mileageslaves Time to get cold
By David Cwi #28490 I’M COLD.
NOT
yet frozen to the bone and starting to shake cold but cold enough to be stand- ing here pumping gas with my legs feeling like they’re
shaking, but they’re not. Or are they? This is not about being cold even
though cold is sure enough what I have on my mind. The state of my carcass is one more sign that I should have sized up the situation and taken action earlier. It’s all about situational awareness or lack thereof. It is my sec- ond wakeup call this ride and that is not acceptable. Worse, it has me thinking about you. I’m on the way back from the
American International Motorcycle Expo, which is now the big deal pow- ersports trade show. How do we know it’s the big deal show? Well this year BMW held their dealer meeting at the AIMExpo, so it must be the real deal. That’s not why I went. AIMExpo is held in Orlando and it’s an excuse for the last long ride of the season. Five hundred vendors show up and on the last two days of the show, they allow consumers to attend so you can check out all the latest and great. You see what dealers see. Pretty cool. For me AIMExpo poses a problem:
how to dress for the ride back home. This year I made some poor deci- sions. That realization got me think- ing about you, or maybe it was that Harley rider in Knoxville. Well now. Since there is a teaching
moment here, I might as well preach. I love ya man, but it’s time to get cold. Think of this as my wakeup call/ Christmas gift to you that you can also pass along to others – and prob- ably you will. In fact, I know you will
112 BMW OWNERS NEWS December 2015
if you ride with others. Let’s start with my AIMExpo cold prob-
lem. I live in Indianapolis. I go down in two days and back in one. That means I’m roll- ing 1,000 miles home going north, so that temperatures are dropping subtly and con- tinuously and by the end of the ride the temperature swing is substantive. This year matters were further complicated as I threw in a final breakfast with an old friend so ended up leaving Orlando at 9 a.m. instead of 5 a.m. I’m rolling back with more hours at the coldest temps. I’m a weather freak. My weather apps are
telling me that a major early season cold snap is coming and that it is going to be 35 degrees back home and it will impact my ride depending on when and where I am as I ride north. I also know that when I start out it is going to be 70 degrees. Generally, I make the right decision about how to layer up at the start and when to plug in and electrify. I also have a bus driver’s mentality, mean-
ing I have a schedule in my head. Map the route and I can tell you when I am going to hit each waypoint. I thought I’d get through Atlanta easily if I got there early enough and assumed 3 p.m. was early enough. As it turned out, Atlanta at 3 p.m. on a Friday is a nightmare and the signs over the interstate are telling me that the next three miles are going to take me 21 minutes. I should have stopped then and layered up, but was moti- vated to press on knowing that matters would get worse and I would get even fur- ther behind once I got to Chattanooga and hit their rush hour and the back up trying to get onto I-24. As it turned out Chatta- nooga was so backed up I decide to add 50 miles and create further delay and go instead to Knoxville and then north. North of Atlanta I decided to stop at a
truck stop and grab a meal; my only real meal stop for the day, as on days like this I gas and go and food boils down to peanuts and a particular brand of “meal” bar. I’m
cold but far from feeling chilled to the bone. Soon enough I’m on I-40 rolling through
Knoxville. In my mirror I see a single head- light surrounded by yellow turn signals creeping up on me, so it’s obviously a bike. I know what’s about to happen. OK. Let’s see if you can guess. The bike is to my left in my lane. It’s a Harley. What is this jackass about to do? My situational awareness has jumped to high alert. Little man on a big bike has been watching me to make sure I’d stay to the right and then blows past me in my lane. His buddy does the same, but in the other lane to my right. It is now dark out and I’m north of Knox-
ville. I stop for gas figuring that I’m six hours from the house at best. It was right then that I was aware that I was feeling cold even with an electric jacket liner and should have stopped and layered up even more. Then it happened. I’m behind a truck on an uphill entry
ramp to the interstate and trail him for a bit. As he rolls up the ramp, I make a move to pass him so I’m in the right lane of the interstate next to him; he decides to come over into my lane and do it right now. That entry ramp was probably not as long as I supposed it was or I should have moved over one more lane Thankfully, no one is to my left, but I’m not happy. Situational awareness snafu. Not acceptable. Not adjusting for the weather. Not acceptable. How, you ask, did these circumstances
bring me around to thinking about you? Because your lack of situational awareness when we are riding as a group flat out drives me nuts. And I realized in that moment that I had somehow become you. If there had been other riders behind me, I’m not sure how this event would have unfolded. At least you never pass me in my lane but since we are now talking about it, I’m going to vent a bit. OK, I know I drive you crazy when I pass
folks. You are far worse. You are indecisive. You sit there and fiddle around and
lifestyle
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