Dumb, Dumb, DUMB!

I returned from NH yesterday to find that there had been a ton of rain over the weekend, and just about all of the snow was gone. Nice! Even better; the roads were washed clean of salt!! Double-Nice!! And since I have this week off from work…and since the weather forecast was for sleet, snow and ice to move in later today, the only sensible thing to do was to take the bike out for some more 2009 miles! Yeeeaahhh!!

I rolled the bike out and she came quickly to life. Bundled up to ward off the high-30 degree temps, I rolled out to lay claim to some more mileage. But where to go? I headed down some side roads and meandered my way through some neighboring towns. My unscripted path brought me to a major interstate highway so I thought what the hell, I’ll jump on and see where I wind up.

And this was the beginning of today’s stupidity. Why? Because there was a major weather pattern approaching, and I knew it. I knew what the weather pattern entailed, and I knew what direction it was coming from. And yet, I didn’t bother to think about that as I proceeded on my merry way…away from the approaching pattern.

Discarding each exit ramp as it was offered up to me, I opted instead to continue along the highway, further and further away from home, and further and further away from the approaching weather pattern.

After a while, I found that I was only about 30 miles away from the Cape so I figured what the hell, I’ll hit that, cross over the bridge, ride a bit south, pick up the other bridge to cross back into Mass and head home.

My low-gas indicator lamp came on so I signaled my intent to peel off at the last exit before the bridge to refuel. Exiting the highway, I looped back towards the direction I’d been coming from…and was greeted by a nasty, gray sky. WTF! Idiot! That weather pattern has been chasing you the whole way, and now you have to ride back through it to get home!

I gassed up as fast as I could and, even though I was only 2 miles away from the Cape, I decided to forgo my plan of heading further east. Instead, I hopped back onto the highway I’d just deserted, aimed my bike homewards and hammered the throttle.

Success was not to be mine on this day. I hadn’t made it more than 10 miles before the skies opened up and doused me with near-ice water. Visibility was excellent…ok, I’m lying; it wasn’t good at all. Thankfully, traffic was fairly light so I was able to maintain a solid, hard pace. It would have been humorous to look around and witness what I’m sure must have been some interesting looks from the cages as this motorcycle passed them by, but I figured I’d filled my stupidity quota for the day, and therefore; I was better off keeping my eyes focused on the pavement in front of me.

Eventually, I managed to make it home – soaked and frozen to the bone. The precipitation was actually turning to snow just as I rolled the bike into the garage, so perhaps a bit of luck was on my side after all.

I still can’t believe I was that dumb, though. A cardinal rule; if you don’t have a specific destination to head for, and are just f’ing around, then you always head towards the storm. That way, as soon as the weather starts to turn against you, you do a U-turn and enjoy dry riding for your trip home.

But hey, I got about 150 miles on – not bad for the end of December!! Woo-Hoo!! (And judging from the forecasts for the upcoming week - arctic air coming in, black ice on roads - they’ll probably be the last miles for this year.)

Here’s hoping everyone had a great Christmas, and that you all have a fun and safe New Year’s!