February 1, 2011 - Bay Copy - Rockland, MA

The Ural is much different than my bikes. It's a usable assembly that sounds like a barrel full of marbles rolling down an asphalt driveway. I get disturbed when I examine the parts.

But it has been the ONLY RIDE since sometime in December. I wanna ride, I wanna ride, I wanna ride............. like the Honda Commercial. This Russian Beast allows me to ride to my heart's content and then some. Nothing has stopped it yet. Snow and Ice do require attention to everything around you; but you arrive at work fresh and energized and ready for a day of "whatever".

Then at day's end comes the chance to clear out the mind and ANOTHER RIDE!

Here the old girl sits under the results of a 6" snow drop just waiting to be brushed off and kicked into life. I use bar mitts to keep my hands warm under the worst conditions. I've had NO COLD THUMBS down to -2F. The bar mitts are wrapped with plastic garbage bags to keep them dry and empty of snow. The bags come off for a comfortable and warm trip home.

In the summer I fall in love with the two wheelers. Come the winter I rekindle my romance with the Ural. The commute is 20 miles at a pass on secondary roads. None are posted higher than 45. That gives me an easy 45 minute run in most conditions except snow. Daily I ride 40 and weekly it becomes 200. By the end of the year 10,000 miles have been devoured by the commute. The Ural probably gets 3,000 of these "have to" miles. The three other machines get the remainder.