{"id":7816,"date":"2021-07-02T17:45:39","date_gmt":"2021-07-03T00:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/?p=7816"},"modified":"2021-07-02T19:04:58","modified_gmt":"2021-07-03T02:04:58","slug":"the-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/index.php\/2021\/07\/02\/the-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

Goddamn<\/strong> it feels good to be back on my bike! Lily is doing amazingly well. Three years in a barn, home to several families of mice and she started right up! That new battery I bought fit perfectly. Bit of a pain in the arse fitting the terminals, but at least the nut didn\u2019t fall into the wiring harness and disappear. I guess the Seafoam Tom put in last year did its job. No sign of clouding or water in the gas. I\u2019ll find out soon enough. She sounds great! That weird Triumph triple burble. Sitting still hasn\u2019t affected her performance, at least not as far as I can tell. It\u2019s a good thing I put new tires on her, though. Heidenau\u2019s are the dog\u2019s bollocks, but I read someplace that tires only last about 5 years. We\u2019ll see. Ahh! Dang it! That stupid hip adductor! 10 minutes on the bike and it\u2019s already cramping up. We talked about getting our riding muscles back in shape, but I\u2019d forgotten that one. Stand up. On the pegs. We\u2019re only doing 30. I remember standing up doing 60 when Sledge and I were in Alaska<\/a>. Granted we were three weeks into 250-mile days by then. Hey. This isn\u2019t right. Oh, yeah, I dropped the handlebars back to flat years ago when I wasn\u2019t riding off-road as much. Bikes need some kind of lever or way to easily adjust the angle of the handlebars when you\u2019re going back and forth between sitting and standing. I wonder what the folks behind me think. Standing up isn\u2019t a trick. Not really. But I wonder if it freaks them out? Meh! My leg\u2019s relaxed and now my wrist hurts, I\u2019m sitting down. Whoops \u2013 hang on \u2013 took that corner a little wide. Lean. Lean. A little more pressure with my left hand. Counter-steering is so awesome. Don\u2019t slow down. Just lean. And we\u2019re back up. No one behind me, thankfully. Better still no one in front of me. Let\u2019s open her up a bit. C\u2019mon Tom, pin it! Wait! Why are you slowing down? Where are you going? Ah! Woah! That\u2019s a big deer! Holy heck! I didn\u2019t see her in the bushes. It\u2019s nearly midday why are you even out, mama? Drop a gear and pull back on the throttle. You know it\u2019s a good thing muscle memory is a thing. Mentally it feels like I have no idea what I\u2019m doing, but my right hand is back in its familiar position, gently coaxing Lily\u2019s throttle through those few millimetres that she responds to. Oops! A bit of chain lash, need a little more clutch. Take her up a gear and take some of that risk out. But acceleration is soooo slow now! And boring! Back down into third and up to 6,000 rpm. Ah, now we\u2019re moving. Nah! Too much fun. Better back off until we get more gas. How much fuel have I got left with two bars? The light came on at three. It\u2019s around a gallon, I think. I just can\u2019t remember. These roads are all 35 miles an hour. Ridiculous! It\u2019s the middle of nowhere. \u2026We’re on a ride to nowhere, Come on inside, Taking that ride to nowhere, We’ll take that ride\u2026 They can tell you what to do, But they’ll make a fool of you, And it’s all right, baby, it’s all right\u2026<\/a> Ulp! Geez! It\u2019s hot in the sun! The gladed bits are cool. Just shows what trees do for us. \u201cGot to find out what kind of trees these are, they\u2019re really something!\u201d<\/a> The sensory smorgasbord that is motorcycling. You\u2019re cool, you\u2019re hot, you\u2019re thinking deep thoughts, then you\u2019re about to get hit! No, don\u2019t pull out you idiot. Hello! Run wide, car coming, slower, faster? Faster. Adrenaline buzzin\u2019. I\u2019m getting thirsty. We should probably stop for a few minutes and get something to drink. It\u2019s like 100 in the shade now. Where are we anyway? We\u2019ve covered a good 90 miles: time for some fresh fuel. That place in Snohomish has ethanol free fuel – that\u2019s the ticket! None of that adulterated, corn fed crap gas. Nothing but pure, clear petroleum distillate. That and a bit more Seafoam will clear out any residuals. She\u2019s getting around 50 miles a gallon, still. Amazing! We have totally unreasonable expectations of technology nowadays. 50 years ago I don\u2019t think this ride would be possible. Crap it\u2019s hot! This is a tidy little place. Never cared for chain link fence. Something about being chased by dogs when I was young. Didn\u2019t matter if the fence was going to keep the bastards in or not. Bared teeth and attitude goes hand in hand with chain link. Left turn across the traffic. Stop. Please don\u2019t kill me. Thank you. What\u2019s Tom doing? Turning around? Yes. No. He\u2019s backing in. Oh, yeah. Back the bike in so we can ride off without having to muscle it around. I remember that. Duh! Could-a had a V-8! Damn, it\u2019s hot out here! Looking forward to a bite and something cold to drink. My shirt is soaked. And so is my helmet. But, Goddamn it feels good to be back on Lily and riding with Tom!<\/p>\n

(With apologies to Tim Krabb\u00e9<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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