Sport-touring: and its varying degrees

Sometime ago when I first started looking for a moto (pre 250r) I ran into this guy selling a Yamaha 650, and about the only thing I remember from the conversation is the following “I don’t ride if it is 50F/10C or colder”. I thought that was peculiar, at that time I war eager to get back into riding and here is a guy with two motos unwilling to ride because is a little cold.

Fast forward to today and I’m that guy, except I won’t ride if it is 90F/32C or hotter, and that means the 250R has been parked a lot these days.  After a year of tooling around on the 250 I’ve learned a couple of things, allow me to elaborate.

I mentioned in previous posts that the 250 can handle the Superslab, except what I realize now is that I’d rather avoid the highway and find a back country road to surf.  The bike will do 70mph/112kmh just fine all day long, but in order keep up with traffic one has to go that speed and that leaves nothing in reserve for passing, trust me. Attempting to pass a big semi with almost no power left on tap is a challenging and unnecessarily risky affair.

I’ve also learned that I am a cold weather, and if necessary a wet weather rider. The other day we caught a break in the hot weather, it was unusually cool and a tad wet, I could not resist, I had to go tarmac surfing! There is an alluring element to riding in cold weather (not freezing), at least for me. It was one of the nicest rides thus far this summer.

Many riders look forward to summer as the ideal season for riding, I’m far from an idealist, the weather may dictate when one rides, but for me the state of mind dictates if I ride, and that tends to be when the weather is cool.  That time will soon arrive and when it does I will be back out there. I am a tarmac surfer. Until then keep on “Rocking in the free world” (NY) and Enjoy the Ride.