be trying to giveaway or even sell any usable gear that I now longer have a need for. I recently parted with my Mustang Seat, to a good friend who is still riding a cruiser. And I will look over all the old gear to see what needs to go away, or get put up on a shelf, just for the sake of the memories.
Until I see you out again...
A low, slow wave,
Joe (Nein) Rocket
