Autumn is here and we are in true riding weather! A lovely cool morning in the low 70s with plenty of sunshine. As I did my half-neighborhood warm up cruise, I realized I would need to start wearing long sleeves under my summer jacket. I also wistfully watched an Aphrodite fritillary (I believe) and a red-spotted admiral flutter by knowing I won’t be seeing my butterflies soon.
But the gaggle of geese made me smile, even laugh a little. They were slowly moving across my practice street, so I cruised the neighborhood until they had cleared from the north side of the block to the south. They seemed content to hang out and watch me practice my stops and U-turns for a bit. However, ten minutes in and they decided they needed to move up the road and cross back to the other side. So I took another turn around the neighborhood, thinking to give them time to cross.
When I returned to my practice street, though, it was to find most of the gaggle just hanging in the middle of the street with two actually nestled down to warm their undersides on the warm pavement. My boyfriend had just come out of the house, so I pointed out the squatters to him and we had a good laugh. When another gaggle flew overhead, we thought maybe they would inspire the street geese to move, but they ignored their v-formed cousins.
I laughingly turned up the street to loop around again and, as I circled back, the geese decided it was time to take off. This allowed me to practice the off-set slalom Bill set up for me. I remembered to stay in first gear, and I made it through successfully all but 2 times. I even got a compliment from Bill who said it was time to pack up as I was doing excellent.
Off we went to get the R Nine T and we were off. I noticed today that I am getting much better at accelerating up the street camber. In fact I had no stalls today, not even a near stall. As we rode, I let myself enjoy the curves and even played a little bit by weaving back and forth. We passed my Mom who had gone out to run some errands, so she got to see me out riding my motorcycle, though I had to beep my horn to get her attention. It was a day for waving as several people we passed waved to us. I think they, like us, were just happy to be out and enjoying the beautiful day.
Flutterby Biker 