First Ride of 2020 — Up Geiger Grade, a New Friend, and the Best Day So Far

February 2020. The bike had been in the barn since November. It was time.

It wasn't a long ride. It wasn't unusual. But I got the bike out, dusted it off, filled it with gas, did the round and round in the driveway to make sure everything felt right — and then I pointed it up Geiger Grade for a cup of tea with a new friend. That Saturday was the best day of the new year so far. And I woke up every morning that February knowing 2020 was going to be one of the best years yet.

We all know how that turned out. But here's the thing: it didn't matter. I was on my bike.

The First Ride of the Season

There is a specific ritual to the first ride of the year that every rider understands. The bike has been sitting. You've been waiting. The weather finally gives you a window — not perfect, maybe, but good enough — and you take it. You dust off the seat, check the tires, fill the tank, and ease back into it. The first few minutes are always a reacquaintance. The bike remembers you. You remember the bike. And then you're riding again and it's like you never stopped.

That's what February 2020 felt like. A reawakening. A reminder of why you do this.

Up Geiger Grade

Geiger Grade — the winding two-lane road that climbs from the Truckee Meadows up to Virginia City through the Virginia Range — is one of those roads that never gets old. Every season it looks different. In February it's stark and dramatic, the high desert scrub brown and gold against the grey sky, the views opening up as you climb. It's not a long road but it's a good one, and arriving at the top in Virginia City with the Comstock spread out around you is always worth the climb.

I rode up to meet a new friend for a chai latte. That's the kind of morning that reminds you that riding isn't just about the destination or the distance — it's about the way getting somewhere on a motorcycle makes the arrival feel earned. A cup of chai tea at the top of Geiger Grade on a February morning hits differently than the same cup of tea in a parking lot.

A New Friend, A New Year

One of the gifts that riding keeps giving is the people it brings into your life. A new friend, a shared cup of tea, a conversation at the top of a Nevada mountain — that's the motorcycle community doing what it does best. The bike gets you there. The rest takes care of itself.

I woke up every morning that February genuinely believing 2020 was going to be one of the best years of my life. The brand was growing. The rides were getting better. The community was expanding. Everything felt like it was building toward something.

2020 Had Other Plans

COVID had other plans for all of us. The world that looked so full of possibility in February looked very different by March. Events cancelled. Roads emptied. The world went quiet in ways nobody had anticipated.

But here's what I know: the bike was still there. The roads were still there. And when everything else got complicated and uncertain and strange, getting on a motorcycle and riding — even alone, even just up Geiger Grade and back — was one of the things that kept the year from being a total loss. You can't lock down a road. You can't quarantine the feeling of riding through the Virginia Range with the high desert spread out around you.

Was it COVID? It didn't matter. I was on my bike.

Hope to See You in Virginia City

That February optimism — the feeling that this was going to be a great year, that the community was going to gather and ride and celebrate — never fully went away. It just got deferred. And when the world opened back up, Virginia City was still there. The Grade was still there. The chai tea was still good at the top.

Some things wait for you. The best ones always do.