A day made for riding dawned, and we headed over to the garage with fingers crossed that the easy fix to the R Nine T’s rear brake would work. A short rain shower earlier in the morning left a few curb side puddles, but the bright sunshine dried the roads, so it was clearly a day for motorcycle riding.
The easy fix for the R Nine T was to bleed the brakes. So I left Bill to do the work while I visited with my Mom for Mother’s Day. Everything seemed to be going smoothly as I checked in on Bill’s progress. After about twenty minutes, I went out to help with clean up as Bill said the brake fluid was obviously corrupted (see image). Usually, brake fluid is golden in color, but water must have leaked in when we washed the motorcycles and, a week later, changed the color of the fluid.
Bill sat in the saddle and rolled the bike giving the rear brake a test—the bike jolted to a stop. The rear brake was back. I took a turn and felt the drag on the rear tire as the brake engaged. The R Nine T cooperated, let itself get fixed, and we were off to ride on this beautiful day.
We had finally gotten some much needed rain during the week and the plants and cabbage white butterflies were very happy. As we prepared to leave, the little garage cabbage white fluttered between us, blessing our return to riding and the beginning of my sixth year. The honeysuckle is blooming, and I soon caught a delicious whiff from the blossoms. The ligustrum is also flowering and sending out its fresh scent. I even managed to smell the magnolia blooms now opening before the acrid odor of burning wood took over.
I spotted twelve cabbage white butterflies throughout our ride, and I saw a family of Canadian geese—the parents with four little goslings. We just cruised on this ride, so I spent time checking my rear brake when I could. I had a weird moment when we came to a stop and my left foot had to reach further for the ground than I thought. The only reason I could come up with was I may have had the motorcycle leaning a bit to the right because it wasn’t a stop I hadn’t made hundreds of times before.
Other than that little blip, I had a great ride until the collision. As we turned onto the last loop before heading back to the garage, I spotted cabbage white number nine. It fluttered suddenly on my left and continued forward into my path. He flew right in front of my visor, and I tried to lean my head back, but I heard the “plink” as the little guy made impact. I didn’t see a butterfly dropping to the street, and I didn’t have any butterfly parts stuck to my helmet, so I think he survived the encounter. I sure hope so; next week I’ll keep a sharper eye out for him and his fellow butterflies.
Flutterby Biker 