Winter

[Thylacine]

I haven't logged in here for months and have nothing to say other than it's January 3, there's two feet of snow on the ground and ice on the roads. Spring seems a distant dream. My motorbike sits forlornly in the garage stranded behind the vile snowblower. Just checked the forecast; more snow on the way. Agggghhhh!

Edited January 3, 2017 by Thylacine

[Skywagon]

I feel your pain.... it dropped down to 77 here today so may put another log on the fire...Seriously though I have the opposite problem in Houston in the summer. It's so hot I generally don't ride from July - September. At 100+ degrees and 90%+ humidity, I just wait for this time of the year. It's great riding time in Texas right now. My down time lets me pull all the panels, check and clean everything..

[szurszewski]

We are in Phoenix right now and the weather is perfect for riding. We went out on 12/31 for a ride with a local who doesn't have a car - I don't know how he commutes in the summer - it would surely kill me (and they don't have humidity here!).a

[temesvar]

I feel your pain.... it dropped down to 77 here today so may put another log on the fire...Seriously though I have the opposite problem in Houston in the summer. It's so hot I generally don't ride from July - September. At 100+ degrees and 90%+ humidity, I just wait for this time of the year. It's great riding time in Texas right now. My down time lets me pull all the panels, check and clean everything..

It drooped down to 77... My thermostat in the house is set at 72..

Am i missing something??

[Whip]

I haven't logged in here for months and have nothing to say other than it's January 3, there's two feet of snow on the ground and ice on the roads. Spring seems a distant dream. My motorbike sits forlornly in the garage stranded behind the vile snowblower. Just checked the forecast; more snow on the way. Agggghhhh!

 

 

Get your maps out and plan a trip...... Torrey would be good start.

 

 

 

Cabin #9 has an open bar and a hug waiting for ya.

 

 

Then the UN Rally.

 

L and L

Edited January 4, 2017 by Whip

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

Yeahhhh Thylacine. Some of my more enjoyable riding was in the winter, but not now. Never had ice and snow when down in the 20s in the Sierra foothills.

Bike is parked, charger connected, gear hanging up and lonely. Where in Utah are you?

[mnTwin]

I haven't logged in here for months and have nothing to say other than it's January 3, there's two feet of snow on the ground and ice on the roads. Spring seems a distant dream. My motorbike sits forlornly in the garage stranded behind the vile snowblower. Just checked the forecast; more snow on the way. Agggghhhh!

 

I feel your pain.

[gordiet]

I feel your pain.... it dropped down to 77 here today so may put another log on the fire...Seriously though I have the opposite problem in Houston in the summer. It's so hot I generally don't ride from July - September. At 100+ degrees and 90%+ humidity, I just wait for this time of the year. It's great riding time in Texas right now. My down time lets me pull all the panels, check and clean everything..

Try Phoenix in July if you don't think they have humidity.

GT

[vhntr1]

I fell your pain ,in Ohio weather sucks plus I work outside year around to support my habit.

[Thylacine]

Bike is parked, charger connected, gear hanging up and lonely. Where in Utah are you?

 

I split my time between Sanpete County and the Salt Lake foothills. Unfortunately, both locations are unrideable at the moment — as are the roads between them. Sounds like you might be somewhere over against the Oquirrhs with all the soupy winter air separating us.

[Thylacine]

Get your maps out and plan a trip...... Torrey would be good start.

 

Cabin #9 has an open bar and a hug waiting for ya.

 

Kind of depends on who's doing the hugging, but a warm, sunny ride between Torrey and Escalante sounds a whole lot better than walking the dog through the snowdrifts, like I just did.

Edited January 4, 2017 by Thylacine

[Fathom]

Say what you will about DC, but the Mid-Atlantic offers year-round riding if you're reasonably hale & hearty and have some decent winter gear (my only heated kit is a pair of battery powered socks). I was out on New Year's Day for 3 hours, and while a bit brisk, it was altogether tolerable. A lot of hungover idiots on the road, though. I'm good down to about 24 degrees F as long as the roads are dry, but this past Sunday it was about 44... not bad for early January.

Edited January 4, 2017 by Fathom

[taylor1]

During the winter we get 4 or 5 crap days, then it turns nice for 3 or 4. Today is a nice one, low 70,s. Going to take the ole airhead out today. It just keeps staring at me when I walk through the garage

[Antimatter]

Yeah, temps are going to be in the negatives this week. Which means the ice on the lakes will firm up (hopefully). I really need to get myself a 450 that I could swap between supermoto and ice. There's no reason to stop riding if you really don't want to .

[RPG]

Bike Week is only a couple months away!

 

Change your mindset. Winter is the time to take the panels off and do all that maintenance you put off during the summer.

 

RPG

[Dennis Andress]

I saw a sport bike riding along the beach this morning. Probably some young pup going to work, in 27°.

[Indy Dave]

I'm about to head out for a 'pleasure' ride. 19 here. 'Gotta take the cookies when they're passed' as my Grandfather used to say.

 

Can't stop moving . . .

 

 

[Sonor]

Hey Thylacine, I love Utah but there is no way I can take snow anymore. I grew up in the white stuff, took my drivers test in a snow storm, and eventually said enough. I feel your pain and as a matter of fact, the term for what you are going through is PMS - Parked Motorcycle Syndrome.

Edited January 4, 2017 by Sonor

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

PMS - Parked Motorcycle Syndrome

And, the fix is TMR - Therapeutic Motorcycle Ride!!

[Green RT]

Hey Thylacine, I love Utah but there is no way I can take snow anymore. I grew up in the white stuff, took my drivers test in a snow storm, and eventually said enough. I feel your pain and as a matter of fact, the term for what you are going through is PMS - Parked Motorcycle Syndrome.

 

+1

 

I grew up in Alaska and am good at driving on snow. Spent a few years in Colorado with a mild version of it. Once rode home from work on two wheels in 4 inches of snow. I am happy now to live where I don't have to deal with it.

[Thylacine]

Way back in high school a friend and I had 350cc Honda trail bikes. We lived in a rural area outside a small town. In the winter we'd wrap long chains around the knobby tires and rims and tie it all together with fencing wire. Snow, ice, blizzard conditions, none of it mattered, we rode those bikes all winter long and had a blast doing it. I don't think I'll be trying that on my RT, though.

[Indy Dave]

Snow has arrived (again). 'Here today, Gone tomorrow' Errr - hopefully next week . . .

 

Thylacine - Do you get periods between snows where you can ride, or is it pretty much constant treachery for the season after your first decent snow?

[RPG]

Years ago three of us left in early November for a club ride to northern MI. (our club's annual Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial ride).

 

North of Flint, the weather turned sour, heavy rain coming out of the west and temps dropping. One of the guys was on an un-faired Kawasaki Z1 and once the snow started, I suggested we head back.

 

I can still see him in my mirror. His jacket, helmet, pants coated in snow, with the three of us inching along the side of I75, trying to get back.

 

My R100RT did fine actually.

 

The key to surviving winter is to appreciate it's beauty. Get out in it. Take your kids tobogganing. If your kids are gone, steal the neighbor's kids.

 

RPG

[tallman]

Low 20's here Sunday, precipitation ahead of it...

not likely, but, let it snow let it snow

[Thylacine]

Thylacine - Do you get periods between snows where you can ride, or is it pretty much constant treachery for the season after your first decent snow?

 

We've been in a drought the past few years, so this winter has seemed a bit unusual with one snowstorm after another. Just last night we got about six more inches that it looks like I'll need to clear off the driveway before heading into work. It's great for the ski resorts up the canyons here in Salt Lake, but not so good for riding. Typically, there are a few clear days every now and again during the winter when riding is doable with a heated jacket. This winter's shaping up to be a bit of a beast, though.