Moto Broad

1. Take all the armor out of riding jacket and give the jacket a spin in the washer.
2. Put the  jacket in the dryer on the recommended cool setting.
3. Be driven mad by the loud clunking noise coming from the dryer.
4. Hang the jacket in the shower and hope it will dry out over the next four humid, rainy days.
5. Knuckle down and work on those book chapters that are due Friday.
6. Clean house.
7. Check www.weather.com every 30 minutes to see when the sun will shine again.

After snow last Sunday, the temperatures in the 70s were too much to resist today. I ran all my Saturday errands on the bike, tucking things here and there in the saddlebags and tank bag. My left hand was off the handlebar quite a bit, waving at fellow riders coming the other way, from bundled-up tourers this morning to guys in tank-tops and shorts this afternoon.

There are a few variations on The Wave;

• One finger pointing down (usually cruisers)
• Slightly downward two-finger peace sign (usually sportbike pilots)
• Short sideways wave (usually tourers covered with bags)
• Full standard wave (usually scooters)

I’m not hip enough to know if there’s any significance to the angle or duration of The Wave. And then there’s The Nod, used when both hands are occupied shifting, turning, or taking off. There are those who don’t wave or nod, of course, but they are few.

Whatever the particulars, it’s a nice brotherly gesture toward a stranger who shares a fondness for two wheels, and it makes for a bright little moment on the road.

Scientist Ryuta Kawashima (developer of the “Brain Training” software titles) and Yamaha Motor Company have teamed up to test the effects of motorcycling on the brains of middle-aged men. The results? Daily motorcycling sharpened their memories and reduced their errors at work.

See the full story here.

Guys, if you’re looking for more ammunition to convince your wife to let you have a bike, this can’t hurt. Tomorrow afternoon, I’m going to go out and spend a few miles improving my brain.

We had actual snow here in the Atlanta area over the weekend; as you can imagine, it pretty much shut the city down. Weather guys are exhausted from rolling up their sleeves and pointing at amoebic onscreen graphics showing impending snowy doom. So, not too many bikes on the road today. I’m housebound myself, working on computer projects.

But I believe I’ve found the answer to fogging faceshields: FogTech. The little packets are pricey (just under a buck apiece at most retail outlets, although a bit of Web searching can beat that), so I’ve invested in the more economical bottle for at-home application.

Five-pack of FogTech Packets

The beauty of the wipe-on packet is that it’s painless: open the packet, wipe the moist towelette across the inside of the visor, and you’re ready to go. No polishing a smeared waxy coating until it’s achieved a tolerable degree of bleariness. This is completely clear as it goes on, with no distortion of your view. It’s supposed to last for several cold days before you need to reapply.

When you first apply it, you may think, “This is too easy; it can’t be effective.” But it really does the trick: absolutely clear, no fogging, no streaking. It’s my new favorite thing.