Just MINUS

[Ridlikhel]

79* HERE TOMORROW..... Why do you guys live up ??????

Because of the beauty and rolling hills.

[Steve 0080]

Trust me...it is beautiful.....but...I miss the point where you park your bike for 7-8 months???

[bigbird]

Trust me...it is beautiful.....but...I miss the point where you park your bike for 7-8 months???

Unless you live in the deserts or sub-arctic, no true biker parks their bike for 7-8 months. We're a lot colder than upstate NY, and mine sits from November to end of March, 5 months, and that's only because of ice and snow on the streets.
Cycle Canada magazine published an article about the riding season in the US. It was based on an algorithm from Aerostich. It's available as a poster from Aerostich for $10.
Aerostich's owner, Andy Goldfine, came up with his numbers based on " how much time and trouble one might reasonably take to dress for a typical urban-distance ride of up to 15 miles." Those assumptions were based on his riding experiences using Aerostich clothing and then applied to US Dep't of Agriculture temperature statistics. On the poster, Aerostich defines a rideable day as "a day when, with combinations of Aerostich gear, it's always fun, comfortable, safe , easy and practical to ride". That type of day would be when the average maximum high and the minimum average low is between 95F and 25F.

The bottom line here isn't about the where these numbers came from, it's about the comparison between comfort levels in riding around the US. Here's some interesting numbers:

San Francisco had the longest riding season at 365 days (duh!)
Phoenix had the shortest riding season at 214 days.
Others of interest were Bismarck ND at 222 days, Duluth MN (home of Aerostich) at 238 days, Austin TX at 229, Anchorage Alaska at 233, Tallahassee FL at 277, Los Angeles at 361, Chicago at 307, NYC at 327.

So, would you rather live in the hot desert, like Phoenix AZ (214), or more northerly states with real winter, like Chicago (307) if you owned a motorcycle?

Again, this is all one man's subjective description of a riding day. I'm just quoting what I read in the article, so don't flame me, flame Aerostich if you disagree.

[opas ride]

Where I live has nothing much to do with my riding habits....My work took me to Michigan in 1963 from Colorado and I have lived here ever since...Now at 75 I and my wife have no desire to go elsewhere...Have good local hospitals, medical care, house is paid for, close to our Church, have family close by and no reason to move for us...Yes other places have different weather, some good, some not so good. As long as we have a nice area, roof over our head, and some time to ride, I am a "happy camper"....JMHO

[2bikemike]

Wasn't complaining about the cold just conversation as I have traveled most of the US to know there are many beautiful places however this is home and I wouldn't want to live any place else.

[Fla_rider]

Trust me...it is beautiful.....but...I miss the point where you park your bike for 7-8 months???

Haha that's why we live here Steve. I think it hit 80 in Tampa today!

[bigbird]

Haha that's why we live here Steve. I think it hit 80 in Tampa today!

I have a friend who lives in St. Pete. He says that from June through the end of September he only rides his motorcycle at night. He said the only way he could ride during daylight hours that time of year is without ATGATT. He won't ride in shorts, T-shirt, sneakers, and no helmet. I don't know how you desert or tropical riders could do it with ATGATT during your summer.

[Cool Hand Luke]

I have a friend who lives in St. Pete. He says that from June through the end of September he only rides his motorcycle at night. He said the only way he could ride during daylight hours that time of year is without ATGATT. He won't ride in shorts, T-shirt, sneakers, and no helmet. I don't know how you desert or tropical riders could do it with ATGATT during your summer.

I love St. Pete. I live about 470 miles north from there, but I have a business in St. Pete. I spent a lot of time down there in the past 4 years. It is a beautiful place.

Attachment 11441

Their winters are just great, as well as fall and spring. I was just there last weekend, it was cool in the morning and evening so a light jacket was a must but during the day I walked around in a t shirt. I believe it is mostly around 75 degrees F in the winter.

Summer months are hot and humid. However, I did plenty of riding there. I just had to leave really early in the morning while it was still fresh, and I also would bring a swimsuit and a towel and stop along the way for a swim in the ocean to cool off. It's fine if you plan for this. I also wear mesh jacket and pants as well as open face helmet while hot, and use sunblock. There are also roads you can ride in the shades of trees and the heat is tolerable. At the end of day I would dip in my pool and it felt great! And of course if the temps were really high I would only ride in the evening or early in the morning.

I was more concerned about occasional thunderstorms than heat as I don't like riding while it's thundering. I always checked weather radar and weather forecast before riding.

So not perfect but I'd rather deal with heat from June-September than snow and ice in the winter. I used to live in NY and NJ, and winters were awful. It sucks having to go to work in a really bad weather in ice and snow, not to mention dangerous.

I actually live in Aiken SC, so when hot in the summer I would leave early in the morning and head for the NC mountains, where I would get in about 3 hours. Blue Ridge Parkway can be 55 degrees F in the summertime while in the valley temps are in the 90's. Also, much more shades on the roads.

My brother lives in Vancouver, BC. I love visiting him as well, and I rent a bike while there. Great scenery, more traffic and lower speed limits that I'm used to, but great nevertheless. A beautiful loop to ride: Ferry from Vancouver to Sunshine Coast, ride until the road ends, then ferry to Vancouver Island, ride to Victoria, BC, then ferry to Seattle, then ride back to Vancouver. Can't go wrong!

[powercruzer13]

I was born & raised in St. Pete. Love & miss the weather down there!
Up here in the Arctic Circle in Marion Co. FL we get the hottest summer temps & the coldest winter temps in Florida. Love the summer temps as there is no such thing as "too hot to ride" for me but the cold ass winter temps totally suck!

All that being said, it was 76° today & I got about 100 miles in.

One of these days I'll move south, I hate the winters up here at the 29th parallel.

[bigbird]

One of these days I'll move south, I hate the winters up here at the 29th parallel.

Try the 50th parallel of north latitude at 100W longitude (dead centre of the continent).

That's just stupid. Why would you want to try it?