Close the Lights

Well, the first full week of November is upon us and that means the riding season is officially over for me.  The lows are starting to dip into the 20s; that's too cold for me.   This weekend I removed the batteries from the bikes and put them on a shelf in the basement.

Looking back, I'd say this past riding season was a good one.  I didn't go on any long trips, though I planned probably a hundred of them.  Dreaming up trips on Google Maps is a great way to kill an hour or so.  Anyway, I took a few day trips but nothing major this year.

With that said, I managed to put a record number of miles on the bikes this year.  I put about 5,000 combined miles on both bikes (hold your applause, please), which is the most I've ever put on in one season.  The reason for this were the weekend jaunts I took to forget about the week.

You see, I finally joined the 21st century and got an iPhone.  I hated it at first and felt like a total sellout.  I had vowed never to spend money on a cell phone and always took the free phone.  My stance wasn't based on me being cheap (well, not 100 percent, anyway) but on principle.  I dislike phones heavily, especially the talking part, and used mine as little as possible.  I thought the iPhone and other smart phones were completely ridiculous.

My stance on the iPhone changed when I realized it came loaded with Google Maps, the aforementioned waster of hours noted above.  This meant, my brain told me, that I would have a map on me while I was riding.  It also meant that I wouldn't have to fumble about with a folded map or have to guess my exact location.   Hmm...

This new-found appreciation for technology gave me increased confidence to go and get lost.  For me, the issue with getting lost on purpose is my lack of a sense of direction.  I get lost way too easily, which leads to me losing my temper and getting even more lost, which then leads to me panicking.  It's a vicious cycle.  Even using GPS didn't prevent me from getting lost.

Now I can get as lost as I dare and have my magic phone bail me out.  That is the kind of technology I like.

With magic phone in tow, I made it a point nearly every weekend to get lost.  What resulted was a honing of my directional skills and the discovery of some great new roads.   I was missing out on some great tarmac because I clung to the few routes I knew, most of which weren't really that good. 

I feel like an idiot for raving about a cell phone on a site that's supposed to be about motorcycling.  The truth is, though, that it's a pretty handy device for a motorcyclist.  I can find good roads on-the-fly, get weather updates and find new destinations.  I'm quite enamored with the thing, to be honest, which explains this crap post.

I still don't like talking on the phone, though.