Tourance update

Last March when I put Tourance tires on the Nun I raved about them.
Now it's one year later and I'm even more impressed.

With a year's worth of wear they still stick better on bad roads than my previous tires.
The original Metzelers and Pirelli Sport Demons are only good for clean, smooth, dry roads; they slide like snake snot on anything else. The Tourance tires work on damp, dirty and poorly maintained roads (my favorite kind)..

Tourance wears like iron. I'll get two years out of front and rear tires.
I'm stuck on Tourance.

UPDATE 12-2017: Still stuck on Tourance. I see no point in even trying anything else.

Springtime in Jeff Co Mo.

Jefferson County, Missouri, that is. 

There are a few hobby "farms" with horses, goats and llamas but it's mostly suburban subdivisions perched on ridges and nestled in a few of the hollows. Most of the land is too steeply inclined for development. Rock strata jut out everywhere and the ecology is diverse. Neighbors include deer, raccoon, opossum, groundhogs and skunks as well as box turtles, garter snakes and skinks. The armadillo is a recent immigrant. There goes the neighborhood. 

The roads along the ridges are some of the twistiest back roads anywhere. Other roads follow the contours of the hills like a lazy roller coaster. I see a few middleweight Euro and Asian motorcycles out here but not many highway hogs.

Winter Riding in Missouri

So far this winter I have mostly just ridden the Nun on weekends.

I only rode to work once so far this winter because morning or evening conditions are potentially hazardous on most days. I don't ride in the dark when temps are below freezing because icy patches are possible. Even when there has been no recent precipitation there can be moisture from other sources.

When temps drop toward the lower 40s F all the hogs disappear. The last of the rice rockets vanish a few degrees later. Then it's just me and some guy on a BMW out here in the Jefferson County hills. I haven't met him yet. We always seem to be going in opposite directions so our interaction has been limited to nods and waves.

Anywhere I stop, people ask me, "Isn't it a little cool for riding a motorcycle?" I list all the layers of thermal protection I'm wearing and explain that I ride mostly in the JeffCo twisties, which means I'm not usually going very fast. Still, a few people think I'm nuts.

I enjoy riding when it's cold. It's a different experience and a different challenge from riding in warmer weather.
The scenery is different, too. All summer my favorite woodland roads are lined with walls of greenery. Only in winter can I see all the way up the hills and down the valleys. And when there's snow on the ground those hills and valleys are breathtaking.

So what do I do to winterize my Triumph? Nothing. I ride that sucker.