Today’s ride taught me that I have developed a good feel for the Ducati Scrambler. I say that because today as I rode, as we made our circles and S-turns, I felt how smoothly I maneuvered the motorcycle, even the two times I rolled a little too heavily on the throttle. I can’t blame the gloves because I was wearing the Klim summer gloves again today and still I rolled the throttle unintentionally. Nothing too bad, just a slight boost to my acceleration. I actually enjoyed the second intense roll on as it threw me back on the bike.
Overall my acceleration was smooth and I did a good job of keeping up with Bill. We headed out into the neighborhood on a gorgeous spring day. Before we even mounted the motorcycles, a cabbage white butterfly flitted by in front of me as I stood waiting for Bill. We started early with the court circles, and I let myself enjoy the lean as we circled around.
We turned into the school lot and I got to slalom on the bus lines. Bill needed to zip up his jacket. Then we were off again onto our usual route. We hit the same court with the pair of geese though today they hightailed it to the water and didn’t try to take us on. This let us do some S-turns in the court since we weren’t disturbing the wildlife. I worked on smooth braking and was able to focus on my balance at the stops enough to notice two times where I almost put my right foot down first. Riders are taught to always put their left foot down when stopping because this allows the right foot to remain on the rear brake. Obviously, as I’m coming to a stop, I am pulling on the front brake with my right hand, but the rear brake adds extra safety, so the right foot needs to stay on the brake until the bike is fully stopped. Today, I successfully placed my left foot down first every time, but twice I had to quickly place the right foot down as well for balance. I did learn months ago that a trick to help with placing the left foot down first is to lean your head to the left, and I realized today I need to practice doing that.
We surprised a great egret and got to watch it fly low across the water with its expansive wing span. The sun was so bright in the sky that it was easy to see the shadows of the birds flying overhead including the shadow of a hawk. At one point as we turned down a new road, I heard a phenomenal chorus of birdsong causing me to smile. The birdsong shifted my focus to what I hear as I ride because predominantly it is just my motorcycle. I’ve mentioned that I can’t hear Bill’s R Nine T as I ride behind, usually all I hear is my Ducati. But I realized that oftentimes it is possible to hear the birds singing as we ride as well as lawnmowers and blowers as people work in their yards.
It wasn’t just the sounds that made me smile; the views were spectacular. Though the cherry blossoms suffered from the storm on Thursday, the dogwoods and Japanese maples looked glorious. And these trees are complimented by the brilliant brightness of the azalea blooms and the gorgeous tulips. I let the beauty of the day comfort me as we were unable to do our gravel lot practice; too many cars parked there. Springtime brings everyone out, though, and I am very happy I get to experience it from the seat of my motorcycle!
Flutterby Biker 