{"id":15091,"date":"2017-01-18T19:48:33","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T19:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/?p=15091"},"modified":"2017-01-18T19:48:33","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T19:48:33","slug":"life-and-island-times-motorcycle-winter-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/life-and-island-times-motorcycle-winter-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"Life and Island Times: Motorcycle Winter Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: It’s time for a pause from the four corners saga. This is a piece for northern riders whose bikes are nestled snugly in their riders\u2019 garages.<\/p>\n

– Marlow<\/p>\n

Most American riders outside the deep south and west coast have an offseason, when old man winter and polar vortexes make them put up their bikes for a spell. For many, it is a time to do long deferred maintenance or bolt on that special goody that’s been sitting on their workbench. Others use this forced time off for planning next year’s rides.<\/p>\n

When the leaves are off the trees, the first snowfalls and accompanying salt dumps dirtying their favorite roads, most just brace for another round of inactivity and long motorcycle winter blues.<\/p>\n

\"LIT1_011817\"
\nSure, it would be cool for northern riders to live in one of those places where one could ride year round. The novelty of a Christmas morning blast through the Arizona canyons would not wear off quickly. But riders in warmer climates will never know the unbridled ecstasy of that first spring ride, after all the weeks and months of waiting and dreaming. Nor will they know the depth of northern riders\u2019 winter motorcycle blues. It’s a form of PMS – aka Parked Motorcycle Syndrome. Symptoms include pacing back and forth in the garage, irritability, headaches, and nausea. Prolonged exposure to PMS can drive sufferers insane.<\/p>\n

\"LIT2_011817\"<\/p>\n

The annual forced sabbatical from motorcycling only makes one more appreciative of those perfect summer days where the traffic is nonexistent and the pavement beckons us interminably onward.<\/p>\n

\"LIT3_011817\"<\/p>\n

So in that vein here are several motorcycle winter blues songs for my fellow northern riders.<\/p>\n

Motorcycle Mountain Man Blues<\/p>\n

Motorcycle mountain man
\nLet me tell where you’re bound
\nDrinking too much winter whiskey, Lord
\nYou’re gonna hit the ground
\nWhen you spring ride around
\nWith a bike under your hands
\nNot respecting mountain road
\nWell, you’ll die where you land<\/p>\n

Motorcycle mountain man blues
\nGot him down low
\nHe could die in the morning
\nBut no one would know
\nThat his time had come around
\nHis body they’ll find on
\nSome roadside south of town
\nHaving one last good time<\/p>\n

Motorcycle mountain man gonna crumble
\nAnd fall from the sky
\nBefore that scooter of his
\nRuns outta rubber on its tires
\nIf he dies, Lord, please dont weep
\nDont weep and dont mourn
\nDont weep and dont mourn
\nJust remember where he’s gone<\/p>\n

Loves his black-n-silver scooter
\nNever did him no wrong
\nNever slow to start in the morning
\nIt runs all day long
\nChromed up bikes
\nBring nothing but pain
\nTake all you spend on em
\nLeave their riders only shame<\/p>\n

Mountain roads, Lord, he rides
\nLike a long holy train
\nFirst winds of spring
\nWill see him again
\nIn his farewell to the blues
\nChrome plated misery he’s known
\nMountain motorcycle roads a calling
\nCalling its riders home<\/p>\n

Motorcycle mountain road blues
\nGot him down low
\nHe might die in the morning
\nBut no one would know
\nWhen his turn come around
\nHis body they’ll find on
\nSome roadside south of town
\nHaving one last good time<\/p>\n

\"LIT4_011817\"<\/p>\n

It’s plain to see, the sun won’t shine today
\nRiders ain’t in the mood for sunshine anyway
\nSitting still, biker men go insane
\nNot gonna stop cold rain
\nGonna ride out on their sweet machines<\/p>\n

A swallow comes at night singing sweet dreams
\nThey know in an instant just what she means
\nDont wanna feel like they could die
\nIn rockin chairs as life flies by
\nThey’ll brave north wind on their sweet machines<\/p>\n

Stars hang high above, the ocean roars
\nThe moon comes to lead em to new shores
\nThere’s crystals across desert sands
\nAnd the waves, they take their hands
\nCome spring they’ll ride their sweet machines<\/p>\n

\"LIT5_011817\"<\/p>\n

Day’s full of rain
\nSky’s coming down again
\nRiders getting tired
\nOf these same old rainy day blues
\nSame old song
\nWell it won’t be long
\nBefore they’ll be pulling on
\nTheir flyin boots
\nFlyin boots
\nUntil they’re pulling on
\nTheir flyin boots<\/p>\n

Spring’s only started
\nSummer roads yet to be sighted
\nFall’s just a feeling
\nThat they just can’t lose
\nThey’d like to stay
\nMaybe ride another day
\nTurn muddy spring floodwaters
\nTo ocean white and blue
\nFlyin boots
\nFlyin boots
\nDreaming of pulling on
\nTheir flyin boots<\/p>\n

Summer mountain moons
\nForever set too soon
\nBeing alone
\nIs all the hills can do
\nAlone and then
\nBlack silver Harley sails again
\nAnd they will ride in
\nTheir flyin boots
\nFlyin boots
\nAnd they will ride in
\nTheir flyin boots<\/p>\n

\"LIT6_011817\"<\/p>\n

Above icy roads Milky Way stars float
\nAbove riders in town homes.
\nTell us, train whistle,
\nWith all your woo-wee grief,
\nwhat we can give.
\nDear Lord of all the roads
\nwhat are we going to do?
\nStreet lights, xenon blue, and pale
\nAs the homes of men, tell us how to do it how
\nTo withdraw how to penetrate and find the source
\nOf the power you always had
\nOf the roads around, and the sleep of dreaming men<\/p>\n

Now as we ride the night
\nYou ride with us we know simplicity
\nIs close to the source that sleeping men
\nSearch for in their home deep beds.<\/p>\n

Country roads look on and help. Tell us, freight train,
\nTell us in a voice of the sea as it lifts,
\nHundreds of miles away, a deep roar
\nLike the profound, unstoppable craving
\nOf riders for their wish.
\nLove, road time and the moon<\/p>\n

\"LIT7_011817\"<\/p>\n

Imagine a motorcycle
\nOld fashioned and black
\nRunning down a blue highway
\nPassed cars fade back
\nTheir destinations close by
\nIts rider looks out onto the fields
\nThe clouds are grey
\nIt rained last night
\nHis seat is wet, and so is the road<\/p>\n

Does he have enough fuel?
\nThe road is so long
\nFive gallons of high test, and 150 miles to go
\nIf only he knew anything about math<\/p>\n

Shades of grey are all that’s left
\nIt’s not so hard to crash this thing
\nBut thanks to the men who serviced the brakes
\nHis training should cover this<\/p>\n

Strength and depth of road experience matter
\nWhen he’s in the middle of the road
\nMoon and star beams firing all around him<\/p>\n

The motorcycle is his spaceship
\nIt’s no imaginative feat
\nBefore he realized, he was flying
\nHis wheels escaping the ground<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2017 From My Isle Seat
\nwww.vicsocotra.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: It’s time for a pause from the four corners saga. This is a piece for northern riders whose bikes are nestled snugly in their riders\u2019 garages. – Marlow Most American riders outside the deep south and west coast have an offseason, when old man winter and polar vortexes make them put up their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-island-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15099,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15091\/revisions\/15099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}