A New Outlook on Riding

The latter part of this riding season has brought about a pleasant change. After 11 years of owning two motorcycles, in late July I parted with my Harley Davidson. I don't have room in my garage to comfortably store two bikes, so one of them had to stay outside in the summer and be put in a storage location for the winter. It was a workable solution, but I was ready for the change. It had begun to feel like I did not own the Harley, it owned me.

Since I am down to one bike I have changed my riding habits. In the past I felt a certain urgency to get out and ride on nice days and even not so nice days just to get some miles on each bike. That feeling is no longer there, so I set aside one day each week for riding my BMW. The planning is part of the enjoyment and I don't feel the need to look for other opportunities to ride. 

As you can imagine, this has given me more time to do other things. One is that I have done more bicycling over the past month. I have a newer road bike and an old hybrid from the mid-nineties. I turned over 10,000 lifetime miles on the road bike last week and am nearing that on the hybrid. Riding the bikes is an enjoyable experience in this area as we have a lot of trails and quiet county roads to ride on. 

I have also gotten into the winter time habit of having a book to read all the time. Over the winter I was reading through a list of "100 Books Every Man Should Read", but it went be the wayside in the spring. Currently I am reading "Travels with Charley" by John Steinbeck and it reminds me of the joy of travel, whether by truck or motorcycle. 

Over the past month my riding has been mainly north of home. The traffic is lighter and the towns smaller. During the height of the pandemic in the 2020 I always packed a lunch instead of looking for a local restaurant. Now, being fully vaccinated, I have no fear of going in restaurants. But I found packing a lunch and looking for a roadside or county park part of the enjoyment of the trip. So I continue to do that at the risk of missing out on some tasty local cuisine. At the same time I avoid the possibility of underwhelming meals and poor service. 

This last month of a new outlook on riding has been a blessing and I am looking forward riding far into the fall.