On Saturday morning my riding partner drove his F-150 from here in the MI L.P. down to southern Ohio to pick up a piece of furniture.

On his way home is stopped in Lima. OH for gas and met a group of 4 guys riding Harleys.

He got to talking to them and it turned out that they were riding from the central U.P. down to Florida on a three week trip!!!

Definitely NOT a good idea and certainly something that I WOULD NOT do at this time of year but I have to give credit where it's due and theses guys have some big (probably frozen) cahones!

If anyone in this group should see this post congrats on your spirit and ability to ride when most of us wouldn't think of attempting this feat!

 

As long as there is no ice on the roads , it’s fine, I can ride down to about 15-20 degrees but I don’t want to anymore.. I rode yesterday but it was 70.

 

Reminds me of 2 guys I met in a rest stop just south of Indy a couple of years ago as I was trailering my bike down to Florida on I-65. They were from the Muncie area and were frozen stiff. It was about 36F. They were headed to bike Week in Daytona Beach.

One of them was cussing his buddy a bit. The buddy owned a large-ish enclosed trailer and a full-sized pickup truck. The non-trailer guy said something like, "Yeah, he said it would be a great adventure. Adventure my ***!"

 

I could make it work for the way down, every day a little bit warmer, promises of sunshine and beaches, I could do it.

Now coming home doing the reverse with it getting colder, no thank you.

 

We do it every march from NW Va to bike week. We have left in temps in the 20's, 30's, few times in snow. Last year, we were lucky, left in 40 degree weather and it was 80 when we hit Charlotte NC.

 

It's -7* here right now. I've ridden in 20* weather before on the way back from SLC at midnight doing a Pony Express Run on my Wing before... a trucker said on the CB, "That's gotta be one cold biker!" I've done several 20* days riding in to work actually. Heated gear, seat, and grips are your friend.

No ice or snow, I was good!

 

None of that "survival riding" for this old guy!

I still remember an incident one night back in '79'-'80 when I was driving a new Jeep "Renegade" with a Levi denim rag-top and interior towing a tandem U-Haul trailer across the Ohio turnpike in some nasty, freezing weather.
Things got ever nastier as the roads froze over and then wind started pushing the trailer making the Jeep feel like a "tail-on-a-kite"!

I was forced to exit into a service plaza until the salt trucks could treat the roads.

After parking I was walking into the building and spotted a Sportster parked by the entrance door.
My first thought was that it must have belonged to a local employee who had ridden a short distance to work.
After a quick trip to the eat room I headed back to the restaurant to grab a coffee and to kill some time.
I got my coffee and headed towards a table when I noticed a couple dressed in leathers having their coffees.

I asked them if it was their Sportster that was parked by the door?
"Yep, it's mine" said the guy!
I asked them how far the had to go and he said "Cleveland"!!!

"Cleveland" was nearly a hundred miles away!

If I had any room in the trailer I would have offered them a lift but it was loaded to the max.