Beautiful day yesterday, sunny and about 78 degrees at noon, and my day off. So, toss a couple bottles of water and a snack in the tank bag, and head off for a twisty run to Eureka Springs and southern Missouri for some beautiful scenery and more twisties.
Great run from Rogers to Eureka, some of you will remember Hwy 62 from the MeetnGreet, just enough traffic to make passing them fun and clear running through the turns. Make it to Eureka, stop for some water and a snack and check the RAZR for mobile Mapquest to find my route north. Head up 23 across the Missouri border, it starts getting cooler. I zip up some things on my leather jacket, it's all good. Gets a little cooler, starts getting darker. I zip up all I've got, start closing helmet vents. This is not good, no fog treatment on the tinted visor, and I'm wearing my Fuel ballistic nylon pants and a t-shirt under the leather jacket with no liner. A little further, it's pretty friggin chilly, the roads are COVERED with leaves, the wind is sideways and pelting me with autumn leaves. This is turning into some sort of surrealistic nightmare out of a Tim Burton movie. I'm at the halfway point of a two hour ride and going back is the same as going forward. So I go forward.
It's now solid cloud cover, 45 degrees, foggy, and a fine mist is falling. Oh by the way I'm wearing Joe Rocket mesh gloves. This is no longer fun. I get out of the boonies finally and to a convenience store 30 minutes from home, go in to thaw out because I can no longer feel my hands on the controls. I spend ten minutes in the bathroom running warm water on my hands to restore sensation, then five more minutes for the sensation to change from pain to normal. Fifteen minutes sitting in the store to finish thawing and I'm on my way. I remember someone on here pointed out that rubber gloves help under gloves in cold, and I happen to keep a pair in my tank bag in case of greasy or oily needs on the road. I put them on under my mesh gloves, and set out.
Thirty minutes later I'm home, and vow I will NEVER leave the house again without some basics for changeable weather during spring or fall riding. All I needed to avoid borderline hypothermia and frostbite was my UnderArmor thermal top or my Widder electric vest, and my warm riding gloves (Sport Tour Cold Front Carbons)- and I didn't have them. Oh, and some type of fog prevention for my friggin visor!
Anyone have a "things I always take on a ride cause I've been miserable at some point in the past because I was stupid and didn't bring it" list?
Great run from Rogers to Eureka, some of you will remember Hwy 62 from the MeetnGreet, just enough traffic to make passing them fun and clear running through the turns. Make it to Eureka, stop for some water and a snack and check the RAZR for mobile Mapquest to find my route north. Head up 23 across the Missouri border, it starts getting cooler. I zip up some things on my leather jacket, it's all good. Gets a little cooler, starts getting darker. I zip up all I've got, start closing helmet vents. This is not good, no fog treatment on the tinted visor, and I'm wearing my Fuel ballistic nylon pants and a t-shirt under the leather jacket with no liner. A little further, it's pretty friggin chilly, the roads are COVERED with leaves, the wind is sideways and pelting me with autumn leaves. This is turning into some sort of surrealistic nightmare out of a Tim Burton movie. I'm at the halfway point of a two hour ride and going back is the same as going forward. So I go forward.
It's now solid cloud cover, 45 degrees, foggy, and a fine mist is falling. Oh by the way I'm wearing Joe Rocket mesh gloves. This is no longer fun. I get out of the boonies finally and to a convenience store 30 minutes from home, go in to thaw out because I can no longer feel my hands on the controls. I spend ten minutes in the bathroom running warm water on my hands to restore sensation, then five more minutes for the sensation to change from pain to normal. Fifteen minutes sitting in the store to finish thawing and I'm on my way. I remember someone on here pointed out that rubber gloves help under gloves in cold, and I happen to keep a pair in my tank bag in case of greasy or oily needs on the road. I put them on under my mesh gloves, and set out.
Thirty minutes later I'm home, and vow I will NEVER leave the house again without some basics for changeable weather during spring or fall riding. All I needed to avoid borderline hypothermia and frostbite was my UnderArmor thermal top or my Widder electric vest, and my warm riding gloves (Sport Tour Cold Front Carbons)- and I didn't have them. Oh, and some type of fog prevention for my friggin visor!
Anyone have a "things I always take on a ride cause I've been miserable at some point in the past because I was stupid and didn't bring it" list?