So It just occurred to me. Last night before bed I took out the trash wearing a tank top, cargo shorts and flip flops.

No jacket, no hat, no boots.

I stood on the front stairs and could not feel any bite of wind on my face.

I could smell the fresh flowers growing in the bark mulch next to the steps.

It has been a small eternity since I have stood in this spot without cringing in the gale of wind or trudging through ice & snow.

But not a trace of ice or snow anywhere.

I could just stop and sit on the steps and stare out into blank sky.

No discomfort of any kind. No bugs, not sweating.

I could stand in my garage, door wide open and smell the 3 bikes stabled there. Tires, gas, oil.

Like racehorses waiting to sprint.

Thank God winter is over. It killed my new herb plants with its last late snowfall.

The promise of spring.

 

Hell Joe, I didn't take you for one of them artsy fartsy types.

Like you, glad that white stuff is gone.
Actually, just got back from a ride myself.
43 degrees outside.
Kind of chilly.
I was wearing a my leather jacket, not just for protection, but for warmth.
Faint smell of dirt as I drove past a construction site.
I was at my parents house.
Met my younger sister's new squeeze.
Guy by the name of Ryan.
Was a cool chap.
Yeah, spring is awesome.

 

Superhawk Haikus...?

 

Long suffocating winter. Chasing sunsets again tonight, 80 degrees, red sky. Winding hilly and heavenly wooded country roads, old barns and homes. Shooting pics for facebook friends to enjoy. Critters singing, dog barks in the distance. My evening ritual brought me to the Crossville Tree house (worlds largest, google it) new friends and benefit rides last fall. Seems like that big cat habitat I've heard about is pulling me closer this spring. Speed and adventure on two wheels. This summer hope to journey to New Mexico to reclaim a pristine 1982 XR500R I originally purchased new in Joliet IL. My brother Jack bought its twin the same day. May ride the train West, ride/camp the XR East to TN, with a few mods to make it street legal.

 

I'm spoiled living if Florida (weatherwise anyway, the roads suck) for the last (gasp) 22 years but I still clearly remember how I couldn't wait for winter to be over and how when you're a kid 40 degrees was shorts and tshirt weather after a cold winter.

 

living on the west coast has made me spoiled, winding roads above lofty cliffs standing in the sea. I get cranky when it rains.

 

I'd say, 98% of motorcycle riders (there is some crazy M'r F'rs that ride year round here!) put thier bikes in storage during winter. My buddy has been trying to get me to throw some studded tires on the Superhawk and go ice racing. He races snowmobiles, and usually at each snowmobile event, there is some kind of racing that I can enter with a motorcycle. I've been to a few races now, and it looks super fun. Circle track racing and drag racing look to be the most fun to me. Lakes are very plentiful in Wisconsin (15,074 lakes), so I don't have to drive far to have some motorcycle fun durring the chilly months. If not the Superhawk, then I'd get a cheap dirt bike to race. I might give it a shot this coming season.

 

Speaking of crazy riders that ride year round in the winter, I'm pretty sure Joe is one of those guys!