I’ve always liked to ride in the morning. Sometime just after 8:00am when all the commuters are already at work and the roads are empty. Most of my rides fall into the category of slow relaxed rides out through the Ohio countryside. I find early morning riding is also a big plus when the summer heat starts to soar in the afternoons.
This year there’s no danger that the corn won’t be “knee-high by the Fourth of July”. The blazing sun and heavy rains this year have everything growing like gangbusters. I’ve even harvested more black raspberries this year than I can ever remember in the past.
Riding out this morning, I caught the heavy, sweet smell of new-mown hay on several occasions. I even ran across a few fields of wheat. It’s not as common a sight as it once was, back when we had local farmers instead of big agribusinesses. It used to be that all the farmers kept some sort of livestock and needed straw for animal bedding… not so much anymore.
In the field where they were baling straw, right alongside the massive round bales, they had some old-school 50-pound rectangular bales piled up on a wagon being pulled behind a baler. As a kid, I can remember earning 2 cents a bale for throwing those. How things have changed…
I find that I don’t ride the Honda CBR250R as much as I once did. Nothing against the bike, it is simply a joy to ride, but the riding position leaves a bit to be desired for a nearly 70 year old rider.
On this particular morning, I rode over to Troy Ohio taking “Old Troy Pike” as my route. It’s a quiet backroad with lots of 30 & 40 mph twists and turns. These offer just the right amount of excitement at 50 & 60 mph on the CBR.
The return trip was via Ohio State Route 55. It’s open flowing curves allow the little Honda to stretch it’s legs a bit. The very last bit of the ride put me on “Storms Creek Road” where I let my inner “Marc Marquez” take control.
I don’t ride at near the speeds I once used to, but I still like to carry good corner speed and cut a perfect apex on a cool & crisp early morning ride…
Ride safe, and have fun!