Yesterday’s Ride Is A Passing Memory

There have been few days lately that I would call days that were pleasant to ride a motorcycle. I have gotten out a little in between storms but the air is always chilly and the sun, if it’s out, doesn’t add much warmth. On Saturday it did not rain, as promised, and the temps were getting up over 50 degrees! A ride was in order, but with all the craziness lately I hadn’t thought much about where I would ride.

The day turned out to be overcast, but dry. Dave and I got a slow start, and around 1:30pm finally got the bikes out and decided we would ride to West Seattle and visit an old friend. It’s about a 40 minute ride, all on I-5 until you are actually in West Seattle. Downtown Seattle is across the water from West Seattle, which is a separate city with a small downtown and quaint views of the whole southwestern Puget Sound.

We saddled up and rode on I-5 a while. Since it was Saturday of a holiday weekend, the traffic wasn’t kind. We sat in stop-and-go traffic once we neared north Seattle, until we got through the city. For the first time that I can remember, I was actually too warm in the sun on the bike. The freeway opened up then and we flew ahead and onto the West Seattle Bridge. The views were awesome of the Seattle waterfront and the shipping barges, while on the other side Mount Rainier was ‘out’. Since it was all interstate riding I couldn’t stop to take photos. I wish I could share every ride with my readers.

We visited our friend for a while and then headed back home. As we rode on the interstate I started getting into the rhythm of the road. We rode across the 520 floating bridge which goes East/West across the southern end of Lake Washington, back over to the 405 going north. Every once in a while the wind was gusty and I would feel it fighting against the bike. It took a lot of work and concentration to overcome it.

It was a short but fun ride and I got a good stretch of fast freeway driving in. I could see getting into the smooth rhythm of the interstate, but it is still a lot more work than going on the side roads at a more leisurely speed. I like to see the sights as I ride. Today the rain is back and cooler temps too. The weather people are promising rain every day for the near future. It was a wonderful day ride while it lasted.

Took a Nice Sunday Ride

This past Sunday was the first sunny day we’ve had since I can remember. It’s funny how the memory goes when the sun never shines. I knew it was going to be a great day to ride, but when we woke up it was freezing outside. We had a waffle breakfast, and then waited until noon until it looked like the temps were going to reach the mid-40s.


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We got ready and decided to ride north to Marysville, take a left and follow Marine Drive north to Stanwood. Then we would go over to Camano Island and stop for lunch. That is exactly what we did. It required some freeway riding up through Everett and once we got off in Marysville, it became scenic vistas of green, grassy fields and farms, and above them in the far distance were the rugged, snow-capped Cascade Mountains. The sky was azure blue which brightened up everything below it.

Although the sun was out, and by then the temps had reached around 50 degrees, it was chilly while riding. My guess is about 40 degrees with the wind chill. So we stopped and had lunch at a little place on Camano Island. It turned out to have good Mexican food, but we felt like we had been their only customer that day. I think it was a new place. I had a hot bowl of pozolé soup, and coffee to warm up. That did the trick.

We headed back the same way we had come, and this time saw fields of snow geese that were solid white from a distance. Their long necks were sticking up and it was a sea of white. It was awesome, but I couldn’t stop to take a photo! We went through Lakewood and passed the top of Lake Goodwin on the way back to the freeway. The area was very rural, green and scenic with great riding roads. By the time we got back on the freeway it was crowded with Sunday evening traffic. There is always a rush of traffic heading south from Canada and northern ski areas on Sunday night. We had a good ride home and were glad to get home because the sun was heading down and it was getting colder fast. We logged 100 miles round trip for the day.

It was a great Sunday ride. Monday was also a warm day but I didn’t ride because of other commitments. I plan to ride to work Thursday morning and play it by ear after that. Looks like rain is coming back, but we might have a chance to ride this coming weekend. I can sure taste the oncoming of riding season, and am planning accordingly.

All Motorcyclists Were Out Today

Today was an unusual day for being Jan.13. The sun came out and dried up the roads for the first time in a couple of weeks. The temps eventually got up in the low 50’s in the sun. Western Washington has been very cold and wet lately, which makes it difficult to ride a lot. This was the day I’d been waiting for.

I first got out my little Suzuki which hadn’t been ridden in a month. She turned over after the 4th try, and then had to be warmed up for nearly 10 minutes. I took off and did a loop that I sometimes do when I am just getting the bikes out for a while. I was 2/3 of the way home and the bike started sputtering and jerking. I had filled the gas tank quite a while back, but it had only been ridden 3 short times since then. So I thought that it probably didn’t need to go to reserve just quite yet. I came down to a stop sign on a 2 lane curvy wooded road. The bike died. So I put it on reserve, started it back up, and took off again. This time it rode like charm. I decided that I needed gas, so stopped on the way home and filled up. By then the bike was warm, full, and ready to hide in the back of the garage until another sunny day.

I came home and got out the Vulcan for a real ride. Once I got my husband rounded up and ready, we took off on a ride to Fall City. We rode into Woodinville, took the road to Duvall, and followed Fall City road all the way through Carnation, and into Fall City. These are all very small towns with rural areas in between, and there are little Pubs and Cafes in every town that bikers like to stop for a meal and a break. I think it would be safe to say that today every motorcycle owner living in Western Washington was out on the roads. Literally every 4th car was followed by one or more motorcycles. There were lots of groups out riding and everyone was waving and giving the biker ‘high five’. It was such a joy to be out and a beautiful day at that.

All along the ride I am passing up lovely photogenic scenes of rivers, farmland, snow-capped mountains, and Mount Rainier in all her glory. Could I get the husband to stop? Could I pull over along the gravel shoulder of the road in a split second while cars were following me? I saw about 20 shots and places in my mind that I will go back to and take photos. Today it was really all about the riding, so I didn’t mind not stopping. I did get a couple of shots from the roadside in Fall City, which happened to be across from a great little Bar & Grill that served a hamburger on a bun as big as your head! I know where we’ll be riding next summer when we get the urge for a great burger.

The round trip was about 100 miles. There were lovely, smooth and gently curving roads. Plenty of cars out on them, but we didn’t care. It was good just to be out and actually feel the warmth of the sun, and my face shield didn’t fog up once!

New Weather Station

I have always loved weather - I mean observing it, paying attention to it and to the way weather interacts and affects everything. As a motorcyclist, I am very attentive to the weather at all times. When I am inside at work all day, I am looking out at the weather wondering if it is going to be suitable for riding.

I have put a new feature on my sidebar that is a nice weather station that I noticed on KT DID's blog. You can do a search for your city if you live in the US or Canada. There are many others to chose from at The Weather Network. Mine shows the weather in Seattle, WA which is taken at SeaTac Airport. I live 40 miles or so north, so my weather is sometimes different than Seattle. Usually colder and more snow/rain than Seattle. But it's close enough. I like that I can see the full forecast.

I am hoping that there are others out there who love the weather as I do. I check it frequently and look at the sky often. If you're like me, and like to see what the weather is like in other places, then enjoy. Who knows - there may be a window of opportunity to ride!