It’s been a hot week—daily temperatures averaging 93. Our only break was the humidity wasn’t up in the 90s as well. Saturday, ride day, was no different. Our “early” start of 9:30 still had us riding at 90. I found myself relishing my acceleration and shifting drills so I could enjoy the breeze as I rode.
Of course my main work is at a slow pace and out in the sun for the most part. I did manage to find enough shade while I practiced two parking spot U-turns. I managed to successfully turn three times in a row moving the bike to the left. The right side was more of a struggle; I even almost dropped the bike after stalling it as I tried the right side U-turns. I did manage two successful ones, but I found myself having to cross the line more on the right side. Later that afternoon, I was watching a YouTube video that showed me I need to shift my butt before starting the turn, and I will try that during next week’s practice.
Bill set up the off-set slalom for me, and I ran through it more successfully than not. That is until I tried to move through it standing up. Once I stood up, I felt the greater challenge of feathering the clutch, the rear brake, and the throttle all while staying balanced. So I mistakenly relied on steering the bike and was unsuccessful. Bill pointed out I wasn’t using my body lean to turn the bike instead of the steering. He reset the slalom to a straight line, and I worked on moving my body side to side while pushing the bike the other way. I will be working on this for a while.
The best part of the morning is when we headed back to my parents’ garage and Bill got out the R NineT. We did a short cruise through half of the neighborhood as there was a lot of traffic. I stalled on the take off because the road is heavily canted, so I was trying to hold the front brake to prevent back roll while releasing the clutch and turning the bike. As I told Bill later, there is so much good practice for me cruising the neighborhood. For one thing I never go above 16 mph in the parking lot, barely going into third gear. So I realized the neighborhood ride is good practice just in accelerating up to traffic speed. I did better at the stops, no stalls. And I managed not to run into Bill’s bike when he stopped suddenly for a squirrel that was chilling in the middle of the road.
The best part of the day was getting Bill out on his bike to ride too. I always feel a little guilty that I get to ride while he sits in the shade watching or reading. He’s the one with over 50 years of motorcycle experience, and he’s the one who paid for both bikes. So I was happy when we both went riding through the neighborhood.
We went over Wednesday and, after some struggle, got the crash bars onto the R NineT. The struggle was because the bolt was not installed on the same side as seen in the video. So when he pushed the retaining bolt through, the engine slipped slightly, enough to make it impossible to thread the new bolt through. To his credit Bill did not scream obscenities for 10 minutes. He did vent his frustration and then had the idea to use the jack from my car to lift the engine. After a voyage of discovery to locate the jack (you have to remove the spare tire to get to it), the engine was jacked up, lifted enough to let the bolt through, and the crash bar installation could proceed.
When Bill went to the clutch side of the bike to install the second crash bar, it took 5 minutes. There wasn’t any lack of ability on his part. Luckily he’s a brilliant problem solver. And I was sure that riding the bike after that miserable task was what he needed. So as I said, I was thrilled when we went on our cruise through the neighborhood. And I was made even happier when later that afternoon, he talked about practicing on his bike. One of the reasons I got into biking was to have riding adventures with Bill. The more he’s on his bike, the more he’ll want to ride—at least he will if he responds the way I have. I find it more and more difficult having to wait until Saturday morning to ride. And I am super hopeful that in the fall, we’ll be able go off for a weekend ride together. I really love riding my bike and I want more opportunities to ride.
Of course I have to figure out my hand numbing problem.
Flutterby Biker 