Coop's Corner: Perfect Riding Weather --> Perfect Ride(s)

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Perfect Riding Weather --> Perfect Ride(s)

It's dawning on me that just about the only riding I did this summer was to/from/during the numerous rallies that I attended. It's been mentioned here by some blog readers as well as by myself that these days quality is fully capable of offsetting quantity and I still stand by that assessment. Still, as summer has all but slidden away, this guy just has a natural tendency to improve the situation.

Yesterday was rain-free but cool (very cool) and the blustery was almost too much of a good thing. Our weather folks have been announcing that we only had a record 2 days of >= 90 degrees this year. It almost sounds like they are complaining about that fact. I will not complain. It seemed like a glorious summer once it quit raining and finally did warm up.....warm up to just the perfect range.

So, yesterday was cool but I was out and put 98 miles on. This morning we had high 40's when I got up and long before it turned 60, I was off for a breakfast ride that quickly turned into 165 miles. A "ride to dinner" promise was made to son Ben, so I was home early afternoon and the two of us went out for another 120 miles or so. An almost cloudless sky with temps in the lowest 70's....absolutely perfect riding weather.

Today's two trips......

Does this 'summery' scene look familiar??

Earlier this summer I stopped for a break in Arcadia and had the good fortune to meet Eric and his wife, our meeting a very good thing. We've now ridden some miles together and communicate often, each sharing explorations with the other. Today I stopped at the same location and met John, recently back from Sturgis. John's HD has 115K miles....."still has the original clutch...bike's been a good one". I didn't ask but feel confident in saying that John's got a substantial bit more 'experience' than I.

I stopped at this Century Farm, the place belongs to a family that have been friends with my parents for many years. A magical farm in a magical setting.

From there I went home, took care of two quick chores and then had Ben join me. I started out on the Ascot, Ben took the Guzzi. Here we stopped for an afternoon ice cream in Bay City. The caboose used to belong to the Soo Line Railroad (connected MN/IA/WI to Sault Ste. Marie) but as you can see, an "M" has been substituted for the "S", not surprising in a Dairy State.

Showing Ben some of my favorite roads, slow ones as well as some that were faster, we arrived here in Plum City for a rest stop and a chance to watch the very calming and peaceful trout swim in their pond.

When we left Arkansaw (Wisconsin's version) and crossed the Chippewa River into Durand, I almost couldn't believe my eyes. MORE heavy rain in the area had the poor river flooding once again. We stopped downtown to take a closer look.

August flooding.......seems almost impossible.

We stopped for dinner while still in the neighboring state, crossed the river back into Minnesota and took the back way, one more time, to our home valley. Ben was a bit awestruck both at the roads I "knew" and how much fun they were to ride on today. We swapped bikes for a few miles, he preferring the Italian one to my old beat up Honda. The Guzzi was his favorite until we got home. I sent him out on the Hyosung, his first ride on that and he came back with a huge smile. I may not be able to keep him off from the little V-twin from here on out and I think I know how he feels.

There's a fighting chance something will get ridden tomorrow, same lovely weather predicted only slightly warmer.

13 comments:

VStar LadySeptember 6, 2014 at 9:18 PM
Coop - I recognize that silo!
August high water ... wow. It's been raining here too, but no flooding. Tomorrow looks like the sun will shine again. Can't complain about the temperatures though.
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Dar September 7, 2014 at 12:42 AM
Nice ride! I have often wondered about Hyosungs and what kind of quality they were. How many cc's? Can you post a pic - pretty please?! Gloriously sunny day on a bike nothing beats it!
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SonjaMSeptember 7, 2014 at 3:11 AM
Flooding in August, who would have thunk it. We also had our share of bad weather this year, not only was it very wet but also unusually cold.
I can certainly appreciate the blue skies. A random sight for me this summer.
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TrobairitzSeptember 7, 2014 at 10:29 AM
So Ben discovered the love of a v-twin. Been there, love my Gladius, lol.

I can't believe you only had 2 days above 90. Yesterday was day 31 above 90 for us. Luckily it has been cooling down at night. Woke to 48 this morning.

Loving the blue sky and green fields in the pictures.
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RichardMSeptember 8, 2014 at 6:05 AM
On the first of this month, we set a new record for rainfall. This is in addition to new records being set for June, July and the Summer. The August record is still standing as that was the year when the whole town flooded and the stairs to the University was being used as a boat ramp...
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Coop a.k.a. CoopdwaySeptember 8, 2014 at 7:23 AM
So many records this year, seems most everywhere is having outlier weather. The weather gods must think our Averages need some tweaking.
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Scott GSeptember 10, 2014 at 8:42 PM
My work schedule has really sucked.I might have to bail on the Tenderloin Ride.I'm not sure at this point.I work for the most part 4-12 hour shifts in a row with 24 hours off and start it all over again.Scotty is not happy at all.I just don't get enough time off to get anything done at all.I'll let everyone know.I feel like shit thinking I'm going to bail on my own called Ride To Eat.
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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)