It's October and the season is over for me!

It's really hard to believe that this exciting year of riding is really pretty much finished for now. It's hard to believe that my intention to blog about each ride lost inspiration, making way for the riding instead. And I sure did put a lot of miles on that lovely Little Hussy of mine... actually over 9000 km!

For a while I figured that I'd be able to catch up on the blogs... look back over the photos (especially those in my friend Flo's photobucket), and catch up on the rides. But the truth is that the rides became so familiar by the last few months that I no longer needed to sit down and talk about what I'd experienced or learned. Riding has become second nature. I get on the bike, and though I might have a butterfly or two during some traffic situations, I don't have a whole bunch of them flittering around in my stomach before I start out.

One of the last rides I enjoyed with friends was just a week ago. Mir called early one morning and suggested we meet in Mill Bay. We joined up with Jenn after we'd had a coffee at the Timmy's and the three of us headed off to lunch in Cowichan Bay. On that morning ride I realized the season was pretty much finished for me. My fingers were losing their feeling, and riding requires good hand control of throttle, clutch and brakes. It was much better when it warmed up and the sun was so gorgeous too. Trees changing colour, and the beauty of the snappy fall weather are wonderful, but honestly a little hard to enjoy when you're too cold. I'll need some kind of heated clothing to take weather below 10 degrees C. Yep, pretty much finished.

There was one special thing that I need to mention here. I rode my bike on voting day. Yep, I arrived at the school in full leathers and got quite the happy looks from some folks... and a little mis-judgement from others. The thing that struck me though was the fact that my very first ride of the year was on International Women's Day (IWD)... and it looks as though my final ride of the year might just be Election Day. On IWD, I clearly remember thinking how it was a true privilege to be able to ride as a woman, and how there were still countries on this planet where women don't have any rights yet. On Election Day, as I rode I remembered that first ride and thought how here I am so priveliged as to ride to vote, as well as to vote, and that's something that Canadian women didn't get to do until about 70 years ago. What a great start and end for this 57 year old woman.

Yep, I've put more than 9000 km on my bike. I can ride! I have my class 6 license. All in all, it's been a great year.