Bein' a Motorcycle Rounder is a Piece of Work Sometimes

Ya'll know what a "Rounder" is right? I've been one forever... 'fore I hit the road full time, something over two years ago, I rode all year... right through the Colorado winters... have the pics to prove it too! ;)

For those of you who didn't know the word and are startin' to catch the meaning, yup, a Rounder is a motorcycle nut job that rides Year Round... no matter the weather or temps.

Yep, rode right on down to Ten Degrees... That qualifies me as a nut job I think. :)

Yesterday I had need of riding from our camp in the Red Canyon National Recreation Area over to Escalante, Utah to take care of some bank business.

*Our Red Canyon Camp ~ The day before*

I climbed on the Raider just a bit before noon and headed down the half mile or so to the pavement...

The weather don't look half bad does it. You can just see the rig pokin' out behind the trees... off behind the bike.

Half a dozen miles down the road of the 55 mile or so ride, as always, there was a smile on my face. I was in the wind on two wheels right where I belong... and the day still looked pretty promising...

Well... as long as you didn't look in the rear view mirror...

*There was a bit of a storm threatening behind me*

The trick is to keep your eyes forward, and just ride! Which I did through the canyons and over the mountains on Utah hwy 12 to Escalante.

The sun was still shining above and ahead of me as I crossed over a bit of high ground just west of the town. I think I was back up at just under 7800' at this pullout.

The wind was at my back. The bike was rolling out fine. The traffic was light... almost not there. You can't ask for more ~ Can you?

I got my banking done for another month and walked out of the place. Just down the street a small bit was a Phillips 66. Made sense to top off the tank before I turned for Home...

With a full tank I made that turn and looked up ahead.

Uh Oh...

Uh Huh... That storm that had been behind me... was now in front of me. The highway skirted its southern edge riding that line between the clouds and the sun...

Running back through the same cuts and canyons the wind was now in my face or quartering out of the SW... sometimes coming straight from the side...

That big scooter was buffeted around the asphalt like an 800 lb leaf. Every once in a while an extra strong gust would hit her and she'd bounce over a foot before she could grab some extra traction. Uh Huh... it was juuuuust a mite windy...

Somewhere around Henrieville it started in a misty rain... which turned to light snow. Not enough to obscure visibility but combined with the shifting and gusty wind, that lil' bit of moisture on the pavement led a guy to wonder about his tires on the leaners a bit. :)

And going into the wind now, rather than having it at my back... it got a lil' bit cooler! Imagine that... having a combined wind and roadspeed adding up to maybe a 95 or 100 mph wind being chilly! :)

I stopped at the same turnout on top of the high ground to capture the return pic.

The mountain in the goin' east photo is mostly gone...

That's not a cloud obscuring it... that was the snow falling behind me... ha ha.

There's only one thing you can do when you're on the road and the weather goes south... Ride on through it! ;)

The thing is... I think I'm coming to be a lil' less of a rounder. Don't know what the wind chill was on this ride... I was geared up in expectation of a cool day...

But... I loaded the bike right back up when I got back and this morning... as soon as the dawn breaks and the temp climbs higher than the 15 degrees it sunk to tonight.. we is haulin' my Rounder butt back south and down out of this 7700 foot camp to a warmer place!

That's the benefit of bein' a drifting Rounder. You can haul your scoot to where ever the thermometer says 72 Degrees!

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian