Dear Diary, i survived the winter.

recent april i bought vstrom650. that was my first bike after like 8 years of no riding. bought it lightly used from a dealership. during my parking lot manouvers gravity decided that my bike was in too good condition, unlike my skills, so obvious happen. that whas when i decided to install crash bars and boy what a decision that was. they now look like after hugging a grinder from my parking lot drills but nothing major ever happend. oh and went to my first track day that year. since it was my first one i went into a slow group - a nobrainer. after first lap i was pulled to the side and was told that i already did 4 dangerous passes and that that im basically a retard. got kicked to the mid level group. while i shouldnt be parading my stupidity it kinda felt nice, you know. all the summer adventures build enough confidence in me that i decided, fuck that, im not quitting because of some pissy cold white water.but boo hoo i dont have money to spare, imagine that. guess im riding on my summer street tires. funnily enough, local law doesnt have winter tire rules for motorcycles because everyone is expected to keep their bikes in garages and not being a giant moron. the winter here was also not rough. lots of sub zero temps with lots of ice but barely any snow. maybe like 3 weeks of snowing total.first month of cold temperatures my coworkers admired me for my resistance to cold but i never had a heart to tell them that my all year motorcycle gear does actually way better job in keeping me warm than their winter jackets.second month they started to doubt my sanity. at this point it felt like im the only motorcyclist in the whole capital. still temperatures werent too bad. i have learnt that i take it well untill it goes below -4C. i also learnt the term black ice as i had an opportunity to investigate it point blank. fortunately on a parking lot. i always train for around 15 minutes before work.next two months they lost hope for me. i learnt later that my collegues were actually betting in which month of the winter im going to wreck. guess i won? now where is my money? there were days when i was literally scared to jump on a moto. mostly heavy snow conditions. its easy to be cocky and underestimate the winter untill the day when you literally have your balls up your throat. i still lane split anyway.somewhere at the fifth month i had a lowside. purely my lack of danger spotting skill. stockholm is pretty big and very often in various places there are different temperatures. that day i did a trip to dealership for chain cleaning supplies. was riding for a good hour and after i went to meet my father who lives in some weather black hole. everywhere above 0C and in this god forsaken shithole they had an absolute chonker of an ice pool... on a turn. didnt see it. paid a toll. luckily hurted only my ego cause crashbars are glorious and i landed rather well so not even a bruise.earlier this month we had a winter comeback. snow and all. i had my practise in snow so i underestimated the threat. coming back from work. snowstorm and an uphill road. meh, whats the worst can happen. apparently ice. thick as shit under white bullcrap. was giving too much throttle due to lack of recognision. rear wheel lost traction. 40 kmh lowside. moto unharmed (i seriously admire my crashbars). i unharmed, mirrors still stock and i finally decided to turn on my traction controll.here we are now. sun shining, brothers and sisters already pulling their stalions, lots of experience gained with expense of my luck allowance and pride of being an absolute meathead. this year im going to trackday at least once per month, gona learn some basic stunts on my vstrom and hit more offroads because i realised i actually like when my rear wiggle. if i had an advice for anyone as stupid as me it would be: motorcycle will react to your input. if you do hectic, rapid and mervois movements you are going to tell moto to do exactly the same which you may be unprepared for. give smooth input and you will realise there is a huge window for you to correct it before you lose controll and crashsorry for making you to read it via /r/motorcycles https://www.reddit.com/r/motorcycles/comments/fl6d2q/dear_diary_i_survived_the_winter/?utm_source=ifttt