Motorcycling Safely Now

It's been a few weeks since the 0MPH "spill" in the Ally of Doom. The snow is cleared from everywhere I had seen it lingering, at least everywhere I've been past lately. There's still a bit of sand built up in a lot of corners, and they haven't broken out the pothole crews en force yet, but I have seen more than a handful of other riders out there, and yesterday there was even another big Honda in the parking lot at the office. Now I need to get the bike into the shop for a spring oil-change (missed doing that before winter storage), and some new brake pads (started grinding suddenly yesterday). And I noticed the little scratch in the one grip has manifested into a full tear, half the length of the grip! There's always something.