Leather Weather

whew! Say *that* 10 times fast...

Well, It's September in Maryland and that means about 5 days of Fall-like weather before the temperatures drop to snow-conducive levels. I had an early job today and, when I'm planning to ride, I give myself an extra half hour to get out in one piece. I woke up tired and grouchy. And, while that isn't unusual in itself, that I considered not bothering with all the prep to ride the bike was. I waffled a bit as I packed up my gear bag, but the weather's changing and my riding time is limited...

Instead of trying to zip my mesh jacket up over a long sleeve shirt, a sweater and 3 inches of scarf tail left after immobilizing my neck, I wore my leather jacket and chaps. It was a lovely ride. That early I'd rather still be in bed, but with so many other folks not yet on the road, my ride was that much better.

The leather jacket is an improvement over the mesh jacket, but it isn't a bike jacket, so the sleeves don't cinch up at the wrists. And my gloves, well, they aren't bike gloves, so they don't go over the jacket sleeves. It wasn't uncomfortably cool, even for me, who has been told by friends and family that I will be the only person they know to be happy about hot flashes. But the cool air filling my jacket sleeves reminded me that Indian Summers are past us. With Winter looming and my dislike for the cold unchanged, my eye has turned to next season. While I squeek out as many more days as I can in 2008 I plan an Iron Butt Ride for 2009.

http://www.ironbutt.com/about/default.cfm

I had no idea that there were so many options when I started seeing comments about people's 'iron butt rides' or 'iron butt rallies' in books, blogs and magazines, but there is a veritable plethora of choices! ("Jefe, do you know what is a plethora?" *name that movie*)

I have already recruited my partner. (sucker!) AM is a fabulous Canadian adventurer who, if we were doing a multi-day trip, would suggest that after numbing out our buns for 10 or 12 hours on the bikes that we camp rather than find a comfy hotel with soft beds and warm showers.

I didn't think that I'd yet put 1000 miles on my bike since I got it, but doing the math it turns out that, even with 6 weeks in the shop, since May I've put 2500 miles in! And that doesn't include the time on the Mean Streak I borrowed while mine was laid up. Of course, that wasn't in less than 24 hours...

The shortest of the Iron Butt Rides is the Saddle Sore 1000. Then there's the Bun Burner 1500.
Those miles must be completed in less than 24 and 36 hours respectively. I don't know which one I can talk AM into, but since I've had a license for all of 5 months and my longest trips have been 2 hours or so, I think I have some saddle time to put in, whichever one we decide. Though, thinking about it, sitting in front of the computer in a non-ergonomic chair for hours a day, I may be better prepared for this than I thought.

Well, I'm going to check out http://motowhere.com/ to check out some more distances. And then I'll probably go shopping for some warmer gloves and see how much more time in the saddle I can buy!