The blessing of a full fairing
On a trip back to Toronto from western Canada, we were driving along Highway 44 in Saskatchewan, which is the thinnest strip of asphalt I've ever navigated as a primary highway, I kept feeling something hitting the toes of my boots. I thought the bike was kicking up loose gravel from a highway that was broken in places.
When we got onto another highway (i. e. a thicker strip of asphalt) I kept feeling these rocks. But the highway wasn't broken. It was new and perfectly paved.
Turns out it wasn’t rocks, which I discovered when we stopped and I looked down at my boots. It was grasshoppers. I would have taken a picture and posted it here, but nothing that icky should ever be posted on social media.
Two days later, east of Brandon, MB, we stopped for a coffee. A few minutes after we sat down outside with coffee and a bite for breakfast, another rider joined us. While we were chatting and drinking our coffees in the early morning sun, I looked down and noticed that his jeans were coated in a sticky, icky yellow substance from the knees down. "I see you just came through Saskatchewan," I remarked.
He looked down and said: "I've never seen so many grasshoppers. Those suckers hurt when you get hit. It feels like a stone hitting you. It wasn't as bad on the legs, but on the face it really hurts.”
I then noticed two things. The half windshield on his motorcycle. And the welts on his face under the sunburn.
Like I said, I'm very thankful for the protection of a full fairing on my Honda Gold Wing. While a good set of boots protect me against stones and grasshoppers, the full fairing means my jeans, shins and face don’t take a beating. And it means we can ride in a range of weather conditions. If you’ve ever been hit in the face by a raindrop at 100 kilometres per hour (about 60 miles per hour), you know exactly what I mean.
We couldn’t resist including a few photos of the prairie, which is stunningly beautiful in its own right.
Enjoy!
