Night riding - the little things

[the Ferret]

And what lovely instruments they are. Center section with gear indicator is a calming blue. Instruments themselves are a nice readable white, with little halos around the center of the needles. Turn indicator shows up better in the dark too. Headlight beam seemed good to me, especially high beam. The high beam indicator is a bright blue. Just before dark the chrome rings around the headlight almost look like blue rings, very cool, but once dark, that went away.

But holy cow..every bug in the world comes out at night. My face shield was a bug splattered mess in the time it took to ride 17 miles.

[ThomWill_imp]

Yes, I usually start all evening/night rides with the realization that for all that hath 6 legs and flies, I am become the rolling death.

[Cormanus]

There's an awful lot of bugs on this planet. Riding all day for nearly 2 weeks I had to clean my visor every time I stopped. The headlight was in danger of not being visible. In the words of Eleanor Rigby "Where do they all come from?"

[the Ferret]

I had read many years ago that the bugs on the planet weigh more than the animals on the plant (that includes humans). Doesn't seem feasible, but who knows. Wonder how many ants or mosquitos it takes to outweigh 1 elephant.

All I know is last night I collected a small dogs worth on my helmet face shield, headlight, mirrors, leather jacket, etc lol

[AzBob_imp]

That's one thing I like about living in the desert: hardly any bugs. I'm gonna hate moving back east one of these days because of that. The more humane temperatures will make up for it, though.

[the Ferret]

don't you have fire ants, tarantulas and scorpions? Give me a few gnats and mosquitos any day lol

[OldF7Guy_imp]

I do ride at night some but usually only on roads I am familiar with. A trip to town with all of the street lights is no biggy but I am very cautious of deer in my area on the two lanes. We have a bunch. I have ridden at night on roads I am not familiar with but sure dont make a habit of it. I try to manage my risk so to speak as best as I can.

[Rocky_imp]

It was such a lovely evening last night (for a change) so I went for a ride and didn't get home until it was nearly dark.
I parked the CB in my garage and turned out the lights with the ignition on.
I now know what you mean about the cool instruments

[davidsargee_imp]

I took a road trip to Louisiana last month, 300 miles each way. The last two hours going there and coming back were in the dark.

If you have ever travelled in the heat and humidity of the place that is Louisiana, in the summer time, after dark, then you have truly encountered the insect world in all of it's glory. I was stopping every 50-60 miles or so to clean my face shield. The smell of the bugs cooking on my header pipes was rather unpleasant and noticeable upon reaching my destination. My favorite Joe Rocket leather jacket may be ruined,......

BTW, the Mosquito is the state bird of Louisiana, some people think it's the pelican.
I leave my home to go to work every morning at 3:30am, sometimes 4:00am. This is my absolute favorite time to ride. Traffic is very light, the air is cool, I get to look at the wonderful instrument lights, and this is the only time all day that I listen to music on pandora thru my bluetooth headset.

The air is nice and dense, and the CB runs smoother at this time than at any other all day, it is very responsive, and seems to have a little more kick when you need to accelerate entering the freeway, or to dodge that lone drunk. I rolled the throttle in fifth gear at 65 mph to pass a car, and was doing 85 seemingly in the blink of an eye.

An SUV pulled up into my peripheral vision and stayed even, I slowed to 75 and looked over, it was a local police officer from Grapevine TX, (where I was). I waited for the lights, he never flashed them, I slowed to the 65 mph speed limit, and waited for the peace officer to pull me over, I figured he was running my plates. After a minute or two, the officer gave me a thumbs up, and with a large grin, he mouthed "Nice Bike", and sped off.


Ahh, the morning commute.