Back In the Saddle Again...

What a year it's been. Started the year with high hopes of accomplishing a list of things, some motorcycle related and some not - being more dedicated to posting here; getting more involved in promoting motorcycling; vlogging; writing (outside of this blog); reading the whole bible; learning some new skills; etc.

In February, the day after my birthday, my world was turned upside down. Out of the blue, everything changed. What used to be important wasn't any more. And things that didn't seem important came to the front. After coming to grips with the situation and regrouping, it was time figure which way was up again.

I will admit my situation was no where near as bad or tragic as it could have been. I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am for that.

It took me a few months to get things back on track. I finally feel like things are settling in to place. Slowly I've been  putting my goals into action. I doubt I'll get them all in place before the end of the year. And that's okay.

So here it is, time to get back into the saddle, both more on the motorcycle and on the blog.

A few weekends ago, I got to take a ride with my wife - which was awesome for several reasons. We'll talk more about that in the next post. In the meantime, a couple pictures to enjoy...

Riding in the Rain

Been doing lots of riding, just not much posting. Let's see if I can get back into the hang of things again. Maybe even catch up on some previous rides...

Yesterday I head out in the morning to do a QA at one of the colleges. It was sunny, clear and not too hot (for July). The weather forecast for rain was low. But around here, around this time of year, that doesn't mean much. And who really knows what those weather forecasters mean when they say something like 20% chance of rain?

What I do know is that the rain can come in quickly and leave just as quickly. Twenty minutes later and you'd never know it rained. And just because it's raining here doesn't mean it's raining over there.

Last summer I was teaching class. It was one of those days where it'd rain for a few minutes then stop. Then rain. Then stop. I tell the class that I generally don't stop an exercise for rain - unless, of course, it becomes a safety issue. I saw this to encourage them to put on whatever rain gear they have before the exercise begins and they start riding. I've also been teaching long enough that I don't try to guess the weather, I just put my rain suit on anyway.

This particular exercise, the riders are across the range and I call them one at a time. I call the first rider. The do what they're supposed to do and they stop next to me. As I'm giving them some coaching, I notice they're wet. I think to myself that it's been a while since it rained, they should be dry. I call the next rider. They stop next to me, wet as well. I call the third rider. Same thing. They're wet. I'm dry. I look at the opposite end of the range and notice it's raining down there. But my end is dry. And it's not like they're that far away - less than 300 feet.

That's how the weather goes around here.

As I leave my QA and head to the Harley dealer to get my bike inspected, the skies are getting darker and darker. Quickly. I make it to the dealership and get the bike in for inspection before the rain. As I'm doing some shopping, I look out the window and it's pouring. One of those nice North Carolina thunderstorms where we get tons of water dropped in a short amount of time.

The beauty is they pass quickly. My shopping is done, bike inspected and it's time to head home. The rain has pretty much stopped and I decide not to put on the rain suit for the ride home. Heck, the rain has already passed. And even if I did get rained on, I'd be at home when I finished riding, so no harm.

Well, it did rain. Not hard. And not enough to get me totally wet. In fact, I got wetter from the spray other vehicles were throwing up from the road. But as I was riding in the rain, I was reminded of how much I enjoy it.

There's something about the rain hitting your helmet, hitting your windshield, soaking into your boots - the rhythm of the road. I go into my own little world. There's me and there's everyone else. I'm acutely aware of them - seems a lot of people lose their heads when driving in the rain. So I'm extra cautious. The increased time and space, the water all around, the sounds of the rain combine to put me into this moment, A moment I think to myself, you know, I really, really enjoy riding in the rain.

been a while...

...since i've posted!! in spite of all good intentions to keep more up to date, it just hasn't happened. sometimes just because i was busy riding. and sometimes just because i got wrapped up with life. anyway, lots to catch up on so let's get started...

while there have been a lot of great rides this summer, one of my favorites is a short ride i took with my wife right after the fourth of july. it started when some friends, previous neighbors, came in town for the fourth. our sons were best of friends when they lived next door. they were heading home, a few hours away, after the fourth and we offered for their son to stay a couple extra days so the boys could hang out together. as it turned out, our son ended up going with them. that left us a couple days to ourselves - sweeeet!!!!

it got better when my wife suggested we go on a ride. and even better when she suggested we stop at waffle house for breakfast!! after a delicious breakfast, we headed out for the ride.

we headed up the back roads towards oxford. my plan was ride to oxford, through roxboro and end up in yanceyville, where we'd stop for ice cream and my wife could get a break from sitting in the seat too long. the weather was great and we were having a good time.

when we got to roxboro, i scrapped my original plans and decided that would be a good place to stop for ice cream. i was looking for a mom-n-pop type of place but we settled for cook out. by the way, even though cook out has a walk-up window, they don't have any seating - reminder for future reference!!

after ordering some shakes, we found a wall to sit on while we enjoyed our drinks.

our view from the wall...

one of my favorite pictures of us...

once we finished off the shakes, we headed home. took a slightly different route and got to explore some roads i'd never been on. real pretty roads that i'll have to explore again soon.

turned out to be a great day for a ride and an awesome time with my wife.

what the?!??!?!!

was looking through my blog and came across this previously unpublished post. don't know how the heck it got here!! but it sure does look mighty good - even for breakfast!! this was lunch from the ride i took with my wife a few weeks back...

time's flyin'...

wow, it's april, a quarter of the year already gone!! and this is the time of year when riding really starts. april is already packed and bleeding over into may.

this weekend have an open house at a club. the following weekend i'll be teaching at shelton's. after that i'll be riding in the cape fear 1000. the last weekend i'll be helping celebrate my grandson's second birthday. can't believe he's going to be two already!!

between all that i'd like to get a few stops for the smoke chasing gt. speaking of which, i'm still looking for members for my team. interested?? as incentive, not only are you eligible for the regular prizes they give away during the tour and at the end, you'll be in the running for a gift card of fifty dollars, up to one hundred dollars - ten dollars a rider up to ten riders. not a bad deal. let me know if you're interested.

that's it for now...

what a nice surprise....

sat down for dinner tonight (heart-shaped burgers handmade by my wonderful wife) to personalized place cards made by my daughter. yes, i shoulda been onna ride today... maybe tomorrow.

day late…

ever wonder where the time is going?? time just seems to be flying lately. i realized it’s already february when i went to pay some bills this morning. which reminded me i needed to flip my waffle house and bike calendars over to february.

this month the waffle house calendar is giving me a free sausage biscuit. i ran out of time to use the free coupon for bert’s chili last month. i’ll be sure not to make the same mistake this month. i also have a coupon for a free waffle and i think they’re giving away something for valentine’s day. if i play it right, i can probably feed the whole family for free!!

my bike calendar is a free calendar i got from an attorney pushing his business. the calendar is supposed to be one of these bikes and babes calendars. the only problem is the models aren’t really babes. i’m wondering where they found these models. out of twelve of them only one is halfway decent. i seriously considered just leaving my calendar on that month for the whole year.

the calendar got me to thinking that either bikers will settle or my standards are a bit higher. i was talking to my wife about the quality, or lack thereof, of the models in the calendar. i don’t even know that many people but i could probably put a better calendar together…

it could be worse…

that’s the phrase my father-in-law responds with when someone is complaining about something. when he first said it to me i figured it was his polite way of telling me to stop whining. but knowing my father-in-law, he’d just tell you to stop whining.

what he is really doing is reminding us that we should be appreciative. now i resist the urge to immediately complain about something and i look at the positives in a situation. i’ve heard him use it enough that i’ve adopted the phrase as well. it helps keep things in perspective.

and that perspective really helped when i was riding on sunday. i remember several rides at the beginning of last year that were cold. temps for those rides were probably in the twenties and thirties. maybe forties.

sunday’s ride was in the upper thirties. but i actually felt warm. so warm that i removed my electric vest and switched out my electric gloves for my winter gloves. it felt great to be out riding, i was enjoying it so much.

perspective… perspective made the ride feel so good. and the reminder that it could be worse. and it was worse that morning when i met up with a fellow rider to head out to thomasville - in thirteen degree temps!! now that was cold…

41073

starting a new year with 41073 miles on the bike… although i didn’t put as many miles on the bike towards the end of the year it was still a good year of riding. in addition to the usual trips around the lake and to the smoke out, i got in a trip to milwaukee as well as another saddle sore 1000.

this year i’m looking forward to the normal rides as well as spending a couple days at myrtle beach, at wilmington and hopefully another iron butt ride – maybe a butt burner 1500 this time. and some rides with my wife – i really enjoy the trips we were able to take last year.

if all goes well i’ll have some video footage of some of my rides – my awesome wife got me a portable video camera for the motorcycle. i attempted to test it out today but by the time i got my lazy butt around to securing the camera to the bike it started to rain. i bagged the ride today in favor of better weather (and a day off work) monday.

here’s looking to another great year of riding – see ya out there…

how difficult can it be??

had a couple extra minutes today so i decided to put the registration sticker on the bike.

being the lazy efficient person i am i decided i would just wipe the old sticker with a towel and apply the new sticker. a short-lived idea due to the reflective license plate mounting bolts covering the sticker.

reaching between the license plate and the the tour-pac i quickly realized i wouldn’t be able to remove the mounting bolt without removing the tour-pac.

i get the key for the tour-pac and attempt to unlock the lock. as i turned the key i heard a pop. not the familiar pop of the mechanism unlocking. and the key is turning freely. i remove the key and see the lock hasn’t unlocked. nope. it broke.

the design of the tour-pac latch prevents me from unbolting the latch– which is actually a good thing. i have to remove the docking point in order to remove the tour-pac. once that’s off i’ll be able to remove the latch, freeing the docking point – which i can then put back on the bike.

i finally remove the docking point and get the tour-pac off. on to the latch… i remove the bolt and slide the latch off. not quite. the way the latch is mounted, along with the docking point still being locked in place, prevents the latch from being removed.

the only way to remove the latch is to break it. which i do. finally the docking point is free. it gets put back on the bike. i return from the attic with the old latch and put that on the tour-pac.

i finally get around to putting the sticker on the bike – completing a two minute job in about thirty minutes…

how low can you go…

for the past week or so we’ve been checking the weather up in milwaukee. the forecasts predict temps in the upper sixties/lower seventies – about twenty degrees cooler than here…

getting ready to pack today i realized we should probably be less concerned with the highs and focus more on how *cold* it might be getting.  it’s always easier to dress warmed and shed some layers than get cold and have to try to warm up. i want to avoid the situation i had when i came back from maryland…

of course the lows are going to be a bit cooler – in the low/mid fifties. but it’s not as bad as it could be. and if we can avoid the rain it would be even better…

can’t wait to take off tomorrow…

cleaning up…

wanted to go for a ride with my wife yesterday to test out the new bars… she was in a cleaning mood and suggested i clean the bike instead. my first thought was why would i want to clean the bike *before* heading out on a big trip??

since i figured if i went for a ride my wife wouldn’t be going with me i decided to follow her advice and clean the bike. not necessarily a bad thing but not top on my list of things to do on a saturday…

i can’t remember the last time i actually cleaned my bike. sure it usually gets washed after a service but it never gets cleaned as well. not to mention not getting waxed. so it was probably time i washed the bike.

turns out it wasn’t such a bad thing… it gave me a chance to really go over the bike before heading out. i came across a couple items i wanted to check that i may not have found had i not cleaned the bike. nothing critical but worth checking into further.

when i finished cleaning the bike i felt a lot better about it. not only did it end up clean, i felt more confident about the condition of the bike.

now i looking forward to the trip even more…

marion…

finally took another ride!!! hard to believe it’s only the second ride i’ve taken this year… i blame that mostly on the weather; although other commitments have played a part.

this ride held the promise of warmer weather – in the fifties. definitely better than my last ride… the problem was that was afternoon temps. and i was leaving at five in the morning. with temps in the twenties.

in preparation, and with memories of the last ride fresh in my mind, i purchased ‘lectric pants and vest. purchasing them the day before the ride, i was a little concerned i wouldn’t have a chance test them out before embarking on a longer ride.

saturday morning i plugged up and headed out. needing gas not too far down the road, i decided to set the controls on medium figuring i would adjust it as necessary when i stopped. turns out it was just about perfect. i could feel the heat in the pants and the vest. i was actually surprised at how well they worked.

the ride was supposed to take three and a half hours – i was figuring closer to four with a gas stop thrown in. i was cruising along nicely, actually starting to warm up a little as the sun was rising, when i passed the city limit sign for winston-salem. within a mile of passing the sign, the temps must have dropped by five degrees.

not that might not sound like much, but remember it’s in the twenties. on a motorcycle. going seventy. it got cold!!! shivering cold!!

deciding how long i could make it like this and how soon i should stop, i was comparing the gps arrival time, eight-thirty, to the clock on my bike, about a quarter to eight.

my first thought was the trip was turning out to be shorter than i thought. planning the trip, i was sure i would need to stop for gas. now, by my estimates, i would be able to make it without stopping.

about fifteen minutes later, after merging to another part of interstate forty, the gps recalculates, now showing me about sixty seven miles to my next turn. holy crap!! what happened to thirty more minutes?? then it dawns on me… my clock is set to summer time - it’s only seven!!!

now i’m trying to figure out when to stop for gas. i like to go as far as i can before fuelling. i’m weighing that against stopping sooner to warm up. i decide the need to stop shivering definitely outweighs squeezing more miles out of the tank.

after the stop, i felt much warmer. which was a great relief as i headed further west and started seeing more and more on the sides of the roads.

despite the cold and the time miscalculation, i was rewarded as i rounded a corner, the road ahead of me opened up and in the distance i saw the snow covered mountains. i was struck by the  beauty of the mountains with all the snow. i was wrapped up in the majesty of the view ahead of me and was instantly taken away from the cold harsh winds of the highway. realizing it was the first time riding in the snow-covered landscape, i was hoping it wouldn’t be the last.

i made it to my destination and took care of business. by the time i was ready to head home, the temps were in the fifties. the ride home would be awesome – finally a ride in some decent weather. as i was leaving, people were commenting on how nice of a ride home it would be, forgetting the cold i endured on the way there.

and it was a good ride home. a comfortable ride under the clear, sunny skies. made even sweeter by the memories of the morning ride.

in hindsight, the morning ride may have been the better one.

check out the 2010 ride map – this one in red…

reflections…

the past year has been interesting to say the least. didn’t do as much riding as i wanted. it seems i say that every year. i wonder how often or how many miles i’d need to ride in order to feel like i rode as much as i wanted??

some of the journeys i planned didn’t happen. but my biggest goal of the year, the ss1000, did. of course there were several rides with my wife (those are always the best), the yearly trek to the smoke out, a ride with my son and the easyriders rodeo. all-in-all, i’d have to say it was a good year.

i’m sure this next year will bring new adventures, some planned and some not. whatever the case, we’ll make the bet of it…

detours…

haven’t posted in a while –  haven’t ridden in a while…  this has been the longest stretch of time since i’ve had the bike that i’ve gone without riding… after the ss1000 ride, it seemed i had weekend commitments, holidays, questionable weather, classes. after about a month of not riding, i was getting the itch to get back on the bike. then a family crisis hit and put us into a tailspin for a couple weeks.

i finally managed to get back out on the road. weather was near perfect – considering it’s the end of december. clear skies, fifties, what more could you ask for?? so my wife encouraged me to head out for a couple hours. and i did.

it’d been so long since i’d ridden, i wasn’t even sure my bike would start – pretty sad, huh?? good thing i had it on a battery tender – it started on the first crank. while it was warming up, i gave it a once over. after that, i geared up and headed out.

i planned a short route. north up route 1, east on route 158, south on route 401 through louisburg back to youngsville. rides like these are a great opportunity for personal reflection. it wasn’t long before i was thinking about how fortunate i am to have the wife i have, the kids, my job. while things may not always be great, they certainly can be a lot worse (as my father-in-law is always keen to point out).

while i was really enjoying being on the bike again, i was also looking forward to getting home. i was approaching louisburg when i saw the detour signs. a quick feeling of dread came over me - a detour is not really what i wanted.

i took the turn off 401 and headed for parts unknown, trusting the detour signs would lead me back to where i needed to be. before i knew it, i had a huge grin on my face as i was gliding through the twisty roads. the road turned out to be a lot more fun than i expected – one of the better ones on my ride. maybe the detour was what i needed…

back on 401, i reflected on the detour. the detour was much like the family crisis we faced a couple weeks ago. not really what we were expecting, certainly not what we wanted. we didn’t know what we were getting in to, where we were going. we didn’t have a plan, we were just moving forward, trusting we would get through it.

while i can’t say we’re totally through the crisis, i think some good has already come from it. we’ve learned how strong our family is, how lucky we are to have the friends and neighbors we have. we’ve all come out better for it.

life, like motorcycle rides, can throw detours at you. detours certainly don’t come at the most convenient time. while we may not realize it at the time, they’re actually good and ultimately get us to our destination better than had we followed our original path.

let’s just hope life isn’t filled with too many more detours…

‘nother first-timer…

took an awesome ride last friday. well, technically two fridays ago… couple old roads, couple new roads, nice scenery, wonderful weather. but what made this trip so great was i got to ride with my son. and he was beside me, not on the back!!!

day started out with a ride to shelton’s to pick up a buell blast. since it had been a few months since son had been on a bike, we spent a couple hours on their range before heading out on the open road.

we had an agreement that we would both have to be comfortable before hitting the road. being responsible for him, and knowing that i would have to answer to his mom should *anything* happen while we’re on the road, i figured we’d be spending a lot of time on the range.

we started out with the basics and built up from there. before leaving, i’m expecting him to practice and show proficiency in cornering, quick stops and swerves. two things really stood out while he was practicing: how quickly he would correct things he was doing wrong; how he would continue to practice a skill even after i was satisfied; and how beautiful some of his quick stops were – some of the best i’ve seen. okay, so that’s three!!!

while he was practicing his cornering, i told him that i was happy and he could move on when he was ready. i think he was really enjoying the cornering because he kept going ‘round and ‘round. i finally felt obligated to stop him and remind him that eventually we’d like to get out on the road!!!

he did happen to have one mishap… earlier in the day, i warned him about covering and applying the front brake while in a corner. i told him as a beginner, i’d prefer to see *not* use the front brake at all while in a corner – if, for whatever reason, he applied too much front brake, he would be down quicker than he knew what was going on.

sure enough, he was coming around a corner quicker than he wanted and applied too much front brake. bam!! he was down. i think the only thing, thankfully, that was hurt was his pride. we talked about what happened and why it happened. after that, he didn’t use the front brake unless his front tire was straight.

so now it was time to hit the open road. being his first time out, we stayed on mostly two lane, back roads. the plan was to leave durham  and head to virgilina via creedmore and oxford.

we’re on the road and i’m watching him in my rear view. waiting for any sign that he’s nervous or having problems. but no sign of that. he’s maintaining a good distance behind me, negotiating curves with ease – looks like he’s doing well. looks like he’s having fun.

i start to relax a little, feeling comfortable with his riding. now i realize i’m starting to get hungry. i was so wrapped up in him getting out on the road (safely), i didn’t pay attention to the time. it’s way past lunch and i’m starving.

i scrap the plans to eat in virgilina and decide to stop at milano’s in oxford. we’ve been here before and know the food is good. if you’re in oxford, in the mood for some good food at a reasonable price, this is the place!!

not long after getting seated, son is sharing the news with everyone… or at least as many people as we can think of  who would be excited about his first venture out.

after eating, we venture out again, heading up to virgilina. as we’re cruising along, i notice he trails off. i turn around and see him walking the bike to a pull-off. i pull up beside him and find out that he’s run out of gas. silly me. i asked the dealership how far the bike would go on a tank, never thinking to check how much gas was actually in the tank.

we flip the valve to reserve, chuckle at the fact that his first experience running out of gas is on his first ride and head to the nearest gas station. which, thankfully, is only a couple miles up the road.

we finally make it up to virgilina and stop for some refreshments. i explain to him that one of the problems with motorcycling is you always have to make decisions. like where to go next. i had originally planned to head west through roxoboro back to durham. but we were having an awesome ride and maybe we should head east, across the kerr dam and head back that way. it’s a beautiful day, he’s riding well and i think he’d enjoy the view across the dam. across the dam it is.

as we’re heading towards the dam, i’m watching him in the rear-view mirror, thinking how awesome it is to be riding my son. i’ve been looking forward to this day. and now it’s here. what a great feeling. i can only imagine (and hope) my father-in-law felt the same way the first time we rode together.

i’m wrapped up in the moment of riding with my son instead of watching for signs of distress from him. i realize i’m comfortable and confident in his riding. a wave of satisfaction comes over me. this is what riding is about.

we stop in boydton to stretch our legs, make a few more phone calls and take in the sights. i know he’s enjoying the day and we’re both wishing it could last forever.

we ride on, heading to the dam. we both agree that the twisty roads are a heck of a lot more fun than the straight ones. between here and the dam, we’re sure not to be disappointed.

we finally make it to the dam. a trip i’ve made many times. a trip he’s made many times on the back on my bike. as we’re crossing, i take note of the american flags hung on the dam in honor of independence day. the symbolism is not lost as i think of the independence my son’s gained learning to ride. i smile and look forward to many more rides like this…

unfortunately the day draws towards the end. we’ve had a great day, rode over a hundred fifty miles today. as the day is ending, i know we’re only at the beginning of riding together. he’s done very well today and i can’t wait to ride with him again. in fact, he’s already talking about riding the blue ridge parkway. sounds like i’ll have to arrange a trip with him and gramps…

here's the route we took - in light blue

put in a few miles…

the way the day was shaping up, it was looking more and more like i was going to have to make a late night run in order to rack up any miles for million mile monday. and sure enough, the sun was setting as i was starting my journey.

i didn’t really have a route in mind. and since it was much later than i expected, i made it a shorter ride. and to make things a little more interesting, i wanted to take a route i’d never taken before… note to self: in the future, unless there’s no other choice, don’t plan to ride two lane, country roads for the first time in the dark…

some reflections from the trip:

• the bugs and moths sure do love dusk. i thought it was getting dark awful quick until i realized that my glasses were getting covered in bugs. decided against stopping to clean them.
• it’s really cool having fireflies go buzzing by your head – kinda like little led lights flying through the air
• got to see a deer. not really a novelty, but when i first spotted it, it was crossing the road about a hundred yards in front of me. when it got to the tree line on the other side of the road, it stopped and watched me, almost like it wanted to be sure i kept going.
• i passed through a town i’d never been in before. it had one of those main streets with the big, old houses on either side of the street. need to go back in the daylight to see if it’s as impressive during the daylight.
• for the end of june, it sure was colder than i thought it would be.

i guess that’s about it. i did manage to squeeze in seventy five miles. when i added my miles to the hog site, there was only a shade over two million miles. guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see if the numbers come through… somehow i think they will…

‘nother ride…

seems as soon as son got up this morning, he was talking/asking about going for a ride. unfortunately i was booked all day with meetings and couldn’t slip away - even for a little bit. so he had be patient all day – an almost impossible task for a six year-old who’s just been exposed to the joys of riding…

after work, the wife and i are sitting on the front porch, sharing the events of our day. as son walks up, wife comments on how badly he and i need a hairscut. son, of course, is only concerned with squeezing a ride out of me. but not just any ride… seems he’s already progressed beyond the short rides around the ‘hood – he wants to hit the streets!!!

much to my surprise, wife mentions us going to get hairscuts on the bike. this was quite an offer from wife considering she was seriously not ready for him to start riding. so from being reluctant about him even riding the streets in our ‘hood yesterday, to offering to get him out on the roads today was quite a step for her. (thanks honey – you’re the best.)

of course son had no interest in the hairscut part – he just wanted to ride, out of the ‘hood and into the world. plus he knows the barber shop is only about a ten minute ride. i tell him we’ll get our hairscut and then we’ll head out for a longer ride… he agrees, knowing it was pretty much the only way he was getting a ride tonight. and let’s face it, even if the ride was only ten minutes, it’s still better than no ride!!

i think the short ride to the barber was also comforting to me. this would be the first time we really got any speed over twenty-five. i didn’t know how he would react. or how i would feel about it. only riding to the barber shop would give either of us an out – we could decide to head home and not have to admit we weren’t totally comfortable.

in hindsight, there was little chance of that happening!!! the ride to the barber only solidified his passion for riding.

after the barber, with son declaring how hungry he was, we decided to grab a bite to eat. me, not quite being ready to take him out on a major road, decided to take the back roads to the eatery. the added benefit being the longer ride. and the even longer ride back home after eating.

looking back on the evening, and yesterday, i’m thrilled i get to share the experience of his first ride with him. i’m sure he’ll be asking to go on a ride every day. unfortunately he’s got to share riding time with others in the family. i’m not looking forward to the disappointment, the look in his eyes, when he has to watch someone else riding off with me and he’s left behind.

i haven’t broke the news to him yet that wife/mom has first right-of-refusal on all rides. maybe that’s something i’ll let him discover on his own… for now, i’ll enjoy his excitement…

first ride…

took the little one on his first ride today. i’m not sure who was more excited, me or him. i do know his mom was a wreck, she definitely wasn’t ready for it…

since it was his first ride, i didn’t want to go too far, and definitely not in traffic. so we took a quick spin around the ‘hood. when we got back, i shut the bike off and all he could say was, “dad, i’ve been trying to tell you i want to keep riding.” not wanting to disappoint, i fired the bike up and off we went again.

he was thrilled and can’t wait for his next ride - tomorrow according to his wishes!!

time with the wife…

had a nice ride with the wife last week. recall the earlier post when daughter lost wife’s glove. well, the gloves finally came in and we decided to go pick them up.

being the knucklehead i am, i start heading out the door with car keys in hand. okay, it was early and i was still mentally asleep. mostly due to the fact that i was faced with another day of work and it would be easier to sleep through it!!

we get out to the garage and wife says she thought we were taking the bike. like a deer in headlights, i freeze. hmmmm, bike… it is a pretty day outside, what better way to spend it that riding around with the wife!!! why didn’t i think of that?? suddenly awake, i head inside and change into more appropriate riding attire…

we hop on the bike and head to ray price. but not without a stop at waffle house first. i think that’s going to be a recurring theme here – what’s better than riding and toppin’ off the tummy with some scattered hash browns all the way?? the waitress didn’t think i was serious and was surprised i finished off the whole plate.

with full tummies, we made our way to ray price. when ms. brenda presented the gloves daughter ordered for her, wife wasn’t real keen on them. no surprise there. so i encouraged wife to pick out another pair. ironically, the pair she ended up choosing is one pair we looked at and thought she wouldn’t like. go figure!!! not only that, wife ended up picking up another pair of lighter gloves for summer riding. in the end, wife ended up with two pairs of gloves and daughter got the pair we originally ordered for wife.

after staying at ray price much longer than i expected, we decided to head home. the weather was awesome and i could have spent the whole day riding around with my wife… unfortunately work was calling and i had to get back… with that, i faced the bike north and started riding off…

the thought of work must have put me back to sleep… as we’re approaching a split in the road, i’m in the lane for the most direct route home. wife leans forward and suggested the longer, scenic route home. nice idea… i do a quick head-check and jump over a couple lanes to take the other fork…

once the road slimmed down to two lanes, i rolled off the throttle a little and took my time getting home – enjoying the beautiful scenery and sharing the ride with my wife… it got me thinking about a few years down the road – when the kids are grown (out of the house) and we can spend more time together. just heading out at the spur of the moment. much like we used to do when we were dating. i miss those days. and i look forward to them again…