I was going to ride in to work today even though it was in the upper 30's this morning. But I live in the north part of town and we had a freeze warning until 9 a.m. So I did not ride and now the sun is shining. Yes, it is cold. But it is a beautiful day.  

Angry emoticon because I did not ride. Happy emoticon because it is a beautiful day.  

I hope you both have fun. The day really is beautiful here right now and probably in the upper 40's. But the ride home would have been in the dark and probably in the low 40's.

And I must admit I have had enough excitement already for one day. The alarm in the office went off this morning a bit past 3 am. The doctor and the police arrived and found a mess. No human intruder though. A racoon somehow got into the office. The cops managed to chase it into my office and locked it in there until around 10 am when animal control got here. It took the guys from animal control about 15 minutes but they got it. Other than having to clean up racoon pee, poop and some blood (it cut itself), the only equipment that was destroyed was one of my battery back/surge protector units. It had about a cup or pee in it. The animal was lucky it did not fry itself cause it actually tripped the breaker. Oh well, it added some adventure to the week.

I snuck in a couple of short rides yesterday...it was 25 degrees and I made some runs to check my 0-60 and 1/4 mile times before I take the existing Stage 1 cam out and put in a Stage 3 this winter.  My best 0-60 time was 5.01 seconds and my best 1/4 mile was 14.05 at 82mph.  I think I could do better without all the cold weather gear on....it was hard to get a quick start with bulky gloves and I had trouble getting my feet back on the pegs with insulated pants and insulated coveralls on!

This morning I rode the bike to church and it was about 30 degrees.

It is now raining, and next week will be really cold - I would not be surprised it that is the end of my riding this year (the first time they apply salt to the roads it ends my riding until the spring rains wash the salt away).

I changed the oil in mine for winter storage on Saturday morning. Then we got about 7" of snow Saturday night.

This far north there will be snow on the ground for the next couple months so any day where it's actually warm enough for a semi-enjoyable ride, the roads will be wet and salty.

I guess I'm with old.indian, I really do not put the bike away for winter since if we have bad weather (freezing weather) it rarely lasts more than a few days. I do not mind the cold as long as it is dry. I do not want to find any ice while on the bike.

I might be able handle some cold - but I can't handle the salt hey put on the roads.....it is something like a 1:1 ratio - 1/4" of snow requires 1/4" of salt.  Also there are always icy spots that can catch you by surprise - a car will skid when you hit one.......while a motorcycle will go down hard.

Road salt is horribly corrosive on a motorcycle, and a year or two of winter riding will turn your shiny motorcycle into a Rat Bike.