Just lit the wood stove more for ambiance than heat. Hit the upper 20's last night and again tonight but should be in the 60's all week. Haven't seen a drop of rain in over a month though. I'll ride all winter but usually wait till the warmest part of the day and only ride long enough to get it up to normal operating temps. Just hoping it's a snow less winter this year.

 

It only got into the low 70's in North Florida today so I drove my Brunton Stalker to the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge to look out over the gulf and see a few birds. No alligators. They were hunkered down due to the cold. Fellow Harley brothers and sisters caught in the grip of the first Winter storm, hang in there and know that Spring is just around the corner for most of you.

 

I'm retired and started riding winters in the winter of 56/57. And yes that is 12 to 14K. It's called passion and living instead of looking out the window watching life go by I am out there leading the charge.

Oh, and I only ride four of the bikes for the winter riding as that is all that I set up with heated gear connectors and heated grips.

 

I've lived in Florida more than anywhere else in my 67+ years. Personally, other than milder winters, I would never consider Fla. a riding heaven. Flat, straight, dusty and then beastly hot in the summer. Winter? Every snowbird that can get away comes down here and packs the roads with rubber necking yeahoos that still order vinyl roof option on their Buick. I'm headed back up to the rolling hills of Pa.

 

There are two roads I pretty much avoid when our winter visitors are here in the winter, they are of course I-75 and Rt. 41 as much as possible. I agree there are not a lot of twistys to ride or any hills in SW Florida. But rides over toward the east coast, up around Lake 0, down to the Keys, and numerous other medium length rides from SW Florida are pretty nice in the winter. I'll stick with these smooth roads in this weather instead of the "moon surface" frozen tundra up north.

 

It's your story so stick to it, but there are way too many folks on here that either live in northern Illinois, or like me have lived there, and know for a fact it would be impossible to average over a 100 miles a day riding all winter long.


Now if you don't mind I have to go next door and help my neighbor. He is changing a tire and his jack is broke. I am going to lift his 1 ton truck up in the air and hold it there for 20 minutes while he changes it. Even though I am 64 years old I try to stay in good shape and run 50 or 60 miles a day. So there!

 

I believe lh4x4. Dude is hard core. I believe he has a Freewheeler for the nasty stuff. For some people, racking up the miles is an obsession. I would say that applies here.

 

It's funny for those with mild or no winter get "booo-ed" from the states with harsh winters when we talk about it but when we talk about the heat, we don't hear much, if any, sympathy from them. Why is that?

 

"It's called passion and living instead of looking out the window watching life go by I am out there leading the charge."

My passion is being comfortable & warm, sipping hot chocolate in front of a good movie, instead of freezing my *** off trying to prove something to myself. Riding in anything but t-shirt weather just ain't fun to me, and the chicks wear WAY too many clothes.

You will never hear Dickey complain about heat; EVER!

 

I guess for the same reason that when somebody in a cold area complains about their riding season coming to an end, the usual reply from a southerner is "what is this winter you speak of?" or something equally lame.

Funny how that works, huh?