Long Runs and Sunday Rides

Sunday rides are, for motorcyclists, what the weekend long runs are for runners. They are both at once deeply personal and wildly social. They are both opportunities for quiet self reflection and rousing interaction. Having come to motorcycling as a young person but only come to running in my mid-life I have a lot more years of Sunday rides under my belt than long runs. But I understand and appreciate them both.

The traditional Sunday ride, for me, is a breakfast ride. The schedule was nearly always the same; get up, have a cup of coffee in the house while getting dressed to ride, have a second cup of coffee in the garage while getting the bike ready to go, ride for an hour or so to a favorite restaurant for a breakfast of pancakes and eggs, and then ride for the rest of the day. Over the years I've done Sunday rides alone or with a good friend. Rarely I would open the Sunday ride up to a small group.

This past Sunday was a bit different. Jenny had a kick-off for her CES Winter Warriors program and I needed to visit my mom, so breakfast was out of the question. Our Sunday ride would have to be sneaking a couple of hours off in the afternoon and getting out. It wasn't exactly a classic Sunday ride, but it was better than nothing.

Adding to the pressure of getting out is the fact that it was November 1. The perfect summer days are long behind us. Even the beautiful fall days of translucent trees are gone. Here in the mid-west we have moved into a pre-winter state of mind. I'm running in tights and a jacket most days. So, even if I couldn't get out for an all-day Sunday ride, I was going to fire up the Piaggio MP3 get out.

And I wasn't alone. It seemed like every motorcyclist in our area was out for a ride. Actually, by the time Jenny and I got out it seemed like every motorcyclist in our area was already finished with their ride. At every small restaurant and bar there were motorcycles out front. We got invited in to sit around and talk about the MP3 which I would have been happy to do most other times. But Sunday, I didn't want to talk. I wanted to ride. So that's exactly what we did. With what little time we had we covered as many miles as we could.

Pulling back into the garage I had the same feeling as I have at the end of a long run. I'm glad that I was able to do it, but sad that it's over. With my schedule, being at events so many weekends, I'm not sure how many more Sundays I'll have before I have to pack the bikes up for the winter. But, trust me, if the temperature is above freezing, I'll be hitting the road.