Can you smell that smell?

[TwoWheels]

Most of my riding is commuting to and from work.  I have an over 40 mile ride each way on seconday roads in New
Hampshire.  One of the things I enjoy about riding is the different smells you pick up along the way.  Riding is a
feast for the senses.

Yesterday evening, it started when going by some people having a cookout.  The smell of burgers cooking on the grill made me
want to turn around for a bite.  A few minutes later I went past a farm where they had recently spread manure on the
fields.  That quickly took away the moment.

Other smells on the way home yesterday included...
A meadow full of wild flowers.
A lake with a noticiable breeze coming off and a relly clean smell.
A pine forest.
Fresh asphalt.
Roadkill skunk - it was a couple of days old so not too bad.  The fresh ones in the morning can be brutal.
An old ratty truck burning oil -- good candidate for cash for clunkers.
A sawmill and logyard with fresh cut wood.
fresh cut grass.
I'm not sure what caused it, but at one point I distinctly picked up the sweet smell of honeysuckle.
Burger King has a pretty recognizeable odor.
A seafood restaurant -- fried fish, clams, scallops, shrimp, outside and insdide.  That's where we went for supper
after I got home.

For the morning ride in, it was the garbage truck I was behind that was most memorable.

Other smells I'm familiar with include...
A landfill.
The ocean.
The smell of dirt from recent excavation or logging.

Anyone else have favorite or least favorite smells?

[TAftonomos]

After living on the beach in FL for the first 27 years of my life, it's something I miss greatly.  I thought when I left FL to come to Atlanta and start my career, I'd never want to go back.

It's something I miss everyday, and I can't wait until I'm able to relocate back home somewhere.  Sure the mountains are a lot of fun, but you can't beat pushing a beachcat out through the surf in the AM and having a day of it.  Fishing, diving, sailing......

Yup, you could say I miss the smell of salt air.

[RBX QB]

Ever fall behind Cheech and Chong? That's always an amusing smell.

[Grampa]

Gilroy CA.

[mstevens]

The smells are quite seasonal, too, at least in NH.

I've noticed that, even though I wear a helmet on the bike and usually drive my car with the top down, I still smell many more things on the bike.

[krolik]

Gilroy CA.

Garlic!

[LA]

After five or six weeks indoors from healing from hip replacement, I finally got to ride the bike up our Hwy 28 towards Highlands NC to the Ga. state line on the Chatooga river (where they filmed Deliverance).  Over what we call Callus Gap you head down towards the river.  That very wet, mossy, creek bed, fern laden smell was like mother nature's own Chanel.  That first breath of 130 MPH air with that fragrance after so long being laid up was precious.  The familiarity of it along with the recent rarity of it was a very good shock to my senses.

Yea, I'm always aware of the smells - one of the many reasons motorcycling is such a good way to get around. 

LA

[Grampa]

Garlic!

I'm not a big fan of garlic..... but the smell as you head through town is yummy

[Desmostro]

Sometimes I feel a bit K9 for this very reason. Today, got on the freeway and headed to the coast for a little loop:

New tires, leather and Ducati in the garage Love that smell
BBQ being lit - too much lighter fluid for about a mile
metal traffic smell of 280 south
Salty Pacific air on  the coast - fog rolling in over PCH
white flowers in the Sun in Golden Gate Park
Eucalyptus forest near the Presidio
Hot Ducati pulling into garage  Love that smell

[DoubleEagle]

For me , it's the smell of the damp woods in the Fall .

I will ride up a back road into the woods and stop. Then smell all the woody smells, the smell of hickory nuts and walnuts in the fallen leaves and the soil has a rich fragrance that mixes with all the other smells I just mentioned especially the day after a rain.

I also love the smell of new leather. Maybe that's why I keep buying and reconditioning the leather I already have.

Dolph    

[Howie]

Nothing quite duplicates the smell when you are behind an NYC garbage truck you are afraid to pass due to the liquid oozing out of the bottom

[DoubleEagle]

Nothing quite duplicates the smell when you are behind an NYC garbage truck you are afraid to pass due to the liquid oozing out of the bottom

One of life's little pleasures I'm glad I will not have the opportunity to experience   

Dolph

[redxblack]

I notice when people in cars near me are smoking tobacco. That never happens in my car.

The only bad one is on my work commute I pass a refuse transfer station. That's a huge warehouse with a flat roof where garbage trucks dump their loads and large dump trucks take the garbage to the landfill. On hot summer days, that place is BRUTAL.

[Buckethead]

Ahh, yes. Low tide.

The most memorable? I was on my way to class one day last summer and rode into a "fog bank."

Turns out the local landfill had had a 3-alarm fire and I was riding into a giant cloud of plastic smoke. 

[He Man]

Nothing quite duplicates the smell when you are behind an NYC garbage truck you are afraid to pass due to the liquid oozing out of the bottom

nothing quite beats that smell... when it puddles on the floor and evaporates through out the day.

i like the smell of iron pipes. i dunno why. it just smells awesome. Watermelon also drives me nuts. if a butt ugly fat chick took a shower in watermelon id be all over her.