November-the cruelest month

[Emerson]

Here in the Middle West part of the United States there is a cruelty to the riding season, the ultimate tease, letdown, and depression leading to feelings of longing over the endless winter: October is to me clearly the best month to ride, and the season ends abruptly when the calendar shows the eleventh month. I had weeks off work, timed with the anticipation of the Indian Summer, and rode my beautiful new TTSE incessantly through several states, accelerating through entry ramps, watching shadows stretch long in the lingering late afternoon light over the freshly plowed fields, my head and spirits in the clouds and fog of early AM blasts following the shorelines of Lake Michigan. I never missed a shift or had a sore butt, and averaged at least 44mpg (and as high as 52mpg)even going wide open and ballistic down tollways and interstates, enjoying the music of my iPod and music of the road, all sound and no sound, thoughts of home left at the exit of my driveway, language stripped away leaving communion with machine and nature - all the while grinning like a madman in my helmet, my spirits flying. More sunsets, more fields, more backroads, more life. The cows in the field nodded in my direction, inviting me to live eternally in these halcyon moments with them. I genuinely flirted with the temptation.
And then, the first week of November. An endless sky of grey. Rain, broken up by periods of lighter rain, all the while my Trophy like an eager puppy (or new crush), waiting for my thumb and toes and fingers to get her engine running.
Winters are dark times made worse for the genuine longing I have to ride, a sort of death each fall as the promise of the following spring seems to never come. The Trophy, while steps away in the garage might as well be the distant lover I'm fated to pine over. November, you ARE the cruelest month.
Readers of this post, how do you survive this barren season? Friends residing closer to the equator, feel free to brag but do it with sunshine in describing your twelve month season.

[Verdun95]

 
You're a Poet my Friend 

[Traveller]

Pretty good read there! I'm in Savannah GA so we can ride all year and I do. I think July is the cruelest month, too effin' hot!, especially on the TTSE with the fairing, mainly take the Road King on real hot days if I'm not going too far. I'd say I feel your pain, but I don't. I can only imagine, I'd move, lol.

[nervouswreck]

Well RWE that was a deserving description of November.  How do I handle the dreary months?  It is easy I am retired and spend five to six months in Southwest Florida.  So sorry my friend, but I have to finish my coffee and get ready to ride today.  Hang in there.

[tdragger]

There's a prevailing myth that southern states enjoy a 12 month riding season.  Not necessarily so.  July and August can be unbearable. The joy of riding seeps out and away as fast and prolific as the sweat off your body.  While we do not have to worry as much about road conditions, the heat can kill just the same.  Cooling tech has not caught up with the years of heated gear.

[thumper]

@ Emerson,

Your poetry is beautiful--it must come from sitting in the house for months at a time, dreaming about the next riding season.       

In fact, reading your post is starting to depress me.     

I think I'll go for a ride to clear my mind.   

(hang in there!)     

[ZShyster]

Emerson,

Buck up, it is a beautiful day in Northern Illinois today, and we are probably going to have 3 or 4 more this week.  Fortunately, I am retired, so I am about to throw my leg over my steed and head west from Elmhurst, Illinois.  Maybe a burger at Sam's in Byron, or a Bratwurst in Wisconsin.

If you are not retired, maybe it is time to call the boss and plead for a day off.

Owning a motorcycle in these parts can be frustrating, but our brothers north of us have it much tougher, as do many of our very hardy brothers in Europe.

Your prose is beautiful, but a good jacket, a balaclava, and a pair of over pants can keep you riding in dry weather above 35 degrees in relative comfort.  Don't give up so soon.  My goal every year is to ride into December, and get back on the road in early March.

I hope to see you on the roads of northern Illinois soon.

Ride safe.

ZShyster

[OK_Trophy]

Here in NW Oklahoma the worst months are January and February (usually).  This November has been pretty decent, weather-wise, and hopefully December will be okay too.  I don't mind (too much) riding when it is super cold but sometimes we get ice storms and such and it is just too dangerous to be out on a big top-heavy bike like the TTSE.  By early March the chances of ice are pretty much gone and the bike gets a lot more use.