November 21, 2010 Elk Neck, Md

November 21, 2010

Beemer Stats:
238 Miles
43 MPH Ave.
45 MPG Ave

Gypsy Stats:
225.8 Miles
9 Hr 37 Min Elapsed Time
5 Hr 56 Min Riding Time
38 MPH Ave

What a beautiful late autumn morning in SE Pennsylvania. I got up early to run hot water over my back before going out to ride motorcycles around in subfreezing weather (we do this because....?) and found Jupiter brilliant in the eastern sky as the morning star thru the bathroom window. Hello World. Does it get any better than this? Let's go RIDE!

I put on the LD Comfort long johns as base layer. The outdoor thermometer read 28 degrees but I figured it would warm up over the course of the day, so I didn't put on on the thinsulate lined jeans, just the sweat pants between the base layer and the riding suit. For top layer, I wore my $10,000 Tee shirt (not to worry, it came with a free motorcycle) over the LD long sleeves, then the Gerbing electric jacket, riding suit with liner, and light blue Frogg Toggs as an extra wind break. I always feel like I'm wearing my pajamas when I put on the Frogg Toggs. I don't know why, probably the color. I need to get a new set in black.

I mounted up, plugged in, and headed out around 7:00 am with the rising sun just lighting the tips of the trees. The thermometer said 28 and meant it. The electric jacket was toasty but the sweat pants were not enough. My legs were chilly. Next time, I figure the thinsulate and flannel lined jeans come out whenever the temp is below about 45.

We are into late November in PA so most of the leaves are on the ground, with just a few die hard yellow Norway maples holding out and the occasional decorative shrub providing a splash of bright red against the grays and browns of the landscape. The corn and beans are pretty much in, leaving stubble in the fields.

I stopped to gas up at the Redners Quick Stop. Usually, I go in for a quick cup of coffee at this point, but today I was so bundled with layers that I didn't think it was worth the trouble of getting out of the riding gear then bundling up again. I could have just gone in with my gear on but I was wearing the balaclava tucked in to all of the layers of jacket and didn't want to be mistaken for a terrorist by the counter clerk.

The temp was up to 35 as I cruised the ridge over to Reading to form up for the ride. I was looking at the map for ideas of where to go today thinking south and Elk Neck, MD when Tim came out and said, "How 'bout Elk Neck, Md today?" Very weird. But of course it being third Sunday of the month it was off to the Masonic Temple in Birdsboro for breakfast first - custom omelets and special today pumpkin pancakes. Plus, this is the only place I know where you can a get a piece of salt mackerel for breakfast without cooking it yourself.

We didn't dawdle over breakfast and were soon headed south into Chester County. When I found us turning off of US 322 onto Birdell Rd, I called for a quick diversion and lead us over to Chambers Lake on the edge of Hibernia Park. The boat launch parking lot provided the opportunity for a group photo with the site of our old house on Martins Corner Rd, now under water, in the background. By this time, the palatial portapotty at the edge of the lot was a welcome relief as well.

The sky was variable, dark gray overcast threatening as we came out from breakfast, blowing over to bright sun an hour later when we stopped by the lake.

On to Elk Neck State Park! Elk Neck, directly south of Elkton, MD, is a peninsula sticking out into the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay. It is known for its great birding, especially raptors including native bald eagles, high cliffs above the water, and its somewhat stubby, 33 ft high, stone light house. We took the 2 mile hike from the parking lot out to the light house and back. No raptors to be found today, but there was a flock of Eastern Bluebirds and a few desultory vultures circling overhead.

Back north across the Chester Co. horse country got us home just as the sun was setting. Well, that's how many daylight hours there are in a day this time of year.

November 7, 2010

Beemer Stats:
112.7 Miles
40 MPH Ave
43 MPG Ave

Gypsy Stats:
5 Hr 56 Min elapsed time
2 Hr 43 Min Riding Time (long breakfast!)
105.7 miles
38.9 MPH Ave

Tim: ’96 BMW R1100RS
Dave: ’99 Triumph Sprint ST 955 Triple (aka Smokin’ Red)
Lindsey: '07 BWM R1200R (Grin!)

Just a short run today; Tim scored a ticket to the Eagles-Colts game at 4:00, so he needed to get home by noon. Dave pointed out that it was fall-back day. If we started at 8:00 EDT (7:00 EST) rather than 8:00 EST, we would hardly notice and could get in an extra hour of riding time. This worked for me for three reasons: (1) heading out to meet up at 7:00 (EDT) would be before the sun was up enough to raise the temp so I could really try out the electrics, (2) we get an extra hour of helmet time, and (3) if I could get through all of Sunday on EDT, then I could collect my extra hour on Monday morning when it had some real value.

Heading out at 7:11 am EDT (6:11 EST) it was brisk, to put it lightly: 28 leaving the house, dropping to as low as 24.7 crossing the Oley Valley. I gotta tell you, on a motorcycle with no windscreen moving at 60 MPH, this a few degrees below cold. I suited up in the two piece, custom made, motorcycle long underwear as a base layer. For pants I wore Thinsulate and flannel lined jeans with the RevIt suit pants with liner. On top, I layered up with the Gerbing heated jacket, RevIt liner and riding jacket, topped with the Frogg Toggs jacket as an extra wind break. On my head, I wore a balaclava and the Shark Evoline helmet with the chin bar closed in the full face position. With the jacket plugged in and turned on and the heated hand grips turned on, this was amazingly warm and comfortable. The biggest problem was visibility as the balaclava tends to deflect the exhaled breath up onto glasses which fog up. I had to open the helmet face shield one notch to clear the fog and suffered the consequent cold breeze on the cheeks. All-in-all though, I think we demonstrated that sub-freezing riding is definitely in as long as the roads are dry.

When I got to Tim's his bike with gear was parked on the street. Hmm..... Something's up. Tim is usually getting the bike out of the garage and collecting the gear for the ride at this time. Turns out, he sprung forward instead of falling back, confused the time change and rolled out at 6:00 am wondering why it was so cold and dark and where everyone else was.

By this time the temp was holding between 30-32. After sub 25, this felt downright balmy (with the electrics still on!). Luckily, Giegertown FD opens their Sunday morning breakfast at 7:30, so we didn't have to go out a ride around in circles in the cold for an hour before getting a cup of joe. 'Pears to be a new guy on the grill today, so the pig was pretty abused before getting to table. But the GFD special eggs were OK and the SOS filled in the holes. We lingered for 2 1/2 hours over breakfast catching up on news, then headed out to ride around the county. Temps made it up into the low 40's and the ride was glorious. A bit breezy, so the air was full of swirling leaves. The colors are past their prime with maybe 50% of trees bare and the remainder mostly the yellows and brown mixed with the the deep russet of the pin oaks.

Well, I didn't take the camera along this morning, so no pics of the ride, but here is a pic of my new Kentucky KM900 mandolin, the stringed instrument sized to travel on a motorcycle. I went up to Steve Walker's after the ride today to pick it up . Sweet instrument. It looks great, but more importantly, it rings like a bell. And the action is incredibly close. Look for mando music at the next BWM rally.