Watching the weather, plotting the rides
I got another good ride in the other day, the first in about a week. It topped out around 50 degrees and there was just a little wind. I got to wear my new jacket (loved it) and do a little scooter evangelism in the parking lot outside of a hair salon. A gentleman, perhaps in his 70s, grilled me for about 20 minutes on the attributes and advantages of scooter riding, as well as discussing area back-road routes for 50cc rides and the benefits of having a windshield.
"I used to ride a Harley back in the day," he said. "I've been wanting one of these scooters for about four years!"
In the middle of January, days like this are a luxury. The night after that ride, we had thunder snow and the roads were covered in ice the next day.
I seek out the good days almost obsessively. My days typically start out with a cup of coffee and watching the local weather report on TV, then I come upstairs to my office and look up the 10-day weather report online. Then, if I'm not happy with their predictions, I check out another 15-day weather report. Then I try to rearrange my schedule so that I can ride my scooter to do errands and to go to meetings on the good days. The last thing I do before I go to bed? Watch the local weather report. Looks like I'll be riding tomorrow.
