March Motorcycling

The calendar says this is the first day of spring, but Mother Nature never cared much for calendars. It is overcast, windy, and about 25 degrees in northeast Wisconsin. There have been a few avid and eager motorcyclists out recently, but most are waiting for the salt and sand to be washed off the roads by a hard spring rain.

Early last week the forecast indicated a temperature in the high 40's by midweek, so I made preparations to get out for a ride. On Monday I took the cover off of my 2011 BMW R 1200 GSA. Over the winter I had removed the aluminum panniers and gave them a good cleaning with Nevrdull. The left one installed easily, but I had some trouble with the latch on the right side. It required quite a bit of pressure to get the lock turned and the key out, but finally it locked. After checking that the Battery Tender was still connected, I closed up the garage and waited for the weather to warm up.

On Wednesday the temperature crept up into the 40's, so I took the bike out for the first ride of 2018. Bayshore Park is about a 20 mile ride up into Door County and that is always my first stop. On the way up I used the Tire Pressure Monitoring System to check the tires and listened for any odd engine noises. All seemed well as I turned off the highway into the parking lot.

Green bay was still ice covered and there were a few vehicles belonging to ice fishermen in the parking lot. There is a steep hill down to the shore and it is blocked to vehicular traffic in the winter. So the fisherman load up sleds and haul everything down to the ice. Often I will see people enjoying some winter camping, but there were none to be seen on this day.

I parked the bike and pulled a banana out of my pannier. The sun was shining brightly and it took some of the chill out of the air. I was surprised that I noticed a cold wind more when I was stopped than when I was on the bike. Before starting back toward Green Bay I checked the signal lights and brake light, something I had neglected prior to leaving home. They were all working properly and as I rode south I realized I had benefited from a pretty good tailwind on the way up.

After making two more stops to conduct some business and a brisk ride down I 41 to Wrightstown I was ready to go home. The weather forecast was not too great for the following days so I was happy that I had gotten out for my first ride and that both my BMW and I had survived another Wisconsin winter.