It's clear that I've been doing this for a little while, now; the daily trials and tribulations of a commuting motorcyclists are starting to not faze me so much. Case in point: yesterday, on my ride home from work, a city bus decided to merge into my lane. I was in the far left (carpool) lane, and this big articulated bus started a merge without signalling as I was passing him. I'd been watching, I was ready, and I got on the horn, shifted to the far left edge of my lane, and got ready to avoid either by accelerating or, more likely, pulling just out of the lane into the breakdown lane. It turned out the driver just hadn't seen me; he looked when he heard the horn and aborted his merge until I was past.

The interesting thing, for me, was the fact that my heart rate didn't even pick up. The problem was solved in seconds, and the ride went on. This is a common problem we face, and though it can be highly dangerous, perception of the traffic around us and being ready to act at all times can pretty much deal with it.

I took Jen out for her first rides on the back of the bike this weekend; on Saturday, a quick jaunt around on some of the slightly-twisty roads around here, then back home on the freeway. Maybe about a half hour out, all told. I rode as carefully and as smoothly as I could, paid close attention to being gentle and even on the brakes, and generally tried to make her feel as comfortable as possible on the back, and when we got back home, Jen's first comment was something along the lines of "Wow, that was awesome!" Her second, of course, was "Could you go any faster next time?" Heh, heh, heh. Yes. Yes I can. :)

Sunday morning we rode out for brunch at a little cafe in Edmonds, and I was able to ride a little bit more aggressively; at least, not slowing to 15 before every corner, adding a little bit of lean, and generally riding a bit closer to my usual style (which, admittedly, isn't very hardcore). Good times. I like having her along, although Zoë definitely labors a bit more with another person on the back.

I feel like a lot of the agility that I take for granted is gone; the bike is much more difficult to turn, taking a lot more pressure on the bars. Front brake authority seems to fade as well; I have to use a lo t more of the rear. And it's a real challenge to keep my arms bent when decelerating; a lot of Jen's weight is transferred to me, and it's difficult to hold both of us up with my abs and back alone. Locking my arms against the bars helps, but of course that makes it very difficult to make fine steering adjustments.

And, of course, the acceleration I'm used to is gone. I think the best excuse I've yet seen for a bigger bike, for more horsepower at the rear wheel, is the challenge of taking a passenger. Maybe I do need that Speed Triple after all. :)

It is amazingly cold here - well, amazingly cold for Seattle, which to those of you in the Midwest must seem positively balmy. It's been flirting with freezing for the past couple of days. Apparently there's a fair bit of windchill out there as well. All in all, I really wish I'd sprung for the Gerbing I was thinking about getting, earlier this week.

Ah well. A few more days and it ought to start warming back up again. I'm not looking forward to the rain, but I will be happy to get on the bike without my teeth chattering and my face ruddy.

Today, a group of S-T.n folks decided to take advantage of the holiday and head out for a winter's ride. It was a relatively cold day in the mid-to-high 30s, but clear and (for the most part) dry. The seven of us met up at the Mukilteo ferry dock this morning around 9:30 for the ride to Whidbey Island. The plan was to cover the length of Whidbey, then head back to the mainland near Anacortes and back down into Seattle. This worked out, for me, to be about 130 miles, give or take, and no doubt more for the folks coming from Seattle and south of there.

On the ferry ride over, there was a single State Trooper sent up front with us bikers, and I thought it was an interesting picture: we've got you surrounded, Officer!

Whidbey Island is pretty lightly developed; the only good-sized community on the island is the town of Oak Harbor, which surrounds a naval air station operating one of the few Prowler squadrons still around. Most of the ride, then, was through agricultural and rural areas, along a two-lane undivided road, and there was an unfortunate amount of car traffic slowing us up. Large sections of Hwy. 525 on the island are marked with double-yellows, even when there's clear view in all directions and plenty of room to pass; I'm convinced they did it just to piss us off. Anyway, we made pretty good time. The group stayed pretty close together, rather than rubber-banding out as on the Mt St Helens ride, with the notable exception of Montyburns on his Bandit 1200, who had to pull off and warm his tragically frigid hands. I think we sold him on heated grips with this ride.

Near the north end of Whidbey, as we approached Deception Pass and the bridge to Fidalgo Island, a light dusting of snow began to fall. It was a very surreal experience, tearing along clear roads in a convoy of cyclists, warm and dry inside my gear, and watching snow drift down to disintegrate on my visor. We stopped at a restaurant on Fidalgo that one of our number had been to before, but they were renovating their kitchen and couldn't serve much food. We decided to try anyway, which was a mistake: the food was pretty damn bad, served on paper plates with plastic silverware, and the kitchen-renovators were hard at work with their powertools. It was described by one of us as "like having a picnic in a construction zone."

After lunch we headed back to the mainland, and were guided back towards Seattle along an interesting and terribly-confusing series of two-lane roads, rather than slabbing it down along I5. I am confidant that I couldn't retrace that path if I needed to, so I'm glad at least one of the others knew it well. I guessed at the route shown above for this second leg, and though I'd guess I'm pretty close, I certainly wouldn't swear to it.

I felt very good about my riding today; it certainly wasn't as technically challenging as parts of the St Helens ride, but there were some very nice sweepers and a few sharper corners. I know the others could probably have taken them quite a bit faster, but I get the sense that no-one was riding at 10/10ths, myself included. I've clearly been learning quite a lot in the months since my last group ride, and feel a lot more comfortable on the road with others. As usual, Zoë was the smallest bike on the road, but she kept up just fine.

New Gear Report: I picked up a Gerbing heated vest yesterday, in anticipation of a cold ride today, and I am positively sold. I wired it to the battery last night, and added a rheostat for fine temperature control, and with the vest and grips running, today's weather was no problem. The Gerbing doesn't just make you not-cold, though - it seems to give that same beautiful sensation of bone-deep heat as lying in front of a roaring fire. It's a wonderful addition to my gear, and I'm sure will make winter riding much more comfortable.

The vest I chose has a tall heated collar which comes to my chin, and that keeps my neck nice and warm, and keeps some of the cold wind off my face as well. It's slightly loose, which isn't optimum; I'm not sure if I should have a smaller size or not, but it does seem to keep me very comfortable. We'll see; maybe it can be altered if needed. I wore it today over a long-sleeved cotton T-shirt and was more than satisfied.