THAT DARK TROUBLING DAY

It is ever present on my mind. Living in Northern Minnesota, one knows that very soon the riding season will come to an end. It may be very abrupt with a early snow storm in October or it may be a gradual process with heavy frost in the morning causing the avid biker to wait till mid-morning to ride.

The beautiful Autumn days can lull a biker into a state of mind that dismisses the inevitable approaching winter. The color soaked trees and the unseasonably warm days in the 60's are some of the best riding days of the year.  

Since I am a safety nut who dresses for an accident, temperate weather suites me just fine. On a unseasonably warm day in the summer when bikers are in T- shirts and I have all my Aerostitch gear on and a full face helmet, I'm  quite sure people think "that guy is crazy!" So now that the morning temps are in the 30's, as I ride into town being geared up doesn't look that strange.

This coming week the morning temperatures will be in the low 30's and that introduces the possibility of the roadways having patches of frost especially on freeway overpasses. Riding in the late fall does require discretion and some critical thinking. Sadly I come up short in both areas, so hopefully my wife will intervene when necessary and talk some sense into me.

This year I think I am primed for riding late into the season. I'm not ready to say the season is over, so I expect that I will have some very cold rides and possibly a few on dicey roads. But I doubt I will break my all time record set in 2010 when I rode to work on November 16 in 3 inches of snow. But one never knows.....I am capable of doing stupid things and I really love riding motorcycles!