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Leaf Ride - Printable Version

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Leaf Ride - emptysea - 10-31-2019

"Dude! Didn't you check the weather?!?", the bearded 50-something year old man in the gold 2000-something Toyota Camry asked me through the 6 inch opening he created in his window.

I hadn't seen him pull up alongside me in the gas station in Crystal Lake where I had stopped to check, ironically in light of his question, the radar app on my iPhone. I was looking for a route that might have lighter rain and still stuck to the brightest lit streets the last 30 miles of the trip. Darkness falls quicker and somehow deeper this time of year and quicker and deeper still when rain falls with it.

"Checked it before I left this morning and I didn't think it was going to be this bad until later in the evening", I replied and added "I was 200 miles away from here when I realized that this crap was coming through ahead of schedule."

"Well, I gotta give you credit, man."

"Thanks, but I don't need credit. I need to get home".

Water was dripping off my visor as the gas station canopy provided very little shelter from the rain being blown in on 30 mile per hour winds. My heated gloves, soaked all the way through, were dangling from my jacket by their power cords the way that mittens hang from a little kid's snowsuit. I remember noticing how pale, thin, and wrinkled my cold and wet hands looked while grasping my phone and thinking that this is how my hands will look when I'm 80.

"Stay safe the rest of the way home, man."
"Will do."
"Oh, and I love your bike. What year is it?"
"It's a 2013"
"Cool, man. Take care." The Camry's window closed the 6 inches and headed out into the rainy night.

US 14, called Northwest Highway in my area, proved to be the most direct, well lit, and well marked path home. I arrived home at 7:30pm which was exactly the time my GPS app had estimated 181 miles and 3.5 hours earlier. I found this to be more a remarkable coincidence than a testament on the accuracy of the mobile application.

The shivering held off until I started to undress from the ride and subsided about 20 minutes into a hot shower. I found some leftovers in the fridge which I ate while watching Michigan beat Notre Dame handily in a football game played in similar conditions to those through which I just rode. Around halftime, I decided that I wasn't going to ride Sunday and fixed myself double bourbon. Finished the game and my drink and then went to bed.

---------------------------------------

I enjoy riding motorcycles with other people and especially if that other people is my wife. I love the individual activity wrapped in the blanket of shared experience. Planning a riding day for my friends is like creating a handmade gift for them and I love seeing or talking about their reactions when they've opened their gifts. That is not to say that I don't enjoy a solo ride with equal enthusiasm, but for different reasons. I guess freedom is the main reason. Freedom to create a route that is longer (or in rare cases) shorter than I might for a group. Freedom to deviate from my route or to head out without a planned route at all. But maybe most importantly, freedom to stop for gas or to pee only when I need gas or have to pee.

I knew Saturday's ride was going to be a solo affair. Cheryl was in New Orleans visiting our aspiring attorney at Tulane and I thought the weather forecast to be little brisk for most of my riding friends. I must confess, though, that the freedom to ride as long as I wanted to ride kept me from asking them.

There's this really cool cigar shop inconveniently located 85 miles from my house. It's a converted house, more like a fishing cabin, situated on the west bank of the Rock River in Oregon, Illinois. Barry, the owner, was having a cigar and coffee tasting event Saturday morning and that seemed like an intriguing to me (and repulsive to my friend The Ferret) combination and worthy of a motorcycle ride. It being fall and I being some 3,000 miles away from my 2020 mileage goal, I set up a route that would provide me with at least some peeks at fall color, breakfast, the cigar/coffee combo, and 500 miles of road time. It was a good, but as Cheryl called it, ambitious route from Chicago west to the Mississippi River, north along the river into Wisconsin and then back east by northeast to home.

A check of my AccuWeather app on Thursday and Friday confirmed that my route was a good one for another reason. The significant remnants of Tropic Depression 17 were pulsing their way from New Orleans, where my wife and daughter were getting drenched at the time, through Memphis, and up into Chicago and points northeast of there by late afternoon/early evening Saturday. The good news about this was that there was a sharp rain/no-rain demarcation line and my route was to the north and west of that line for all but maybe 50 miles; less than that if the rain delayed its arrival.

In addition to the late rain, the forecast was for cloudy and cool. Saturday would start with temperatures in the upper 30s and, if I was lucky, increase into the mid-50s in the afternoon. This would be a nice test of my MobileWarming heated jacket and gloves which I purchased too late last winter to put to good use.

I layered up: Long-sleeve t-shirt and warm-up pants, rain/wind pant liners, heated jacket, Olympia mesh riding pants and jacket. A merino wool balaclava and a neck wrap finished my ensemble. At about 7:15 am I headed out.

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Start Time

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Start Time weather data

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Someone is going to have to pick up those leaves at some point...but not today.


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As it turned out, some of the most vibrant colors I spotted all day were within a few miles of home.

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It may be hard to see in this picture, but there was frost on the fields as i rolled out into rural America.


A Forum member whose name escapes me turned me on to this little restaurant in Hampshire, IL called Allen's Corner Diner. It may be my favorite restaurant on the planet because the folks that run it are so nice, and the folks that eat there are, well, folks. I've only been there for breakfast and they are hardy, served hot, and delicious. The servers are friendly and attentive. It took me an about an hour to get to Hampshire and the temps hadn't risen much. My heated gear was working great, but I don't have (yet) heated footwear, so a nice warm breakfast in a nice warm restaurant had irresistible appeal to me.

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The road is calling and I must go...after breakfast, though.

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They call this "Dad's Skillet"


The ride to breakfast was as quick and direct as possible while avoiding interstate highways. I chose IL72 for this leg and it worked just fine to get me out from the metropolis. My heated gear was doing its job. The MobileWarming jacket is similar to a Northface "Squall" jacket and so has a wind/water barrier and a thin fleece lining. I used my Olympia mesh jacket as an outer layer for its armor. This isn't a bad layering system, but I realized that it probably is most effective at temperatures in the mid-40s to upper 50s. As I rolled out on IL72 at 55 mph, I made a mental note to either wear a different jacket or add another wind layer for colder rides. For today, though, it would probably be fine. Probably.

Next stop after breakfast was Bad Ash Cigars. It is located a few hundred feet off of IL2 which runs along the western bank of the Rock River and is one of the prettiest rides in the area. I could have, and in hindsight probably should have, ridden straight west on 72, but the sweeping curves and scenic views of Route 2 drew me northwest from Hampshire to a point on the map at the south edge of Rockford where the fun starts. As anyone who rides with me knows, I often go north to go south or east to go west. They call that "meandering". I call it "motorcycling".

The map below is a fair facsimile of my planned route for Saturday 10/26/2019. It is not the actual route I laid out because I wound up editing that route on the fly and didn't save the original. It's very close, though. The original was 505 miles and I can't recall were those few extra miles were.

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The link below is to an interactive map of my actual ride courtesy of Spotwalla, an online application that allows me to store all of the trips tracked by my Spot Gen3 device. Let me know if you have trouble linking to the page. I can post a picture of the map if need be. This particular app doesn't provide me with the total trip distance, but I have that on another device which I will also post. In Spotwalla, you can click on the dots to get the information sent to Spot at that particular point. It's fun, in a geeky sort of way.

[url=https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=20c9b5db72181b6fc9&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes]Interactive Spotwalla Map

You will notice in comparing the two maps that my actual ride was shorter than the original plan. Rain dictated a route change.

Route 2 did not disappoint. Very little traffic and no cross-traffic, nice views of the river (which is running much higher than normal), and a bit of autumn painted into the trees.

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My CB1100 was running beautifully, but that should be no surprise to readers here. I am happy to report that I really like my MobileWarming heated jacket and gloves. Ease of use, generous heat output, style, and ability to run the jacket on 12v or 7v (portable battery) power confirm that I have made a good purchase for my purposes. I would also like to report that my new Sit & Fly seat cover was comfortable throughout my ride. I need to test it on a hot day, but so far, I'm more than pleased. All I really need now is heated insoles for my boots....oh and boots...and I'll be all set for winter riding in Chicagoland.

I arrived at Bad Ash Cigars a little after 10. Barry greeted me and "remembered" me -- in truth, I think he remembered that some guy on a motorcycle had come in a couple months earlier who shared his belief that Illinoisans are being taxed into obscurity.

It was Bad Ash that I made the first of three or four mistakes that would come back to bite me before the days end. Luckily, none of the mistakes were of the fatal or life-threatening variety. The first one was that I failed to check the weather radar when I stopped for a cigar and a cup of coffee. At this point, I was more interested in the fact that the temperature had not increased as predicted. I documented that, but really should have checked on the rain approaching the Chicago area -- faster than forecast I was to learn later.

I met a few nice people at the cigar store including Barry's son, a paramedic named Shane, and a few other locals there to have the coffee and cigar pairings and to watch Wisconsin pretend to play Ohio State on the gridiron. Shane and I talked quite a lot during the 45 minutes or so it took to smoke my cigar and down a couple of cups of surprisingly well-paired coffee. Most everyone was shocked, impressed, and maybe a little bewildered when they learned that I rode out from Chicago in the cold. They obviously don't read this forum or they'd know that what I did would be a walk in the park for several of our intrepid members here.

I bought a few cigars, said my 'good to see yous' and 'hope to see you soons', filled up at the BP just across the river, and headed west on IL64 toward Savanna, IL

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It was supposed to be a little north of 50 by this point

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Coffee and cigars really do go well together and specific types of coffee go better with specific cigars. I would never have thought that.


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I know cigars aren't everyone's thing, but if they are, you should spend some time in this space



[I think I'm at the picture posting limit. Savanna, Galena, Potosi, and rest to follow as soon as possible]
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My other hobby is trying to take creative iPhone pics. Some are good. Some are awful. None are great.

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Happy, warm, and ride to ride.

[I think I'm at the picture posting limit. Savanna, Galena, Potosi, and rest to follow as soon as possible]

RE: Leaf Ride - GoldOxide_imp - 10-31-2019

MTC: Your story opened like a paperback novel, with just a slight tinge of disheveled grunt. Well written.

In fact, your entire journey was well written and enjoyed thoroughly.

- - -

I occasioned a cigar myself at a humidor lounge, but stopped that quite some time ago. At the time, it was a relaxing experience.

There is something special riding solo in the darken sky and rain. Maybe a sort of rider's romance with the road and shadow surroundings. Add the odd shiver of a drop or two of rain water that mysteriously sneaks by. The upshot is usually in the cool/cold wet evenings, there are no bugs. That sometimes affords the helmet screen to open a crack to allow a sliver of cool breeze to remind you that you are alive.

A wonderful share.

- - -

RE "Darkness falls": Was one of the most jerk-moving horror movies that I recall. The story starts to wane maybe halfway through, but the initial, almost unrelenting and unsuspecting events is maybe a 9 out of 10 on the jerk scale. Happy Halloween!

RE: Leaf Ride - emptysea - 10-31-2019

Thanks, GO. I do my best, but I'm no Cormanus.

RE: Leaf Ride - Ben70_imp - 10-31-2019

Great read, Sea!

Ben

RE: Leaf Ride - the Ferret - 10-31-2019

That was an awesome read Sea.

While it's true I dont have a fondess for bourbon or cigars, I do have a fondness for certain individuals that do, and the tales they tell.

RE: Leaf Ride - noroomtomove - 10-31-2019

Good read that trip report.

Regards NRTM

RE: Leaf Ride - Cormanus - 10-31-2019

Great read that trip report. Bring on episode two.

You are too kind MTC. I’m in awe of your story telling.

An aside: overgloves. They’re cumbersome, but they work and wet, cold hands really take the fun out of riding in the rain. https://www.andystrapz.com/product/rain-off-overgloves-one-finger

RE: Leaf Ride - GoldOxide_imp - 10-31-2019

(10-31-2019, 05:36 PM)Cormanus_imp Wrote: Great read that trip report. Bring on episode two.

You are too kind MTC. I’m in awe of your story telling.

An aside: overgloves. They’re cumbersome, but they work and wet, cold hands really take the fun out of riding in the rain. https://www.andystrapz.com/product/rain-off-overgloves-one-finger

Thanks for the tip Cormanus.

RE: Leaf Ride - Rocky_imp - 10-31-2019

Great report! Loved it Thumbs Up Thumbs Up

RE: Leaf Ride - Offroad - 11-01-2019

That was a good read!

Did you start to get into the "driftless" area on this ride or is that much farther NW?