Recent iPod trainwreck....Carly Simon - The Way I Always Heard It Should Be...you know the nice, quiet ending where she fades off into "ma....rie......ed".....then RIGHT into Alice in Chains' Them Bones. Ho-lee crap. I was grocery shopping and seriously jumped. I'm not sure if the lady who was passing me in produce KNEW what happened but I'm sure she thought I was quite insane.
This week I turn 50 and, for some reason, that doesn't bother me. Today I did do something for me ... for my self-confidence..... to remind myself that I can do some things that other women won't try. I got on the motorcycle for the first time in better than a year (or was it two?). We sold my BMW a while back and I haven't had a bike or, honestly, the time to ride anyway. Today, I asked Mark to make the "extra" bike ready. It's an older beast he bought and fixed and decided it was quick enough to take to the drags -- an 86 Yamaha Faser with a lightswitch for a throttle. Apparently they used the same engine for sport-bikes so it's zippy and a little scary though lacking style as most things built in the 80's are. It took some acclimating but I rode. I'm sure Mark was worried the entire hour and a half I was gone but I did it. I rode around Old Arcata Road, up 101 to 299 and through Fieldbrook back south to Arcata and Samoa. Haven't done that ride for a while. Some twistees, some freeway, some potholes, some sun dappling the pavement making it a little hard to tell where to FIND the potholes. I adjusted to the hair-trigger throttle about the time I pulled into the driveway. It felt nice knowing I could still ride. Although Mark assured me I wouldn't forget, I wasn't convinced until I headed down the road. I'm not sure I like the Faser....I CAN sit flat-footed which is nice but I'm not fond of that immediate throttle response Mark loves so much. I'm not really a speed girl...more of a cruise the twistees kinda girl. Now I'm thinking it's time for another bike. Something Glo and I can ride to campus and I can go on weekend putts with Mark. Maybe I'll take the time.
1 comment:
I'm with you on the remembering how to ride thing...
Riding my scooter last Friday for the first time in a year and a half was amazing. I rode through town, once again glad I have a full-face helmet to partially shield the world from my ear-to-ear grin. And on the way home, watching my own shadow under the street lights start small and get longer in front of me, until I reached the next light. I wish I could take a picture or video of the shadow movement. What a feeling. And that was only in town.
Perhaps my battery will be charged tonight, so I won't have to hand-signal my turns as I did last week.
Even to the Shanty and back, the two-wheeled experience is indescribably amazing.
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