It's a sad day today. Labor Day marks the end of Summer for most of the population. People go home from short or extended vacations on this day and the highway in front of my house is alive all day with vehicles heading south. Cars with roof boxes, travel trailers and motor homes have been passing by. For me it's a time to start thinking about how to extend the riding season. There will only be a few short weeks before cooler weather sets in. It wasn't too bad when I left for work around lunchtime, but these days I leave before sun up. Thirty-five degrees is fairly tolerable when the sun is out. In the dark it's down right frosty.
I can't complain too badly as my fleet has compiled nearly 4,000 miles this season plus another hundred or so I put on the Honda. I accomplished most of the maintenance tasks I was aware of at the start, with the exception of two. I have to do an oil change on the Honda and check/replace the drive belt on the 150cc scooter. All of the fleet have done one ride of note this season of varying lengths. The big scooter has several eighty mile runs to Binghamton and back, the 150cc scooter did The Burrito Run to Vestal for a seventy-nine mile jaunt and the 50cc bike did a commute to work in April. The trip is a hilly thirty-five mile run and it handled it easily.
Each of the bikes did errand running into Town, including the Honda, saving vast amounts of fuel and wear and tear on the cars. The 50cc bike has rolled over 600 miles this season as an errand machine and its time in that capacity is far from over. I'm hoping that it will continue in that vain until nearly Thanksgiving. I'd like to believe that this sorrowful end of the Summer season isn't an end to the riding season. I'm having way too much fun.