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It's 17 degrees outside as I write this. It's almost 1PM. I don't have a heated garage, just a car port. I went outside a bit ago, thinking I wanted to see what it would take to start the old girl up. Forget it she told me. "ARE YOU FREAKING OUT OF YOUR MIND?" I think I should have wrapped her engine in an electric blanket...kept her jugs warm, her oil from turning to sludge, her gears from shrinking, compressing, and seizing up. I should have been more thoughtful toward the old girl. She is out in the elements alone, cold, and almost forgotten.
Almost forgotten?I do think of her daily. I just don't baby her. I don't even put a battery tender on her, though perhaps if I did, I wouldn't have to remember to run out and start her on the warmer days here in North East Tennessee. But if I did that, then perhaps I should just put fuel stabilizer in her fuel tank, hook her up to the tender and forget about her till it really warms up, and the rest of the regions riders are out in force?
No, I think not...I think my girl will continue to be ridden when possible. I think I will continue to rush out on days when the temps are above 32 degrees shoot some starting fluid into her lungs and crank her alive...push those fluids through her belly, into her heart, her crank case...warm up those piston and gears,move those flywheels around and around, push rods shootin oil into the heads, ...smell the exhaust, revel in her sound, her smell...in the way she always comes alive for me...pleasing me...bringing me smiles and good cheer.
I don't do anything really in preparation for spring. To do so would be too much planning for me. The only planning I do in the winter, geared toward my warmer weather riding, is to open the atlas, and try to figure out a route to a major ride I am planning to take. I have good intentions.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortuitously...I often forsake the routes I've chosen for something that appears to promise a better adventure. As long as it takes me in the general direction of my original ending place...and the time is not going to be a large factor, I always tend to take roads I hadn't seen on the big map. Following the smaller State Roads, County Roads, or secondary highways that just didn't make themselves plain to me while I was sitting here at home....planning. Planning? No...I think I'm actually day dreaming...filling the holes in time until I can get back on the bike and be whole again.
One thing I do need to do before I spend any time on the bike is buy a tire for the rear. Dang thing is dangerous.
So that's it for today...I've rolled the bike out of the carport to take pictures...dang it...I'm so cold, my fingers hurt for a while afterwards...
You all be well, stay warm, enjoy your lives...I'll dream of the desert of Mojave...and I'll crank my Little Girl up a couple times a month...ride her to build her cranking power up...and bring her home under the carport to await our next ride...short as they are.
