Winter arrives rather suddenly

DirtFlier

DirtFlier

Joined
Dec 13, 2010
Messages
2,371
Location
Troy, OH
Bike
2010 Silver NT700V/ABS
I rode on Monday with some pals and it was in the mid-60s, sunny, with clear skies and only moderate wind. The next day was almost the same except for some clouds.

Tonight is Halloween and Old Man Winter decided to make a surprise appearance. It's in the low 30s @ 7 PM with strong winds and large snow flakes are falling. Indy is due west of here by 2-hrs and it's already covered with the white stuff. Overnight lows will dip into the 20s so I brought some firewood inside to have a nice fire with my morning coffee.

Hard to believe I rode on Monday without electrics and only a thin turtleneck under my riding jacket worn without liner! :-(
 
mikesim said:
Winter sucks, don't it!

🤬

Mike
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Mike is always to the point and right on....we get 4 days of upper 40s and then down into the lower 40s again...14 hours of darkness and 10 of daylight....Road the FJR today.
 
I not riding anyway, still 2" of snow in West Michigan and 29 degrees on Nov. 1! I guess I glade in a way I am not ready to ride yet, even with Aerostih would make a ride uncomfortable for any real distance.
 
Certainly the weather year is extreme. But it always has been. Here is an old fartz story.

Halloween night 1991 we got 36" - 42" of snow here. That was our abrupt beginning of winter that year. That snow (with more added) stayed on the ground till the end of April 1992 - a full 6 months. It was, however a good year for snowplow and snowmobile sales.

I don't mind the snow so much but I agree with Coyote Chris about the short photoperiod we experience during winter. That bothers me more. I love those new LED flashlights.
 
Well the 5"snow has almost gone!..we had a little rain with temps in the 30s and now I am looking forward to my last annual ride to a pretty little place in Iowa called St. Donatus for their church fundraiser pancake breakfast..A few of us nutty stalwarts meet just North of Clinton Ia and for the last 10 or so years it has become a must attend event...The weather forecast for tomorrow is promising to hit the 50* mark so this should be quite enjoyable...There have been times where cold rain and sleet and even snow has reared its ugly head but this year they are only forecasting rain in the early afternoon, so I will be on the eat and run brigade!....The NT has performed flawlessly so far so it will receive its winter Stabil in the gas and rest in a corner of the garage until spring arrives..:cry:
 
I've been lucky enough to get out 2 to three times a week for a couple hrs each till time change. Friday evening was a coldest ride with temp sitting at 39 when I got out of work and Sunday it was in the low 50's so got in a little over 200 miles. I won't ride after dark so pretty much have to watch for the best weekends or take a day off if real nice. 20191024_193755.jpg
 
WVRider said:
.....when I got out of work. .....
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Work? - What's that??? Sort of like jail ????

Beautiful picture Duane. Whenever I see something like that I fail to stop and take a picture. Glad you did.

I also appreciate all the ground work you do setting up for the "gathering" in May. Great rides last year, including your scheduling of the rain when we weren't riding. You've sure got good connections. You have raised our expectations so high that I fear someone will grumble if their pizza isn't sliced just right when they deliver it for us.
 
Michigan winter will be high of 26 degrees 11/9-11, usually riding this time of year. I guess decision to have surgery has not caused me to loose much of season.
 
Test your skills, deer, dogs, squirrels, pot holes, left turners, ......... You're going to die any way, have fun while you can.
 
Just did a 60 mile ride thru the hilly wheat fields known as the Palouse to run some old gas out of the NT. Pretty dark at 4 PM. Ride to lunch with Chris tomorrow, fill up with ethanol free, and oil change should end the season for the NT. :(
 
I love the Palouse! It's a great ride from Walla Walla to Starbuck and then up to WA-260.
 
It was 21 this morning and apparently the sudden chill caused many of my trees to do a mass dump of their leaves. My Genko tree was dropping leaves when I made coffee this morning and by noon it was completely bare! No riding today as I'm on rake duty. :-(

They're saying it will be 50-53 on Sunday so I'm going to ride then!
 
Tosh, That happened to us last month!
Probably the last ride of the season for the NT. Lunch ride with Chris (took the FJR) to a rural restaurant in wheat country. Nice and sunny with temps 46 - 50. Interesting note is that 5 blocks from home, small suv did not notice the 4 way stop. Barking tires suggest no/not good anti-skid. In all fairness, you can only see the STOP sign a block and one half away. :rolleyes: No real excitement but a reminder that they are out to get you.

The Palouse is an interesting story in how it was formed by high speed floods and how they figured that out. :unsure:
 
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I plan to ride-commute all winter so long there's no frozen precip. That's really the only damper on taking the bike. The cold on its own is easy to mitigate with heated gear. I've got the heated jacket liner, heated pants liner, waterproof goretex Alpinestar boots fitted with heated insoles, balaclava, windshield on the NT at high. The heated grips with wind guards are doing alright, but I'll probably be putting electric gloves back in the mix on real cold days
 
NewTo700V said:
I plan to ride-commute all winter so long there's no frozen precip. That's really the only damper on taking the bike. The cold on its own is easy to mitigate with heated gear. I've got the heated jacket liner, heated pants liner, waterproof goretex Alpinestar boots fitted with heated insoles, balaclava, windshield on the NT at high. The heated grips with wind guards are doing alright, but I'll probably be putting electric gloves back in the mix on real cold days
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Will your electrical system support all of that? I've got the original, fairly-small Denali LED driving lights from Twisted Throttle, heated grips, and a Warm'n'Safe heated jacket and I don't think I could add pants, boot liners, and gloves without draining the battery.
 
Phil Tarman said:
Will your electrical system support all of that? I've got the original, fairly-small Denali LED driving lights from Twisted Throttle, heated grips, and a Warm'n'Safe heated jacket and I don't think I could add pants, boot liners, and gloves without draining the battery.
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i saw some jackets with their own removable rechargeable battery for heating, good enough for 4-8 hours of heat...

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