Racing Snow

Collegeville Connecticut Bears, from left: Grumpy, CT Blogger, Token2 and Captain.

Motorcycle Polar Bear Blog, Polar Bear Grand Tour, ride to Collegeville, Penn., December 11, 2016.

By: Chris Loynd, a.k.a. CT Blogger

Season's first snow was forecast to fall this Sunday. We were all watching the "futurecast" closely Saturday night. Fortunately flakes were not predicted until late in the day. On Saturday night the weather prognosticators were suggesting a 7 p.m. snow start; Sunday morning they moved it up to 6. That was a weather window with which we could work.

However, early Sunday morning Token2 was looking at radar showing a snow swath over Philadelphia, closeby our destination, and wondering if he should ride. Dude! You're the one with the adventure touring motorcycle. The one who rode to the Arctic Circle.

Weathermen also promised us the first truly bearish Polar Bear ride of the season, forecasting temperatures in the low twenties in the morning and not much above freezing the whole day.

I broke out my Freeze-out onesie for the first time this season. I should have put on the hippo hands too. My Warm and Safe suit cranked more than enough heat for my body, right down to my toes. I never turned it up more than halfway. But the gloves struggled. Even at full heat my fingers were too cold. Hands fared better on the ride home. It's amazing what 10 extra degrees can do.

Gloves are tough. Make them too thick and they're no good for the motorcycle controls. They also need to be waterproof. Leather is preferred for protection, but is thick. Someone needs to design a glove with a thin, windproof and waterproof layer. I'd also like a longer gauntlet. My Warm and Safe gloves just barely cover my jacket sleeves. It is quickly annoying when you have even a tiny air leak up your sleeve at 20 degrees and 65 miles per hour. Some Polar Bear riders wrap the gap with duct tape.

In defense of Warm and Safe, my gloves are an older model. Their new "Ultimate Touring Gloves" look to have deeper gauntlets and double heating wires in the thumb. Maybe next season? My wife tries to understand, but my motorcycle gear collection baffles her. How many pairs of gloves does one man need?

Whether it was weather or whatever, we were down to the Connecticut Polar Bear core Sunday: Captain and Grumpy met me at the Dunkin' Donuts in Stratford, our weekly starting point. Captain told me about Token2's radar watching; they'd spoken earlier Sunday morning. "He said he may or may not be at the bus stop," Captain said.

Turned out Token2 strapped them on and was waiting for us.

I had the lead. Captain was sweep. Grumpy and Token2 tucked inside. We had a lot of ground to cover and a short weather window. With a small group of experienced riders, I turned up the wick. Grumpy was on me like glue. Captain was reading my mind, clearing lanes before I signaled. It was delightful.

Our destination was Appalachian Brewing Company in Collegeville, Penn., just north of Philadelphia. It is agonizingly close to 400 miles round trip. But we get only five points for the 380 mile ride. Not that we should complain. Most of our New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania Polar Bear brethren earn far fewer points on these rides. I've always said the Grand Tour is really not meant for us coming from Connecticut as we do. They graciously accept us all the same.

Starting out at 8:00 a.m., we figured to be in Collegeville well before the 11:30 sign-in. Last year an 8 a.m. start put us there at 8:20. With our tight group, a quick turnpike rest stop pee break and a bit of spirited riding, we hit town at 11:10 a.m.

Token2 was right. Light Pennsylvania flurries swirled around us as we searched for a spot of lunch.

Appalachian Brewing has notoriously slow service. So we hit a Friendly's a few miles off of the turnpike. We figured to polish off our repast and then ride into town to sign in and earn our points.

Friendly's lived up to its name and then some. Our waiter was friendly and accommodated us with a six seat table even though we were only four. Spare table top and chairs were piled with helmets, jackets and gear.

Captain had breakfast; Grumpy, Token2 and I had lunch. Food was tasty and fast. I went way off my diet with the fried clam strips, one of my all time favorites. Token2 and I upgraded to waffle fries. Yum! Everybody in the restaurant was friendly. Several folks struck up conversations with us. Four guys on motorcycles in winter were novel enough. Four guys from Connecticut doubly so. The nice lady in the booth next to us handed us a couple of $5 off coupons she had clipped from some circular somewhere. And our waiter cleverly split our ticket so we could take advantage of both. (Maybe that's supposed to be a secret? If someone from corporate is monitoring, rest assured we would have sat at two adjoining but not touching tables to get the deal!)

We were done in less than an hour, even took the group photo in the Friendly's parking lot. At Appalachian Brewing we didn't even take off our helmets, just strolled in, signed in, and were feet-up in five minutes.

Gas and go just before the Pennsylvania Turnpike on-ramp and we were hustling for home. We even skipped coffee in our stop at the top. Traffic was light, even across the Tappan Zee Bridge. As always, the worst congestion was in Connecticut. We rubber-banded a bit on the Merritt.

Even so, my ST was in the garage by 4:00 p.m.

I was sitting on the couch recovering, after exploding out of my multilayer riding gear and into comfortable jeans and sweatshirt, when my phone rang. It was Captain. "I'm driving behind a salt spreader," he said. He was in his car headed to Sue's place. "It's snowing!" The time was 5:20 p.m.

Grumpy got a new cell phone with wide-angle, multi-pixel camera and was showing me how it worked.

Polar Bear Grand Tour photographer Bernie Walsh. He took a group photo of us but it didn't make the page.

Bob photo of the week, next to Flight A Leader John.

Captain signs in with Flight B Leaders Jim and Joan.

Token2 signs in.

Grumpy signs in.

Quick turn stop at the top.

Outside my house at 5:20, that's snow!

Front of my house and a bit of holiday cheer!

Not Thankful for Traffic

Collegeville Connecticut Bears, from left: Mac, Fonz, Captain and Princess, back row; Chris & Pogy down front.

Motorcycle Polar Bear Blog, ride to Appalachian Brewing Co., Collegeville, Penn., November 29, 2015.

By: Chris Loynd

Well I knew we would hit post Thanksgiving Day holiday traffic. I even contemplated skipping the ride today because of it. But how often do you get to witness a coronation?

Once again I invoked our early departure program (EDP). I had several reasons. One, it's a long ride for us. Two, I recall slow service at our destination restaurant. And three, I knew we'd hit holiday traffic.

An 8:00 a.m. start isn't all that early, Google Maps said it would get us to our destination in three hours. When I spooled up the GPS, it predicted an arrival time of 10:45. I was worried my Connecticut Bears would be miffed at such an early arrival. But then I figured a stop along the way would easily eat up 15 or 20 minutes. So we're good. Right?

As I got ready for my artificially early start time, time got away from me. A few fits and starts and the next thing I know it's perilously close to 8:00 a.m. I know my guys wait for no one. So I pulled out Plan B. I jumped onto the interstate, rode one exit south and got off again to intercept my guys en route. It worked.

Sitting at the stop light, signaling a left turn down to the Dunkin' Donuts, I saw Fonz and Mac riding toward the Interstate, Fonz in the lead. I changed my signal from left to right and fell in as sweep. Behind me I noticed Captain in his car. Unfortunately, because I was late I missed any conversation at the Dunkin'. So I had no idea what was up with the Captain.

There was nothing to do for it but ride.

We saw Pogy off his bike as we rode by the Darien rest stop. Usually he's mounted with the engine running. So we rode slowly, deep into Stamford, before Pogy finally appeared on his Wing.

Any thoughts I had of letting him sweep instead of me were quickly dispelled as he powered past me and pulled in behind Mac.

Johanna was ready for us at the bus stop. With a green light brightly shining at the intersection, we barely offered her a downshift as rode by and entered the Hutchinson Parkway. Looks like she got a new helmet. Johanna usually favors a half helmet. This was a full face with serious bling, enough bling that I could see it at 60 plus miles per hour.

Still sweeping, I kept a weather eye for Jim. Two weeks ago, he was waiting for us on the shoulder of one of the parkways headed to the GW Bridge. Where was it? Before the Cross County? After? He never showed. At lunch we learned from Johanna that Jim lost a good friend of his. Our deepest sympathies, Jim.

Fonz led a good ride, right up to the part where he had to find our actual destination. He kept a steady speed on the turnpikes, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Mac credits his smoothness with his own tight riding this week.

You see everything sitting at the back of the pack. And this Sunday we looked really good.

Fonz threw us a few challenges, taking I-87 instead of the Saw Mill Parkway, the GW lower level instead of the upper, local lanes to the turnpike instead of express. We held formation through it all, even an aggressive idiot who tried every way she could to cut us off, cut in, cut back, cut up. Thankfully, she finally found her way to the left lane and we bobbed in her wake, intact.

Captain did not have as much luck. As we tooled along in the local lanes, I saw him come up even with us -- in the express lanes. I waved and he caught up eventually.

Fonz rode steady, true and without stops. Worries about arriving way too early crept back into my consciousness.

But as we got to our exit from the Pennsylvania Turnpike, he choked. It is admittedly confusing. There are three choices: I-476 north or south or Exit 333. We wanted that 333, but it came last. Fonz headed off for 476, faked south, cut over north. We stuck with him like glue, me dodging back and forth trying to clear which ever lane Fonz wanted.

We recovered just fine. Our only penalty was some stop-and-go riding through downtown Norristown, Penn. An added bonus: we ate up a bit of that too early arrival time I was worried about.

We lost Captain once again in the stop lights. As it turned out in the end, he arrived at our destination well before we did. That's because Fonz refused to turn onto Third Avenue, or Fourth, or Fifth. At an opportune stop light Pogy and I rode up and convinced Fonz to finally turn LEFT! But then he wanted to head away from our destination at the next stop sign. I moved up and offered my services. Our destination was just a few hundred yards down the street to the LEFT! Fortunately, Fonz followed my lead and we finally parked.

Captain took advantage of his earlier than us arrival and grabbed a table and some coffees. We got our order in by 11:00 a.m., then waited 45 minutes for our food to arrive.

It was delicious, if slow. Princess may have caused the delay by ordering something not on the voluminous menu: a BLT.

We motored home and really didn't hit much traffic until we hit the Tappan Zee. The approach from the GW Parkway was stop and go. And it was a few miles of clutch-in, clutch-out to get over the bridge and through the tolls. But then we cruised I-287.

Our home state of Connecticut delivered the real traffic penalty. It was horrible traffic, and an extra half-hour, double what it should have taken, to get up the Merritt Parkway. Stop-and-go, extreme rubber banding, crazy tailgaters, we got the full treatment.

Our leader was heck on the big roads, not so much on the small ones.

And the food wait begins . . . 

Captain makes the presentation.

Princess Johanna.

Bling helmet and bear, she's really trying.

Princess and her vassals?

CT Polar Bears pose for PB Photog Bernard Walsh.

Princess descends the staircase.

Princess and her dragon.

Princess selfie.

Princess at Chez GSP with her fellow CT Bears.