It is spring here & I was out carousing around in the dark again last night. I ended up 50 miles from the house and the Savage sputtered so I flipped the petcock to reserve. There is a town 15 miles ahead of me so no worries.
I pulled up to the pumps and filled up the bike, did a general check with a flash light and called my wife to tell her I'd wandered a little further than planned and gave her my route.
I like riding at night for a few reasons. I always have a lot of projects on the burner and riding at night allows me time to do both. I like the solitude of a night ride and the feel of the lonely old back roads in the dark. This part of the country isn't heavily populated so there is little to no traffic on the roads. The towns are 15-30 miles apart so it leaves plenty of white & yellow lines to follow in between. The one hazard is the wildlife; there is a lot of wildlife here `bouts and it ain't possums. It's large northern white tails with an occasional moose and a lot of coyotes.

I live in a unique part of the country where the Divide is that separates the watersheds flowing north to south. There are two large lakes a few miles apart. the water from Lake Traverse flows north to Hudson Bay in Canada and Big Stone Lake flows into a series of rives and ends up in the Gulf of Mexico. These lakes have a lot of shore line and many miles of twisty's and are a blast to ride day or night.

So today I've got a motorcycle here that needs the carbs. cleaned and I'll do some other things and come dark . . .well who knows . . . I may just head out again to ride the roads to solitude and relaxation in the darkness.

Your night rides down the lonely roads sound like a lot of fun.  In my youth I worked a night shift job and commuted on a British motorcycle.  On the way home I always took a long route just for the reasons you sited.

I generally do not ride at night primarily because of the danger with deer. However the other night coming back from Austin was a night ride and it really was very enjoyable. I did tend to slow down a bit more in the more heavily wooded parts of the road. I was a bit nervous. But the coolness of the night breeze in the summer feels great.

I was out last night again. Only road about 70 mi!es or so.
I hit a big ol coon about 3/4 of the way Into my ride. Happened so fast it didn't even register on the adrenaline scale. I hit it dead on so it was a pretty straight forward jump over the old boy.
I probably would have been able to avoid him but I was concentrating on the dead coon directly in my path when this other coon showed up on the scene at just the wrong time.
Hit him with both whee!s square like!   The Savage, by the way, proved to be a worthy ride under the circumstances.  

Oh and that new Dainese jacket is the bee's knee's for riding. I mean it is a serious riding jacket. It has more material through the back of the shoulders and less through the front of the shoulders. This makes for no bunching while hands are on the bars and plenty of shoulder room while reaching for the bars. I'm sold hook line and sinker; as they say.  

Armadillo, portable curb..

Thats awful,, so, I went looking, and Nat Geo did a bit on them.
I thought it was interesting.


http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/armadillo/

And, because it's not just commonly seen flattened on a backroad in Texas, it's been given less of a definitive regional type name, much as I liked the Texas reference. Thought this was funny..

The nine-banded armadillo’s hapless propensity for being run over by cars has earned it the nickname “Hillbilly Speed Bump.”

The stupid things are about blind. I had one in the back yard, ran at it. It took off running. I was determined to catch up and kick the darn thing, wanted it to go away.. and I Did catch up and got enough of a foot on it to roll it, but I was having a hard time not laffing. Hearing one run is just too funny. You can hear the armor plating stacking up as the critters front and rear feet get closer, further apart, I was picturing someone wildly working an accordion, no notes, just the sound of air heaving in and out and the slapping and flapping of it pleated sides.
They are curious looking any time, and Hilarious at speed.

old.indian wrote on 03/20/16 at 08:28:24:


Yep, I find myself riding more slowly and carefully each year.
PAIN HURTS.