Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Spring Patience

 
So, the roads are bare. My hopes have finally come true. However, I haven't taken my bike out yet. Why? A few reasons I'll discuss below.

First I want to say that this is not putting down anyone who has already been riding in my area. A few years ago I would have been doing the same.

First, my bike is only a year old and the roads are covered in corrosive salt that has been dumped on the roads for the last four months. I would rather not quicken the rust process on my nearly new motorcycle. If I was still riding one of my old bikes my attitude toward this would probably be different.

Second, along with the salt, there is copious amounts of sand that has also been dumped on the roads. Piles of sand on corners and at stop signs can lead to a wipe out rather quickly.

Third is the water runoff from all the melting snow. Now, being a rider who is all for riding in wet conditions, this can seem like a contradiction to my normal stance, but the water has the chance to be quite deep in this instance (I've ridden through six inch deep water running across a road in past springs).

Lastly, when the temperature rises like it has, the wildlife tends to start moving. Like us humans, animals like to get out and exercise (actually, they're trying to find food) when weather becomes pleasant. I've mentioned before that I'm currently traveling for work and during my travels I had to brake for multiple deer, turkeys, crows, and porcupines. Combine this with the aforementioned bad road conditions and you could be setting yourself up for a shitty day when an animal jumps in front of you unexpectedly.

My advice? Wait until we get a nice rain to wash most of the sand and salt from the roads. It's only going to be an extra week to wait and it might save you from an accident. Either way, ride safe everyone!

"Said woman take it slow, and it'll work itself out fine. All we need is just a little patience." - lyrics from Patience by Guns N' Roses



No comments:

Post a Comment