You know it’s been cold when anything over 38 degrees feels warm. About noon, Kelly text-ed me to let me know he and Phil were suiting up and going to hit the road for a couple of hours. It didn’t really matter where we were going, it was 45 degrees and the roads were dry, I was headed upstairs to get ready before I answered the text.

December had been so cold it was the first month in a couple of years I hadn’t been on the bike, so I was more than ready.

I was surprised at how warm it felt. I’d been on the bike 30 or 40 minutes before I even turned on the heated jacket. For Christmas I picked up a really nice fleece I’ve been wearing, and it was very warm under my jacket. It looks good and has kept me toasty in the office as the cold days of December continued through the first week or so of January. It was very warm under my leathers. That said, 75 or so MPH heading down to Lindon on the freeway and I had the electric jacket turned on before we pulled into the parking lot.

We stopped at what we used to call the Lehi Crossroads to gas up and decide whether to head around the lake or have a slider at Marley’s at Timp Harley. We opted for the latter and took Pioneer Crossing back to I-15 and south to the dealer.

It felt nice to have the wind in my face and peel off a few miles in early January. Spring is feeling a long way away right now. We talked about trailering the bikes down to Vegas and riding to Phoenix to get away from the cold and explore some of the riding down there.

We met a nice guy and his wife who recently moved down here from Idaho and talked about the rally that takes place in Baker, OR in July. It sounds like there’s a couple of nice rides we haven’t been on before. If our Glacier trip falls through, we might opt to check it out. They were admiring the custom paint on my Road King and one thing led to another.

After a slider and a soda, we mounted up and made the short ride home. Stopped at the light at 9000 South and 700 East Kelly said, “We needed that.”

He was right.