Revisiting Risk: Thaw Then Freeze

That's what I look like after a mistake in judgment. I look pretty much the same when I make the right choices. I'm careful choosing the days I'll ride. But I do make mistakes.

Impatience to ride and choosing to believe the sunnier of two weather prospects contributed to an error in evaluating the risk of riding this morning. And there was also the fact that I ignored the direct evidence that the driveway that was wet last night was ice this morning. Ignoring that I walked to the road to find dry, salty pavement. In my head I'm repeating the weather forecast, "…near 50 degrees this afternoon…" I'm standing in the road, it's 8 AM and the temperature is 27 degrees Fahrenheit.

On the road I am thinking about breakfast and not the ice. Out of town and into the countryside I begin seeing intermittent ice strips along the road from streams of water that ran during yesterday's thaw. I'm still not processing the data. Instead I point the scooter straight ahead across the ice, these patches that are still narrow. Breakfast in Centre Hall or Bellefonte? Ten miles or fifteen? My stomach is managing the ride.

A 50-foot wide swath of ice. Yesterday is was liquid water but now it is a big stop sign. It's not a little patch of ice. It's not black ice which has more traction to it than this stuff. It's shiny deep ice.

This is how a rider manages shiny ice:

• Pull over and stop
• Look in the mirrors for traffic
• Push up the visor and admire the ice
• Say to yourself "What the f…??"
• Decide not to ride to Centre Hall or Bellefonte for breakfast
• Admire the ice some more
• Sigh
• Begin picking out the least slippery path across the ice
• Cross the ice

Right, cross the ice.

There's an element of machismo in riding. Perhaps less on a Vespa but it's still there. It evaporates crossing ice. Anyone watching knows you're an idiot. Or worse. Feet down pattering around as the scooter moves forward slowly searching for just a tiny bit of traction from a stray piece of gravel. The scooter moves in directions is shouldn't, boots find no purchase. Constant attention to the mirrors for traffic. I am fortunate in my little world that traffic is minimal to non-existent. No one is watching. I don't just look stupid doing this, I am stupid. Poor decision-making back in the driveway.

Over the next two miles I repeat the process a dozen times as each ice hazard seems to become more complex, like a puzzle book or increasing difficulty. My brain is working now to determine an ice-free route. That means a main traffic artery where use and excessive salt will mean less likelihood of ice. A half hour later I am at Barnes and Noble. Not the breakfast I planned but one requiring a reasonable amount of risk.

I sat and wrote this down before I forgot what happened. I like to forget things that don't go my way or illuminate me in a bright, positive light. It's one of the unexpected benefits of blogging -- learning something about how I operate. While I successfully managed the risk on the road I did not do a good job managing the consideration of risk to determine if I would ride. The mistaken application of a weather forecast for later in the day, ignoring the significance of ice in the driveway, and allowing my desire to ride cloud my judgment, all worked together to produce a failure in managing the risks I am willing to take.

I learned some things today. And I did bring home a giant chocolate chip cookie.

Revisiting Risk

Morning Fall
by Edward McGinty

I've been working on a piece related to risk and the potential price of riding. It's the sort of thing that makes family and spouses uncomfortable but bears consideration by anyone who ventures out on two wheels. Denial is not a useful tool in managing risk.

I've reposted the Morning Fall video that I shared over two years ago. It helped me think about risk and consequences and has focused my attention (again) on managing my skills and expectations wisely. If you have not seen it before it is worth watching. And if you have, maybe it will rekindle your own desires to be a better rider.

I should be posting my new risk piece over the weekend.

Frigid Riding and the Battery Tender

It was cold yesterday morning. The kind of cold that makes my dog hesitate at the door. Accuweather said it was -4 Fahrenheit. Too cold to ride. The road was dry and white from salt and the sun was coming up in a clear blue sky. Its been almost two weeks since the last time the Vespa was on the road and more snow was forecast for later in the day. Even if I had wanted to ride the Vespa wouldn't start after sitting in an unheated garage for so long. As I made my way through shredded wheat mixed with almonds, blueberries, and raisins I wondered if my riding clothes could deal with subzero temperatures. They're all hanging in the garage. Probably frozen solid. Besides, it was four degrees below zero, no fun riding in that. And the scooter probably wouldn't start.

Probably.

The headlight came on when I turned the key. Looks bright. That's a good sign. A touch of the starter button and a few extra cranks of the engine and it came to life. I could ride if I wanted. Shortly I was geared up and pushing the scooter through the snow to a relatively clear spot in the driveway. The Vespa's ambient temperature indicator is flashing 11 degrees. A quarter mile later it was flashing 2 degrees. After some slow travel on secondary roads to make sure everything was working properly in the cold I pulled onto PA Route 45 with the indicator blinking 0 degrees. This was the coldest I had ever ridden.

My gear was doing a good job keeping the cold out. The only real problem was the ice building up inside the visor. Cracking it open does not clear ice as it does fog. Riding at 50 mph was out of the question so I had to breathe carefully to keep it at a minimum. The indicator blinked -2 degrees, the lowest it would go during this ride. Ten miles from home the tips of my fingers were beginning to get cold despite my Gerbing electric gloves on full power. Fourteen miles from home I decided it was time to turn around and find some warmth.

Sitting at a booth in a local convenience store I was content to hold a cup of hot chocolate, fingers wrapped around the paper cup absorbing heat from the hot liquid. Even the hot BBQ sign warmed my spirits.

After a quick stop at the veterinarian's office to get some special dog food I pulled into the parking lot of Kissell Motorsports to look at a Battery Tender. In the past I relied on frequent riding to keep the battery charged but the harsher winter will eventually kill the battery. Keeping the GTS on a trickle charger makes sense today. The addition of a Gerbing adaptor will allow me to plug into the outlet for my gloves.

It's hard to explain riding in cold weather. I don't think you can. You have to experience it. And with the proper gear. Otherwise it will be miserable. I was reading an article this morning in the January 16 edition of the New York Times about climbing Mount Washington in the winter. One of the climbers describes the experience, "There's a simple purity in all that quiet". I find that riding in general but especially in winter.

The snow has been coming down all night and the roads are bad. Until they clear the Vespa can sip on milliamps.

Nourishing the Riding Fantasy

NOTE: The Bronson videos keep vanishing from youTube so this one is not the original that motivated this post. Since so many are removed I can only imagine someone who still owns the rights is prowling the Web looking for infringing uses.

In the dead, icy, cold of winter it's hard to stay in touch with riding, even for someone who does ride through much of the cold weather. I found a dead link to a youTube video on one of my old posts and while searching for a replacement I found this exquisite piece made up of footage from Then Came Bronson. After watching it I remembered some things...

Back on the Road Again

After lunch today my daughter dropped me off at Kissell Motorsports so I could be reunited with my Vespa. The rear master cylinder arrived during the holidays and they installed, checked, and tested it so I was ready to go. When you are used to riding constantly it feels like forever to be without something to ride, even if it is for only a couple weeks. A couple weeks at Christmas when the whole world is busy with other things anyway. The weather was cooperating too with partly sunny skies and temperatures hovering around 35 degrees for my ride home.

Walking into a motorcycle dealership is a bit disorienting. For me at least. You never go right to the service counter but instead do one of those Family Circus kid coming home from school routes through the place. I do a slow stroll through the Vespa’s until the Triumph’s catch my eye. I imagine what it would be like to take the Bonneville T100 up Rattlesnake Pike, or the 2009 Kawasaki KLR up along Pine Creek. I pretty much find I can create a fantasy to accompany any vehicle in the place. Sure, I have my favorites, but a person needs to be flexible.

Craig Kissell, owner of Kissell Motorsports, must see a lot of these Family Circus walks. We try to stay cool and act like adults but I’m sure he sees eyes drift off into imaginary rides when someone stands too long near a Triumph or Ducati. I pause too long near and ask too many questions of a brand new, flat black MP3500. I know that he knows that I like this scooter. He tells me to take it out for a ride. Part of me wants to but another part of me knows I don’t need to be obsessing right now about anything else. I am already coveting an Epson 3800 printer. And a new computer. But that’s a story for another day. I resist the temptation but I do allow Craig to take a picture of me on the MP3. I’ll have to delete that image. If you are out for a ride in Central Pennsylvania is is worth making a stop to look around at all the good things at Kissell Motorsports. Unless you don’t like having that old, kid-like, toy store experience.

The Vespa is ready to go and the extended warranty I purchased covers all the repair costs save for a small deductible. That was a nice surprise. When I pulled out onto the road I was surprised at how powerful the GTS is. It really jumps when you twist the throttle. I had plans to ride straight home but I always get distracted by some view or little winding path. After one short detour down a dirt and cinder road to test out that rear brake I did make a beeline home.

It’s nice to be back on the road.