A "special" memory smell while riding

[ridingfar]

Lots and lots of memorable aromas while riding, but I'll never forget....

Long ago in my misspent adolescence....riding home late at night from my girlfriends apartment before having showered. Ahhh, the sweet smells of youth!

[Leanintree]

I know this sounds silly, but that first fresh skunk carcass still screams 'springtime in the rockies'. It's not terribly pleasent, but it heralds each new riding season.
LT

[stromgal]

Orange blossoms and the tang of salt air in Florida. The dry, 'desert' smell of the SW. Spring lilacs, fresh-cut grass, just-mown alfalfa, 'dairy air', inland lakes, and pine forests of N. Wisconsin.  


Mega feed lots of the plains.  

[olderigetfasteriam]

When I think "smell" on a bike it has to be my oldest memory. That oil mix they used to (and maybe still do) put in to two strokes. I think it was Castrol something. But definitely produced a particular smell when burnt.

Yep, the castor beans. Smells better than anything I can think of. Going to the track in my youth was my heaven.

[Mr.Black]

In Bermuda in the early evening (early 70's) the smell of cedar burning in all the fireplaces is a special memory. Absolutely nothing to do with riding though.

[MCRyder]

Being in the Hill Country with the smell of mesquite after a rain ( which has been not too often these last couple dry years)

[coho]

Wild fennel gone to seed along the upper California and lower Oregon coast on a sunny day in fall.

[Slartibartfast]

Coppertone. There is a very popular beach on the way to my favourite ride. The road it's on winds around a lake and the beach is just a few feet off the road. You can literally smell the suntan lotion about 20 seconds before you get to the beach if it's a hot sunny day. The smell always reminds me of early childhood. It also reminds me that I'm about to see dozens of college-age lassies in micro bikinis. I always catch myself holding my gut in.

[Motozeke]

Sage in the cool of a Southern California evening after a warm day.

Also, the fire pits along PCH.

[Andrew]

  THe smell of someone burning a fat joint in the car ahead of me brings me back to you youth. Clean and sober now but the smell still gets me.

 The smell of the spring rain in the redwoods with a hint of ocean spray brings back some very powerful memories of me with a woman I was with AHH yes a teenager in love, or maybe just lust

[CLAY]

Tonight I took a circuitous route out to get the phototag in Michigan.  When I within about 4 miles of the lake (Lake Michigan), I could start smelling the beach.  I rode along it for a few miles- it was a most excellent ride.  I love the smell of the beach.  Kramer should have made the perfume.

[bluedogok]

Not as much a smell, but when I was a kid we would do night rides west out of OKC with the other neighbors who rode (all on enduro bikes back then) to a late night coffee shop or truck stop on I-40. Until I got my MC license at 14 I would ride on the back of my dads Kawasaki F7 (175cc), after I got my license we would ride on our own. We would go west on Reno and at MacArthur there was a big wheat field, whenever the field was green the temp seemed to drop 20 degrees as you rode by it and then when you crossed the river there was another temp drop, I guess there was sort of a fresh, clean smell as you went by the wheat field as well.

In Austin it was always nice to ride at night because the heat of the days can be brutal. We would go to the Rudy's BBQ by Lake Travis at times and the ride home on 2222 and 360 through very hilly terrain was always nice at night. I don't like the chance of critters on the road but the cool air in June (by July there was no such thing as cool air any time of day) was refreshing. One thing that I noticed more in the convertible was how much heat came off the bridges in the evening as you drive/ride under them, I guess it was because of the lack of riding gear for that sensation being greater in the car.

[stew71]

The smell of pine and fir along Highway 88 in the Sierra.  
The smell of the sea along the PCH.  

[JonS]

The smell of pine and fir along Highway 88 in the Sierra.  
The smell of the sea along the PCH.  

I can't believe that nobody, before this post, mentioned the Pacific Ocean. That is the smell I will always remember. HWY1 isn't too bad either.

[Bravo12]

I can't explain it, but a mild winter day has a certain smell when the sun starts going down and the chill is about to set in. It's a bit ominous when I'm on the road (not so much the past few years, with electric gear), but it brings back years' worth of memories of riding year-round when I was young.

[Flyer]

The fresh, cool pine along the highway through Algonquin Park.
Fresh shovelsful of hella hot asphalt at the side of the roadworks.
Stale beer and puke on the tent floor...it was all part of the biking experience.  

[BIWOZ]

Eucalypts, especially lemon-scented gums, after the first rains following a hot, dry summer ... forever Australia to me.

[mike in oregon]

Ha ha. This is near to my heart.  For some reason I have strong smell memories.

Here's a funny one:  I was commuting home one Summer eve, through the back country roads I am fortunate to get to ride through.  It was a beautiful dry day, and I noticed water periodically on the road and that it smelled like poo.  I finally caught up to a truck hauling a few porta-potties and every now an then a large sploosh of  raw sewage would pile out of the back of the truck--nice.  Rinsed of the bike well that eve.

I don't smoke, but I love to be out riding and pass someone on their porch and I catch the smell of a freshly lit cigarette-seems weird but I like it.

Out for a morning ride in the country and pass a house with bacon and eggs wafting out...Yum.

[caasland]

Ponderosa pines on a hot day in central Oregon. I think that will be with me forever, it was such an awesome experience.

Here in MN, in the depth of winter, there are no natural odors. This is underscored whenever I get off a plane in warmer climates and realize .. yes .. I can smell things again! I'm in a place with living vegetation!

The other spring smell here in MN is when the farmers put sh*t on the food they sell us (i.e. fields).

[dietDrThunder]

For me the most powerful bike-related smell is Castrol 2-stroke oil. I haven't smelled it in many years as I switched to synthetic oil 20 years ago and haven't even had a 2-stroke at all in maybe 5 years, but still...