Leatherin' Up and Leatherin' Down

While autumn is my very favorite season of the year, with the crisp, cool nights and pleasant sunny days, the weather can be quite variable. Last night, we had a series of very strong thunderstorms blow through. Nothing bad happened, but the storms ushered in cooler air.

This morning, I stepped outside to get the newspaper at oh-dark-30 and stood for a few minutes gazing at the astronomical wonders above me. It was an exceptionally clear sky with Orion and other constellations dramatically observable.

I thought, "oh good, I can ride the Harley to Metro today." I didn't ride it yesterday because the storms that occurred last night were predicted to happen earlier than they actually did. Better safe than sorry.

I came back inside, prepared lunch for my partner and myself and packed them up. Shortly thereafter, my partner wished me a good day, and we embraced, looked into each others eyes, and as we do every day, we sincerely say to each other, "I love you." With a quick "ciao ciao, hai un buon giorno!" he was on his way.

I finished up a few things then got ready to go to work. I put my lunch in my briefcase along with the other stuff I have to take to work, and put it in the TourPak on the back of my Harley. I set the alarm and locked up the house. As usual, I did the quick "T-CLOCS" (tires, controls, lights, oil, chassis, sidestand) check of my bike, and everything was in good shape.

I keep my most often-worn biker leathers on a rack in the garage. I pulled out my leather biker chaps, and put them on. Then because it was cool, I put on my Motocross leather jacket. It's nice and warm yet doesn't get hot because it has vents I can open if I need to. I put on my helmet, adjusted my eyewear, then donned the gloves.

I mounted my trusty iron horse and backed out of the garage, then shut the door with the remote. I looked up again at the beautiful starry sky and thought about what a nice ride I'll have on such a great "leather weather" morning. I slowly walked the bike to the end of the driveway, then started it up. I start it far away from the house so rumble-rumble Harley reverbs won't disturb the neighbors (as much) by echoing off flat surfaces like the garage door.

As I kicked the bike into first gear, it suddenly started to rain. What? Where'd that come from? I looked up, and there wasn't a cloud that was visible, but sure-as-heck, it was raining -- and raining harder by the second! Uggghhh... it's bad enough to ride to the Metro in the dark, and it's never any fun to ride in the rain, but thinking about doing both caused me to reconsider my transportation decision this morning. I'm not saying that no one should ride in the rain in the dark, but since I have a safe alternative sitting right there in the driveway (my truck), why take a chance? People around here drive like crazy anyway, especially during morning and evening "rush". They can't see motorcycles in broad daylight, much less in the dark while it's raining.

So with some sadness, I turned the bike around, clicked the remote to open the garage door, and drove the bike back inside. Off came the gloves, the eyewear, the helmet, the jacket, the chaps... and put them all away. Back into the house to get the keys to the truck and put the keys to the Harley away, and grab a light windbreaker instead of the leather gear. Re-secure the house, then into the truck, and off to Metro. I was a bit vindicated in that it was still raining along my route, but it had stopped soon after I got to the Metro station, and it probably won't rain again all day. Shucks.

Oh well, "better safe than sorry." I can ride another day. With a fairly new bike, I just really didn't want to take chances in the dark on roads that are more slick with a light coating of rain than when they are dry or completely wet from a heavy downpour. I dread what's coming soon -- wet leaves. Yuck.... I'm already dodging rutting deer.

Life is short: wear your boots and your leathers -- but be safe!