Clear and cold, it's 32° here in Wisconsin, supposed to get up to 50° today, but I doubt it; the last few days have been rainy and only reached the upper 40°s. My Spyder is still calling me for a ride, but it's too cold for me; it's not enjoyable riding when it's cold...
I was out riding the other morning in the cold & wet, about 08:30, with the Child Bride on the pillion seat. It was sorta fine-ish when we started out riding tho, only then, about 20 minutes in, the wind strengthened to about 45kmh, the rain set in, and the temp hadn't got above about 8°C since the sun rose! So even before taking my riding speed into account, the wind chill factor was about -5°C, but the forecast was telling us it'd clear and warm once the sun got up properly, burnt off the rain, and the day progressed; and it wasn't really cold & wet enough to make us want to turn around and go straight back home, so we kept going, but we were certainly aware of the chill... We've had a pretty cold Spring so far this year!
And then I saw this guy mowing a bloody lawn, wearing nothing but a pair of almost worn thru getters; shorts so ragged his arse was hanging out & I could almost see the skid marks in his jocks; and an old, stained Jackie Howe... in the bleedin' driving rain, mind you!!
BUT, and here's the real kicker, his bike was parked in the driveway, riding jeans, jacket, helmet, & boots hanging off it, all just waiting there, clearly ready to go, only he was mowing the bloody lawn!!
Now I didn't know this fella from Adam, but I just
hadta pull into the driveway, stop, and ask - only before I could get a word out, he cut the mower, glanced at the Child Bride, looked me in the eye, and dead set serious, said that he knew it was nuts, but he was on a promise if he got the lawn done in enough time before she hadta go to work that arvo... and he reckoned she was sorta orright and worth the effort!! The Child Bride laughed, I said "Nuf' said", started up the RT again, and rode on.
We had a great morning's ride too, once the rain stopped and the wind dropped, with Fish'n'Chips on the Coorong for an early lunch. And when we were riding home, I swung by to see if the lawn was all mowed and the fella's bike was still in the driveway - it was, on both counts...
So now we're both intrigued, and at the Child Bride's insistence, we've ridden past a few times since, just trying to catch a glimpse of this 'sorta orright' woman who was worth missing out on a morning's ride?!
Haven't seen her yet, but that same bike's starting to spend a lot of time in that driveway... even when (or maybe
especially when) the weather's fine and the lawn's been recently mowed?!
