With the trees changing colours, comes the changing seasons. Soon the riding season will be over, or at least as we know it. For those of us who ride year round as much as we can, riding conditions will soon be far less comfortable as the temps begin to drop.

With that in mind, it was time to hop on the bike and do some riding and enjoy the fall scenery. A friend of mine John thought it would be nice to organize a group ride to take in the Fall colours on Saturday (Oct. 11th). As the date came closer, more and more riders decided that they wanted to join in. At the main meeting location, we ended up with about 100 riders! Wow…This had to be one of the largest group rides any of us had even been a part of (with the exception of Ride for Sight). For safety reasons, we broke into smaller groups ranging from 10-20 riders, each one had a leader and a sweeper (to keep an eye on the riders and respond to any incidents). I was to lead the third group with a 14 other bikes.

We began rolling out around 11:30am with a couple minutes between groups so that we didn’t likely bunch up except at designated stops along the way, either for photo opportunities or lunch.

Our ride took us along some great roads that John had layed out. Most of the group leaders had maps that John had provided although some, including myself, had the route loaded into our GPS units.

The route took us from Orangeville, up along Hockley Road, up Airport road to Mansfield. From there many zigzags lead us through towns like Horning Mills and Honeywood, finally stopping in Creemore for lunch. The look on the faces of the local towns folk was of shock as nearly 100 motorcycles converged on their sleepy little 1800′s town. Many riders departed after lunch and headed back to the city but for the rest of us, we continued onward to Blue Mountain to take in the sights overlooking Georgian Bay.

At this point most riders headed home, but some of us headed off for further good times to Johns place for a BBQ. I ended up crashing there for the night.

The next day, it was time for more riding but not part of a group this time. I headed up to Wasaga to spend a couple nights there. Monday was another great day of riding taking in roads like Upper Big Chute and Southwood Rd. I also made sure to stop in Bala for lunch in a neat little place called the “Hook and Ladder”, which is chalk full of firefighter decor.

Once done it was another night in Wasaga watching a really beautiful sunset.

All in all, I had a great few days touring around on the bike. I’m glad I took the time to do it, since nice weekends will be a bit scarse from now until spring.

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Once again, I’m participating in the annual Ride for Sight, which is the longest running motorcycle charity in Canada. In 2008, our team raised over $35,000, which added to over $300,000 raise in Ontario alone.

By sponsoring me in the Ride, you will be contributing to finding a cure for blindness! One hundred percent of funds raised by riders go directly to The Foundation Fighting Blindness, which continues to fund significant research breakthroughs.

You can help support me by making a secure online donation using your credit card. Click on the link below:
http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=1986527

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Well, it’s coming up on that time of year again. Colder temps and less favourable riding conditions. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

Riding below 10C without proper gear can be unpleasant at best; at worst it can lead to hypothermia, which is extremely dangerous and once temperatures hit the freezing mark there are even further dangers. Not only do you need to worry about body heat, but must also consider the fact that when the road and your tires are cold, there is a significant drop in available grip.

The only way to survive cold weather riding is to plan for it and ensure that you have the right gear; some of which include the following:

1) Electric heated vest and gloves.
2) Fleece sweater
3) Fleece-lined jeans (or heavy rain pants with at least one additional layer like long-johns underneath).
4) Windproof & waterproof textile jacket & pants
5) Waterproof boots over wool socks
6) FLEECE NECK LINER

Adding handguards to your bike will help keep the worst of the wind and weather off your hands. They’re great in the cold but in rain they really don’t do anything to keep you dry.

#6 is important because your brain gets it blood from the carotid artery which is near the surface of the skin, right on the front of your neck where it can be in the direct wind blast. The last thing you want is to be chilling your brain, so ensure that your neck is completely covered one way or another.

Unless you REALLY enjoy the idea of crashing and dumping your bike, you should avoid riding on snow or ice. It’s amazing how fast a bike can get away from you on those slippery surfaces. Even if there’s no apparent snow or ice on the ground, take careful note of stuff like frost on streetcar tracks. Avoid areas in the shade when you can, and be extra careful on bridges. You should also avoid conditions that may ideal for black ice.

Oh ya…never forget that your tires will be very cold. As such, you will have far less grip and should avoid spirited cornering.

If you do ride in cold and/or wet weather and end up really chilled where you can’t stop shivering, your hands and knees are numb or in pain, your lips are bluish, then you are in fact becoming hypothermic. This can be extremly dangerous as your body begins to shut down; your reflexes are deminushed and your ability for rational thought is greatly reduced. If this begins during your ride, you should take a break and try and warm up. Here are a couple of tips for recovery when you get home:

1) You need to get heat into your body. Start with a hot drink or some soup. Keep your warm clothes on, maybe some of your gear too until you feel warm.

2) The best thing is to take a hot BATH. Fill the tub with water as hot as you can stand it, and get in there. You will notice that it feels very hot at first, but in a short time it won’t feel very hot anymore. This is for two reasons: The first is because as you warm up your perception of heat will change. The second is because you just basically tossed 100-200 pounds of chilled meat into that tub, and your cold body will bring down the temperature of the bathwater as the heat is tranferred to you. As soon as the water doesn’t feel hot, either top it up or replace it with hotter water.

3) If you don’t have access to a tub, a shower can be OK, but BE CAREFUL. The shower will heat the surface of your skin very quickly but it’s not that effective at transferring a lot of heat to your body. You have to understand that to protect your core’s temperature when you were very cold, your body decreased circulation to your arms and legs. When your skin is warmed, your body starts sending more blood out to your arms and legs, which feels great at first. However, the muscles in your arms and legs are still chilled, and the blood travelling through them gets cooled and that cooled blood goes back to your core and can make your core temp actually DROP shortly after starting this hot shower. This isn’t the end of the world, but you should be expecting it. If you’re using a shower to warm up, then start with the water not quite so hot and warm it up gradually. If you start shivering even though the water is hot, then you know what’s going on. Turn up the heat and stay in there until you are thoroughly warmed up!

Whether you’re using a bath, shower, hot soup, blankets, or gettin’ it on as your way of warming up, keep doing it until you’re actually sweating. That’s the only way to know that you’re properly warmed up, and your body will thank you for it.

BE AWARE of the symptoms of hypothermia when you’re riding in cold and especially in wet weather. The initial signs (before you’re in real danger) include:

1) Bouts of shivering
2) Grogginess and muddled thinking
3) Breathing and pulse are normal

#2 is the killer there when you’re piloting a motorcycle. You’ll feel tired and lethargic, have trouble keeping your eyes open. So the thing to remember is that if you’re shivering persistently on your bike, you can’t trust your judgement! Stop and get a bowl of chilli or soup, and a hot coffee or tea. If you are riding through the night, think seriously about just stopping and getting a room in a motel somewhere. $60 and a night of inconvenience is a lot less hassle than crashing.

You know that you MUST stop if you’re having any of the following symptoms:

1) Violent shivering or shivering stops
2) Inability to think and pay attention
3) Slow, shallow breathing
4) Slow, weak pulse

Again, #2 is a big complicating factor. If you’re having trouble keeping your eyes open or staying in your lane, if it seems like you’ve been riding forever but you’ve only done 2 km since the last time you checked the odometer, then you’re experiencing impairment from the cold. STOP at your earliest opportunity and get warmed up!

Lets consider once agian your tires and road conditions. At lower temps, your tires are rock hard and grip is drastically reduced. Also if temps are within a couple of degrees of freezing, you might want to consider alternative transportation. Frost / Ice / Snow = CRASH. Usually so fast you don’t even get a chance to know you are going down before you are on your butt or worse…

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