I took a short trip from Bar Harbor down to Boston this past weekend. I wanted to get one more trip in before the risk of snow and ice gets too high. I left Bar Harbor around 8 AM in 28 degree weather. The forecast had been for mid-30s in the morning. I don't have a heated vest, so I wore double long underwear, a flannel shirt, vest and my heavy winter jacket on top and long underwear, jeans and chaps on my legs. It was chilly and I kept my speed down in case there was a slick spot. I put the windshield all the way up and had the hand warmers on high. The hand warmers saved me since wearing thick gloves makes me feel out of touch with the controls. But the time that I got to Bangor, it was 30, but still chilly. I gritted my teeth and kept on going, knowing that it would warm up. One thing that I didn't think about was the effect of low sun and bare trees. There was a staccato strobe effect of the the sun flashing between the tree shadows as I rode down the interstate and it really wore out my eyes.
As I got down to Augusta (2 hours into the ride), the temperature got over 40 and suddenly, I felt like I could ride in that weather all day long. So, for me, I can start a ride in the 30s as long as it gets up into the 40s and is sunny, then I'm fine. The rest of the ride was great; well-paved interstate, sunny weather, traffic wasn't too bad. I didn't even get lost going into Boston. But then I tried to park. The downtown parking decks have tiny signs that you can't read until you're at the gate which say "Automobiles only". Then you're stuck at the gate and it won't open. I had very hard time backing up the bike and a kind construction worker came over and helped me push back. I look forward to helping someone else out like that one day. I finally found a garage which would detect the bike and operate the gate. So that ate up and hour.
Had a fine time in Boston, then packed up to leave on Sunday morning. Even with the GPS, I got lost getting out of town, but finally got onto US-1 North. It was sunny and 50 degrees out and I was almost too warm. I put the windshield down for the first hour or so. It cooled down into the high 40s as I got north of Boston and I put the windshield back up. Traffic seemed heavy until I got north of Portland, but the road conditions were great. I-95 is great in Maine.
One thing that surprised me was that I only got 45 MPG on this trip. I'm not sure if that was due to colder temperatures or having the windshield up. But I've been spoiled by the 50 MPG that I've been getting. I have always ridden with the windshield down so far. I'm coming up on my 15,000 mile checkup, so I'll see if anything is amiss then.
As I got down to Augusta (2 hours into the ride), the temperature got over 40 and suddenly, I felt like I could ride in that weather all day long. So, for me, I can start a ride in the 30s as long as it gets up into the 40s and is sunny, then I'm fine. The rest of the ride was great; well-paved interstate, sunny weather, traffic wasn't too bad. I didn't even get lost going into Boston. But then I tried to park. The downtown parking decks have tiny signs that you can't read until you're at the gate which say "Automobiles only". Then you're stuck at the gate and it won't open. I had very hard time backing up the bike and a kind construction worker came over and helped me push back. I look forward to helping someone else out like that one day. I finally found a garage which would detect the bike and operate the gate. So that ate up and hour.
Had a fine time in Boston, then packed up to leave on Sunday morning. Even with the GPS, I got lost getting out of town, but finally got onto US-1 North. It was sunny and 50 degrees out and I was almost too warm. I put the windshield down for the first hour or so. It cooled down into the high 40s as I got north of Boston and I put the windshield back up. Traffic seemed heavy until I got north of Portland, but the road conditions were great. I-95 is great in Maine.
One thing that surprised me was that I only got 45 MPG on this trip. I'm not sure if that was due to colder temperatures or having the windshield up. But I've been spoiled by the 50 MPG that I've been getting. I have always ridden with the windshield down so far. I'm coming up on my 15,000 mile checkup, so I'll see if anything is amiss then.