How To be Good

Of the many strategies I have employed in an attempt to maintain a healthy mind and keep the demons of darkness at bay, I have become much more of a reader in the past couple of years. I really do enjoy a good book. My favourite so far in recent months has been the Stig Larsen "Girl with..." series. Apparently the po0r son-of-a-bitch dies at a youngish age before ever really getting a chance to enjoy the fruits of his labour. Sad. Life sometime is not fair...Big revelation, there...Huh! That being said, I understand he was working on a 4th manuscript when he passed on to that great writer's circle in the sky and a close associate who was tuned into his vibe is planning to finish it. I', looking forward to it.

When I do find an author I like I devour there books. My latest focus has been on the works of Nick Hornby. I didn't read "About a Boy" or "Hi- Fidelity" because I saw the movies. I have this thing where if I saw the movies then I know the story, so what's the point. people do tell me I ought to read the books anyway a soften Hollywood doesn't do the author's original work justice...although about a boy was British made and is one of my favourite movies. I do know lots of people who will reread books or watch movies multiple times. I typically don't. I do make an exception for certain types of book, those with a powerful spiritual message. I have read and reread Mitch Albon's Tuesday's with Morry and Have a Little Faith because the story evokes something more powerful for me. Same thing with some of Malcolm Gladwell`s stuff and Lee Strobel's "the Case for Christ" and The Case for Faith". But that's more the exception than the rule, at least so far. But, getting back to Nick Hornby, I mentioned the books I didn't read. I did read recently "Long way Down" and "Juliette,Naked" and enjoyed them both immensely. That is why my latest foray into his work, called "How to be Good" left me unfulfilled and actually disappointed. The title suggested this would be an enriching read. For me it was not. the book meandered and, in my opinion missed the point... a point I don't think is really hard to make i.e. How to be good. I did see it through to the end, though it was a chore and that isn't good for me and defeats the purpose of what reading is to me. reading makes me feel productive without having to do a lot of work and I take a lot of refuelling from it. I only finished this one because I kept hoping, based on his other works, that's he'd eventually get around to where I though he was going to go or at least offer me some new insight I could take and ponder. Didn't happen!

That being said, like a restaurant one has enjoyed, only to have a surprisingly bad experiennce for one meal, I will  revisit some of Hornby's other work based on the overall body of his writing, which I have liked. I may even read the ones I saw the movies for. Hi-Fidelity wasn't a great movie but Springsteen had a spoken cameo part in it ,so that bumped it way up on my like list.

But, on the topic of how to be good...is it really that hard? The character's in Hornby's story struggled and seemed to lose there way and it puzzled me as too why. I won't get into some long diatribe here on how one should live one's life but I don't think figuring out how to be good is all that hard. My perspective is obviously going to be coloured by my immersion in my Christian i.e. recovering Catholic, upbringing but I'm sure many Jews, Hindu's, Muslim's, etc as well as atheists or agnostics have a reasonable sense of what it takes. One of my favourite quotes is by the Dalai Lama who said:“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” Another one of his is "“If  you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.” Then there is Aesop: No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. Of course, I cannot leave out Jesus: John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you..." So there you go: how to be good is about love and kindness.Maybe it's the defining  of love and kindness that had Hornby and unfortunately millions of others kinda bewildered. If I may be so bold as to offer an interpretation, not too far from the Dalai Lama's word's live your life productively, try to make the planet a better place for your having been here. There is nothing wrong with working hard and creating a comfortable life for oneself and enjoying those comforts. Just don't forget that not everyone was born into a family or culture or country that afforded them the same opportunity, so when the opportunity presents itself, and it will (See Nepal), give a little (or a lot)...be it financially or with acts of kindness. It doesn't hurt and it actually does feel good. At the very least don't seek to hurt. I mean, how does that help you?

Anyway, that's what's been on my mind after reading Hornby's book. Hope I haven't come across as preachy, or worse, boring, but it is these types of activities, this blogging I mean, along with my reading, motorcycling, songwriting etc. that keep my mind out of the dark places it sometimes tends to wander that bring me down. I will add, that giving of oneself to another persone, i.e formal strong personal relationships, even marriage (or partnerships nowadays), can really help one along the way in this being good thing. I know for me, what I take from my own relationship with Sherry is greatly enriching and I am sure give sme some of the fuel I need to live that life I tried to describe above. It's easier to love and be kind, when you receive it...another reason to do it; you might start a fucking epidemic of reciprocal loving and kindness and who knows where that will lead!

Since I mentioned Sherry and the strength she gives me, and also my songwriting and the fuel I get from that, I'll leave you with a couple of more videos. See, I'm even warning you in advance so you can stop here if you want. How kind is that? One is a tune about Sherry and one is a tune about what music is for me. So, until next time,See Ya out There... Ride On!

This first video is Sycamore. I wrote it about my wife ( sorry 'bout camera position and my rather wordy intro :p )

This second tune is about the power of song and singing t help me keep my head straight, The apology I must offer again in advance of this video isn't about camera positioning but rather being somewhat verbose before actually getting to the singing. Songwriters are natural story tellers and I think I got a bit caught up in telling the story, sorry! But hey, that's what fast forward is for! Here is "Overnight Sensation"

If the video cuts off unexpectedly, click this link: https://youtu.be/W3VHaAcDAP0

Escape to NYC

For those who drop in to read and are not native Newfoundlanders, I need to explain that St. John's, our capital city, doesn't have spring in the traditional sense. Oh we get March, April & May but the sleet, ice fog, snow and bitingly cold temperatures that characterize January are easily as likely to be quite prevalent in the latter months too. Certainly, it's late May to early June before the last clumps of snow have surrendered to the power of the sun. As for temperatures. The odd 10-12 degree will start coming around in May ( occasionally too in April) but generally spring isn't the spirit lifting season that gives one that sense summer is just around the corner ( I won't start of our version of summer). So with the school's break for Easter holiday Sherry and I decided an escape a bit further south was in order. We could have opted for Florida or Vegas but we like NYC. We'd been watching the temps for the weeks  leading up to our visit and they were consistently in the double digits. Regrettably, we didn't have the good fortune to get that great weather but we did OK. Day one was 14 and sunny and let me tell you  that is spirit lifting compared to five degrees (which feels like minus three with the wind chill). Even the seven to eight degree temps we did have most of the trip were a welcomed respite. In NYC the qualifier "feels like" isn't attached to the temperatures. Eight is, well, eight. A light weigh jacket and hat was quite comfortable.

We did the typical NYC stuff like go to shows (The Carole Kings Story "Beautiful" & "Mama Mia"). We ate at nice restaurants, a couple of which have come to be favourite stops based on our one previous excursion to the Big Apple.The Brooklyn Diner has something on the menu to make any meal of the day a fantastic culinary experience but the Tony Bennett French toast for breakfast has to be the topper. Oh and each time I have eaten there, I see a celebrity; Jerry Seinfeld this time'round.
We discovered new places. I have always found it difficult to find my favourite rum in NYC but the Maitre'd of Joe Allen's, really god Italian place, recommended the Rum House and if one is a rum connoisseur then this is the place for you. I'm partial to El Dorado rum from Guyana(even wrote a song about it) and they had seven different kinds in dark, white and amber, as well as several other varieties. It was a real genuine pub atmosphere with live music (sadly mostly 1920's jazz, but that didn't dampen my "spirits"). The waitress was a bit sullen but everything can't be perfect can it. Still, it was a  treasure of a find and we spent two great nights relaxing there.


We did a great walking tour of downtown with Sandeman tours, a company we discovered last summer in Dublin. They do free tours for tips so you give what you feel the tour guides performance was worth. We had a nice enough guy named Nick. Very knowledgeable, though not as funny as he seems to think he is. Still, we saw and learnt a lot about that particular area of NYC and that was the point. Another of my pass times is to find streets mentioned in my favourite songs, or just famous streets and get my picture taken there...so here's a couple:

Positively 4th Street ( not sure why it's tilted)

Then there's Bleeker Street, home of several famous bars according to Wikipedia and also made famous in an early Simon & Garfunkel song www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0Blo9jMCbA

 

Again with the tilting??? 

 After the walking tour and since we were in that part of town near the Hudson, we took a stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge. If you look in the background of some of the pics you'll catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. It was cool to see but I didn't have the urge to spend $20.00 for a ferry ride to float past it for a closer look. 

We ate out for all meals and certainly more than we would in a typical day at home, but it was a vacation after all. But we tried to counter it by walking. There were a couple of days we walked over 100 blocks, including a stroll through Central Park West and up to the infamous Strawberry Fields, across from the Dakota, where John Lennon was killed and Yoko Ono still resides.

Yeah I know Sherry is upside down, but this program has some gremlins that I can't figure out.

 The Beacon Theatre is also in this neck of the NYC woods and it was here we saw a great band, the Decemberists (with opening act Avvas) on our first night in town. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR9DjdMrpH

Also, on Central Park West at 79th Street is the Museum of Natural History. It passed away a day but there was so much information it was overwhelming. We had a couple of hours and my ADHD kicked in so the rest of that day was spend strolling through Central Park as we made our way south back to Time Square and our hotel with the amazingly tiny homeroom. It was so small it was hilarious. There was room for one bed, a nightstand and a small desk. We put our luggage on the rack on one side of the bed, so both of us had to get into and out of bed on the same size. I know Time Square hotels are not known for being as spacious as their prices would suggest they ought to be but this was on the ridiculous side. Still, it was just a place to sleep and as such it served its purpose just fine and Time Square really was just a 1/2 block away. Speaking of Time Square, I'm sure you've heard of the odd sights one is likely to encounter in that locale but the topper had to be the three young women wearing only thongs and body paint offering to take their picture with you (for a price of course). I know it was sunny and 14 but still, there's gotta be a better (warmer) way to make a buck. A couple of days later when it was just seven or eight we saw that cowboy guy with the guitar who hangs out in his tighty whities. I don't care, he had to be freakin' freezing.

So how was our attempt at escapism? A smashing success from my perspective, and I think Sherry's too. Each time we go we learn a bit more about the city and plan as to how we'd do it a little differently  next time. For example, though we walked all the way down Broadway to Greenwich Village & then on to Soho, I don't think we really truly saw what those districts had to offer. Also, I discovered a walking tour of rock & roll pilgrimage sites where Blondie, The Ramones, Springsteen and the like cut their teeth, which I didn't get to take in.

All it all, it was a welcomed respite from the dreary NL weather and a nice restful four days (can't really count Friday as most of it was spent travelling). We'll be back for sure.

So until next time, see ya Out There! Ride On....

First Highway Ride on Winter Bike

Today I rode my latest motorcycle; I have three now. It wasn't just a little scoot around the neighbourhood because it's not licensed; nope, this was a full fledged out the highway to Salmonier line ride in March when it's pretty freakin' chilly...not typical motorcycle riding weather. But, I rode and it was pure tranquillity...albeit cold tranquillity. For anyone who read my last post they will know I have purchased an old beater for beating the winter blahs when the colder months rob me of my greatest therapeutic relief, riding my motorcycle. The bike had been in storage for a while so it did need the attention of my bike guru, Keith at Toy Box. However, with not to much mechanical fuss, he got her rollin' within a few days. 

The bike is an old Yamaha FJ 600, an early version of the crotch rocket but really not resembling anything like today's sleek highway burners. It's got an inline 4 with 4 carbs and cleaning and syncing those proved to be the greatest task after the bike came out of storage where it had been for over a year. The only alterations I made to it were to put aggressive tread tires on it in case I do run in to some snow on one of my jaunts...or a clump/patch of salt or sand for that matter. Anything is possible this time of year. 

So, I suited up with my lined snow pants and as many layers of shirts as would fit under my bike jacket. I was kinda bulky but comfortable enough and relatively warm. It was my first ride and so I learned a few things. Definitely need to wear extra socks and maybe even those little shake-up heating pads in my boots. I bought a set of handlebar muffs (yup that's what they're called) and you slide your hands (with gloves on) into these. It takes a couple of minutes to feel around for the switches and levers but I got the hang of it and my hands were fine. Indeed, other than fixing the cool tootsies thing and maybe wearing something warmer around my neck, I was actually pretty comfortable;The continuous drip of snot not withstanding. After a while you just ignore it, plus my face mask soaked most of it up.

Keith did warn me in that stern Keith way he gets when he is dead serious, this is no joking matter, that I was not to ride over 100kms because of the nature of the tires. They are not high speed highway tires, more suited to off-roading but great for what I need. This does have it's advantages. At 100kms/h I could hear my music, which sometimes is a strain at 140 +, and also, at the slower speed, no risk of attracting the local law enforcement, something I have unfortunately done on past excursions. It did irk me somewhat at being passed continuoulsy, but I kept my pride in check. I was a bit concerned about insurance because with my ticket history, my insurance company is a bit sticky about the type of bike I ride. I pay a nasty premium for the ST1300 because it is classed as a sport bike and thus considered a higher risk...for what I'm not sure. Anyways, this sucker is so old it didn't even show up on their charts, so  whew....no sport bike designation.

Anyways, after years of talking about it, I finally have my winter bike. I call it middle digit because it's my way of flipping the bird at old man winter who hangs around these parts far too long for my liking.

Anyway, no more waiting for spring rains to wash away the salt residue from the roads, so I can bring out the Magna or the ST. I expect to get a couple of good months of riding yet out of the FJ before more civilised conditions are upon us here on the rock.

That's all for now. Until Next Time, see ya out there! Ride One....

Marching on....

Not much of note to post since I haven't done any riding and am pretty much in survival mode waiting for this hellish winter to end. I hate winter. It has meant for me the end of the riding season and riding is my greatest therapy, the one thing that refuels me and takes nothing from me. I have spent the morning reading blogs by other riders living in places where you can ride all year round (something I'll be able to do next year), or where they have actual seasons and spring comes when it's supposed to. One blog I looked at this morning from Oregon had pics from a ride the bloggers did this past week and trees were already flowerings and temps were in double digits Celsius. I'm sitting here with several feet of snow still on the ground outside and listening to freezing rain hit the windows.

Before this blog becomes too bleak I do have a light of hope in the near future...my winter bike. Although winter is slowly, I hope, coming to an end, I have purchased and old beater that I can ride with no worry about salt dust rusting my sprockets and chrome etc. It's still at Toy Box getting tuned as it was in storage for over a year, so right now it needs a bit of elbow grease to get running. The boys tell me I should be able to be on two wheels sometime this week if I get the right day. I don't mind the cold as I can dress for that, so it's just a matter of dry roads and no precipitation. It's and old '89 Yamaha FJ 600 with an inline four and four carbs ( that makes the tune up a bit trickier), but I can't wait to get out on the highway. November seems like a lifetime ago. Here's a couple of pics.

Apart from hunting down this winter ride I've used every tool at my disposal to keep the demon winter blahs at bay. My wife  and I have enjoyed several British series on NetFlix ( I really prefer the British shows to the American  ones) Currently watching Silk of which there are three seasons on NetFlix. We also watched Happy Valley, Scott & Bailey and Broad Church. I recommend them all. I finsihed reading Wild Truth and moved on to Wild by Chery Strayed after seeing the movie in Toronto, when I went up for the Segar show. I'm finding books about peole taking on significant physically demanding journeys strike a chord with me. I'm not much of a hiker but Sherry and I do walk a lot to try and keep the lbs down and stay fit. But these stories are more than just about the physical journey. They detail the emotional and mental journey the writers are on too, and I really connect with that. In year 28 of what has become a tiring teaching career, I feel I'm on a survival journey to retirement and the possibility of a new life travelling and riding and what that will bring. My lateest literary venture is entitled The 100 Year Old dman Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared.

I've also started writing and recording songs again, something I haven't done with any consistency for four or five years. Again, the catalyst for this was surviving the winter and expressing the emotions that I'm feeling right now. I'm not sure what prompted me to pick up the guitar again, but I was chagrined to find both my voice and playing had deteriorated notably in the intervening years since I played more regularly. The voice is coming back, though hot lemon water is a must; the playing still a bit mediocre, though the writing not the musicianship was always my strength. To keep things light I'll include a video here I did of a song I wrote about rum. I've discovered a wonderful sipping rum, El Dorado, to add to my repertoire of nightcaps and decided to go all Jimmy Buffett and write a tune about it. 

Well, that's about enough for now. I haven't blogged in over a month so for those who are following, thanks for dropping by. I did have the oddest experience a few days ago when my most recent blog  had 90+ hits in one day. I don't think I have a single post that has had that many page views.

Anyways, thanks for dropping by. Let's pray that April will bring something more weather approximating spring, as I think March may have actually been the worst month in what had been shaping up as a relatively mild winter bt Newfoundland standards.

Until Next Time, See Ya Out There! Ride On....

Against the Wind

"Against the wind, we were running against the wind..." these lines from Bob Segar sum up for me where I am in life right now. Still moving forward, despite challenges past and present that sometimes present as obstacles to my progress.

Hello Out There in blogland; it's been a while. I saw Bob Segar perform this past Saturday in Toronto. My brother and I caught a seat sale, a couple of reasonably priced tickets on Stub Hub and off we went. Bob is amongst my top five musical artists and with this concert I can now say I have seen all five live; the others being Springsteen (#1 by a mile who I've seen four times--twice at home in New Jersey), followed in no particular order by Tom Petty, John Fogarty (seen twice) & John Mellencamp. Music and the bonds it has created between my brothers and I is one of the many things in life I have to be grateful and happy about.

I turned 50 this past summer and nothing in my life has caused me to be more reflective of what I've accomplished so far than the reaching of that milestone. 50! It's a pretty big deal. I am glad to say I am trying to live life without dwelling on regret. Oh I do have ghosts and chains that continue to haunt and bind me and I wish I could shake completely, but thankfully I have learned the lesson that regret is pointless, beyond whatever lessons you take from it. So, I try not to let the ghosts haunt or the chains chafe too much.

I haven't been overly motivated to do much in the way of blogging recently. I'm afraid the end of riding season with it's accompanying dull weather ( and here in NL we can go for weeks without seeing the sun) is aggravating my tendency toward a lowered mood and sapping my creative energies. I have a number of refuelling strategies to get me through these periods and they work to various degrees. I have become a voracious reader, I always have a book on the go and my wife and I walk almost daily. The benefits to the mind of physical exercise are well documented and certainly do help me...plus Christmas was a bit too merry and there are seven or eight nagging new pounds to be shed. As well, My wife/partner/best bud have committed to finding shows on netflix we can get into and these too entertain and keep the mind engaged, so  it does not wander to places I'd rather it did not go. Writing too is a therapeutic pursuit and after a hiatus of several years, where I only wrote the occasional verse, I have recently written two entire songs and the reflective component of this is cathartic and the doing of it gives my mind that all important sense of productivity.

It's kind of ironic that the thing that sometimes puts me off blogging, i.e. low mental energy, actually facilitated this blog in that one of my strategies for combating this energy loss is reading. Two books I have read recently have gotten me to thinking and reflecting as us 50 + crowd do. It is that desire to share these reflections that prompted this latest entry. After tearing through the Stig Larsen's trilogy over Christmas starting with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Loved all three); then moving onto the Hunger Games Trilogy (engaging but a bit youngish for me) I then took on Robertson Davies' Deptford Trilogy. Fifth Business was engaging enough, The Manticore was really quite good, encouraging reflective bouts, and I raced through that one. The last one World of Wonders never really hooked me, but I'm within 60 pages of the end, so at some point I'll finish it because I just feel like I have to finish once I've started. I'm not sure this is a healthy trait as it has caused me to sit through some truly dreadful selections on Rogers Pay Per View i.e. I paid for it, I'm gonna watch it!!!!

Anyways, the books that have gotten me all fired up are Jon Kracauer's "Into The Wild, his story about Chris McCandless' ill-fated journey of self discovery and purification in the early 90's and the follow-up, written over 20 years later by McCandless' sister Carine,called The Wild Truth. On top of that, during my recent sojourn to Toronto I went to see a movie, Wild, with Reese Witherspoon. (yup, there really ain't as much to do in Toronto on a Friday night as you'd think, given it's the continent's 4th largest city.) , I enjoyed the movie and it's content and theme were consistent with Kracauer's book. Both the books and the movie put me in that reflective mood, thinking about the big questions i.e what is this life all about, what is of value. Amazingly ( or perhaps not) I reached the same conclusion I always do when I go there in my mind.Life is about keeping it simple and being true to your beliefs. Try to be the best person you can be, change what you can or want to, live with the rest and just try to leave the planet and the people you encounter a little better for your having been here. The Key to achieving all that...do what makes you happy and don't be intimidated by the potential for regret. You will always be prouder of what you tried and failed at, than what you never attempted at all ( I owe that tidbit to my buddy Malcolm...that one and many others!)

It is with that mindset that I tackle this latest bout of winter blahs and missing the thing that fulfils me most (apart from family) my riding. It is that mindset that has me scouring Kijiji for a winter bike to ride when the weather allows. It is with that mindset that the song writing has picked up. It is also with that mindset that, upon entering Dundas Square Hard Rock Cafe , I went upstairs after fortuitously venturing in there for lunch on Bruce Springsteen jam day. I communed with a couple of dozen liked minded Bruce Fanatics who'd gathered to chat, jam and celebrate the Boss. Annnddd, fortified by a couple of Dark  N' Dirty Cap'Ns, I connected with Mark who played for me while I did a pretty brutal rendition of "Stolen Car" from the River Album. I don't know which I am prouder of, doing the song in front of a couple of dozen strangers, some far more talented than I, or being perfectly at ease with the fact that it was far from my best effort. No regrets!

I've already got a couple of books lined up to keep my mind occupied, and Sherry and I, having over Christmas enjoyed the five seasons of Friday Night Lights (Landry did not get his due, by the way), are now hooked on a British crime drama called Scott and Bailey on NetFlix. It's kind of a British Cagney & Lacey.

So, The battle rages on as, Mr. Segar sang so eloquently, against the wind... but battle I shall. I shall read, write, walk, watch, sing and survive. I will also celebrate as I did Thursday upon learning my oldest little girl is one of only 10% of applicants annually accepted to Dalhousie Law School.

So, until the next thought crosses my mind that I feel like sharing, this will have to do for now. Oh, this and a tune. I wrote this one whilst thinking about the big things, a while ago now. Seems maybe I spend a lot of time thinking 'bout the big picture.

In case my caterwalling was a bit too unintelligible, here are the lyrics;

Arms of God ----TR

Well, the snow crunches 'neath my feet, 

on this still and pure winter's night.

The moon & the stars make the sky complete,

what will be, will be alright.

My ride she's waitin' at the end of the drive,

her engine purrin' like she knows there's a plan.

But all I got's a vague direction,

faded footprints in the sand.

(Chorus)

Ah, Jesus can you hear me?

Is my signal gettin' through?

I need to know if what I was told,

Is any of it true?

Is this faith or desperation?

Is this just darkness or the shadow of the cross?

Will there be but dust and desolation,

or will I rest in the arms of God, in the arms of God?

Wrapped in corinthian leather, 

secure inside Detroit's finest steel.

Each sense is naked.

Each sensation is surreal.

Tonight I'll ride into the valley of death,

brother Jesus be my guide.

As o'er the river of the tears of lost souls,

I will stand with you on the other side....

Repeat chorus twice.... The End!

Knowing When to Quit

It's Saturday, November 8, and the last couple of hundred kilometres of the 2014 riding season passed 'neath the wheels of the Magna today.

I had planned to put the bike into winter storage today as any day now we could have snow or black ice, which will result in the dreaded salt on the roads. Once the salt residue is on the roads the bike goes into storage...don't want that stuff getting up around the axels, sprockets etc. and making for corrosion issues down the road. It wasn't the most inviting day for a final ride but none-the-less, ride I did. It was just a couple of hundred kms out over the TCH but probably the most challenging of the season due to the wind. The forecast was calling for gusts over 100 kms/h and while I'm not sure if I encountered those, the conditions certainly met my own category 4 standard of "blow your friggin' head off'" ( I talked about my four categories of descriptors for NL wind conditions in a previous blog). Actually, it could be described as a tale of two rides because heading west into the wind was most challenging. There were times I had the throttle at the bar and the most I could get was 120kms/h, when on a typical day the bike is easily capable of 170-180 when fully opened up; Such was the force of the wind. There were also the unforeseen lane changes. I am eternally grateful to the driver of the blue Ford Focus who had the wits to react when the wind blew me across the line into his lane as he was passing me. We rode side by side for a few seconds in the same lane. That same wind did not allow for an immediate correction on my part as I attempted to move back across the line. Sometimes you just have to be lucky. So, I'm not sure if the gust were at the 100+  range but I figure I was riding in consistent 70-80 km/h winds. Now, I realise that sounds imprudent. However, I do like to ride and I was curious as to what it would be like to ride in such high winds. In reality, once you get used to it, it just becomes part of the ride and you carry on. Not that you don't notice it but its just another of the myriad of factors your paying attention to as you focus on keeping 'er shiny side up.

I call it a tale of two rides because heading back into St. John's I had the wind at my back and it wasn't nearly as hairy. Oh, it was still interesting. In NL the wind directions can change on a whim, one moment at your back, next spiralling around and coming at you from the side. Alas, I made into into town without further incident and headed out to my brother's place in Paradise. He has a huge attached garage that has been the Magna's winter home for the past several years. It was a melancholy day for me. I enjoyed the ride but knowing that that would be it, at least for the Magna, until next spring is hard for me. I depend on the bikes to be an escape from the stressors that other areas of my life pose, especially work. The ST is still in my shed here at home and I will ride that as opportunity permits but I know those opportunities are going to become more infrequent in the coming days. The ST is better for these colder days as it does have heated hand grips and a heated seat.

However, it's a taller bike and the farings around the engine enclose the entire frame so that there is no place for wind to pass through. The bike is extremely challenging to ride in high winds, and typically here in good 'ol NL any day with sun that may be suitable to ride is accompanied by wind. I guess it has something to do with the variety of air and ocean currents that encircle this little island in the North Atlantic. 

I've come to accept that November is typically the end of the season, which starts in May (often late May, though there have been a couple of years I rode in April). I now need to find new forms of escape. This weekend did bring a couple of such opportunities. I saw, for the second time in the past couple of years, John Fogarty, who can still powerfully belt out the old CCR tunes. That was a great show on Friday night. Last night I took in another concert, this one by Amelia Curran, a NL artist. Her songs are available for streaming on her website and I do encourage you to have a listen. She is a brilliant lyric writer, very much in the style of Leonard Cohen.

So between finding opportunities for nights out, picking up an engaging book 
 (currently reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), hoping the Leafs put together the odd game actually worth watching, and maybe getting into a series or two on NetFlix, I have to survive another long, dreary NL winter. Until then, there is still, hopefully, a few days left to the season. So I will ride the ST as long as possible.

Until I have something further too share, so long!

Wood Smoke

I have entitled today's post thusly because the beautiful perfume of wood smoke wafting through crisp cool fall air was one of the hi-lights of my fall day motorcycle ride. It wasn't the longest ride I've done, only about 230 kms, but it was my first ride in a week and as the days cool and shorten, these opportunities to wring the last miles from the riding season are something I look forward to.

It was overcast as I readied for the road around 10:00 AM. I've learned not to trust the online forecasts posted on such sites as the weather network or even Environment Canada, so I called a friend who will take a look at the radar to give me a better idea of what conditions I'm likely to run into.  The temp on the dash of my bike read 8 degrees Celsius . It is fall and heavy rain with cool temps like that makes for a less than enjoyable ride. Anyways, with the assurances I had a couple of hours before I'd run into drizzle and later heavier rain, I set off.

For the most part the radar report was right. I did get about an hour and close to 100 kms of cool dry weather before I started hitting light drizzle west of Whitbourne. For the most part, though the second half of the trip was characterised by light to moderate drizzle. I was heading west so I guess I met the leading edge of the weather that my friend Carl had seen on the radar and it just followed me back. I didn't mind it to much as any day to ride is better than not riding. With the exception of the most westerly edge before I turned around (when I hit actual rain) it was just drizzle with no major build up of water on the road... so, thus is Fall in Newfoundland.

I stuck to the TCH because I like to ride...ummm, quickly! The side roads may offer a bit more scenery but I've always been about the feel of the bike and the road. Still, I did appreciate the oranges, reds, yellows and golds of the maples, birch and other deciduous trees along the shoulder and down in the valleys as I made my way along the highway. The ponds were calm and the brooks and rivers were flowing pretty heavily after a week of rain. But for sure the smell of woodsmoke was a hi-light, as I said. As I passed places like Roaches Line, Makisons and Ocean Pond, people at their cabins for the weekend were putting another log on the fire,  either in wood stoves or back yards pits and I was the beneficiary. There is something very serene and tranquilising about a wood fire and the smell of wood smoke reminds me of that.

Anyways, I made it as far west as Bellvue Beach, about 115 kms or so west of St. John's before turning back toward the city. I did have a passing notion to go off the highway and take the "scenic"' route through Holyrood and the CBS access highway, but decided to stick to the main line. By the time I got back home my dash temp was reading seven and I was a bit damp, but still grateful for the chance to ride. I have to rememeber to pick up some of those heat pads that you can buy to stick in your boots. The ST has heated hand grips and seat which did make the conditions easier to deal with. Still, a nice heated vest to keep my core warn would be a nice addition to my collection of gear.

All in all, the weather was manageable, there was little wind, which always makes for a better ride and, oh yes, that wood smoke. A couple of hours and a couple hundred plus kms of rolling therapy, with nothing to think of but the next turn or the horizon at the edge of a straight-a-way; not a bad way to start Saturday after another draining week at work. Back home it's Saturday chores and looking forward to a nice evening with friends coming in for supper. It's Saturday night and the Leafs are playing Chicago. The past two games have been wins, but better yet, they have looked like they cared about playing, so I am hopeful for an entertaining Hockey Night in Canada...still don't care for the new team from Sportsnet who now dominate the commentary. The guys as CBC  are head & shoulders above them.

So, until I have a few more ramblings to share, I'll See Ya out There! Ride On...