Blue Saturday
The weather guy said this Saturday would be a good day to stay inside. He was right.
For some unknown reason I decided to ignore the weather guys advice and went outside. I had a short sleeved pullover shirt and blue jeans on. I decided to put boots on along with gloves, and a long sleeved shirt over the pull over shirt. I then placed a helmet on my head, pulled down the sun shade and the face shield.
All the above was in preparation to go sit outside in the Texas sun for about 3 hours.
You guessed it, I was going to ride the motorcycle.
As I left the house I checked the outside temp (the motorcycle has a digital readout of the outside temp) and it was 93o. That is kinda hot for 9:45 in the morning.
I had decided to ride the same route as my last Saturday ride but I would add the road that goes through Mother Neff State Park.
I had ridden for a little over an hour when I noticed the livestock were all smarter them me. There were cattle, horses or goats in various fields and every one of them were standing or laying in the shade of trees. They knew what to do when it gets hot, but not me, I was sitting in the direct sunlight dehydrating.
I think it was the livestock that helped me realize riding a motorcycle in the sun today was a dumb idea.
Being somewhat irritated, I noticed someone in a blue pickup driving too close behind me. It was a little country road and it could be difficult to pass on this curvy road. I decided to pick up the pace until I got to a straight stretch, in order to keep the fellow from attempting to pass on a curve.
It was just a couple minutes until I found a straight part of the road and I slowed down allowing the truck to pass.
Riding at my own slower pace (60 mph and less) I again began to think about the heat. I checked the rear view mirror and what did I see, there were two cars behind me and one was blue. I decided to increase the speed again rather than allow them to get too close behind me. They followed me until I went through Mosheim, TX where the blue car turned right.
About another mile or so I turned right and I was heading for highway 6. There were no cars on this road and other than the excessive heat it was a good ride.
I checked the temp again as I was arriving at the Bunk House and it was 97o at 11:40. I parked the motorcycle in the only shade there was and entered the building.
Lunch (a chopped brisket sandwich, cold slaw, tooth picks and tea) was good, the air conditioning was better.
The ride home would be as direct as possible in order to get out of the excessive heat. The speed limit on Hwy 6 is 75 most of the way.
Many riders and non-riders believe there is a wind chill index when riding a motorcycle. These untrained people believe that it feels cooler when riding do to the air flow. This is true on days when the temp is 70o or less.
On days when the temp is 95 and above there is a, “wind friction index”. The, “wind friction index” states; “for every 10 mph over 20 mph, the temperature increases by 2o. This increase in temperature is due to the friction of the air rubbing against the rider.
If the outside temp is 95 and the motorcycle is moving at 50 mph the temp on the rider will be 101o. That is 2o for every 10 mph over 20 mph which is 6o + 95o = 101o.
I wanted to explain this formula so you would understand how hot it was, on this senior person, during the ride home.
As I left the Bunk House I again checked the outside temp and it was 99o. I was riding at 75 mph which meant that the outside temp on me, the rider, was 110o due to the “wind friction index”.
The ride from the bunk house to home will take close to 40 minutes at 110o. If that wasn’t bad enough I looked in the rear view mirror and there was one of the ugliest powder blue jeeps I have ever seen. This ugly jeep followed me all the way back to Lake Waco, where I allowed him to pass.
There was no one at our house when I arrived home so I took a nap.
The End
Have a most excellent day!
Don Ford
< · This story is absolutely true, parts may be from a vivid imagination.
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