Due to some goofiness with the usually reliable R Nine T, we had to delay our weekend ride until Christmas Eve.  We tried Saturday to head out.  Bill’s Rocket fired right up with no issues.  The R Nine T, though, wouldn’t start.

            At the end of last week’s ride, I had inadvertently knocked the right turn signal loose in its setting.  Ironically, as well-built as most of the BMW motorcycle is, the turn signals are rather flimsily attached.  In the past Bill has knocked the turn indicator loose himself, but with the right tools, it can be reattached.  So while I visited with my mom, Bill was in the garage working on the turn indicator.  When I came out to check on him, it wasn’t going well.  The screw part was easily dealt with as the correct socket was engaged.  However, the backing nut was protected by extraneous plastic bits that made locking it in place was proving extremely difficult.  Eventually, Bill got the nut encased in one of my dad’s old small wrenches, and the indicator was reattached.

            At this point it went downhill.  Bill shifted the motorcycle around in the garage and went to start it to get it down to the street.  The bike spit out a high-pitched “rawr, rawr,” and went dead.  After pushing the motorcycle back into the garage, I climbed on the seat and straightened the chassis so Bill could check the oil; it appeared to be low.  We couldn’t just add some oil, however, as the special tool that is needed to remove the boxer cylinder head to get to the oil intake was back at my house.

            With a night to think on it, we returned the next day with some gas because Bill thought the weird engine sound was possibly caused by some bad residual gas in the tank.  Luckily, filling up the tank got the motorcycle started and it ran beautifully throughout my ride.  The ride did get off to a rough start.  Passing onto the next block at the beginning of our ride, a black Merecedes SUV which I thought was just parked facing the wrong direction on the road, drove out into the street just as Bill was riding past on the Triumph.  The driver saw Bill and stopped (luckily the Rocket is nearly the size of a small car).  Silly me, I assumed the driver would take that near miss as a lesson and take a second to check for passing traffic before trying to drive off again.  He didn’t, so I came to a stop on the side of the road and waited for the Mercedes to clear off down the street.  The driver may have been drunk judging from the state of inebriation on his friend who was standing on the side of the road laughing as though hitting a motorcyclist was a game.

            It was a rude way to begin what was otherwise a lovely ride.  As we stopped at a stop sign after riding up the curvy road, Bill pointed at me and then pointed to his right.  At first I thought he was signaling to me to watch for pedestrians on this pleasant day out for a pre-holiday walk.  But at the next stop sign, he came to a stop over toward the left, and I realized that he wanted me stopping on the inside of him should there be any cut off turns into our lane.  Realizing how we managed the communication got me to thinking about helmet audio systems.  There are communication systems that would allow Bill and I to talk to each other while we ride.  My mind then wandered to people who have their helmets connected to their phones.  While I ride, my phone goes into a driving mode so there is no audible signal of a call or message nor is there a vibration (not that I would feel that through the layers of protective gear nor over the vibration of the bike).  But I don’t even want to listen to music while I ride.  Maybe if my ride lasted more than an hour or so, or I was trying to ride six or more hours on a trip, music would be a desired distraction.  But while I’m riding for my hour or so, I want to hear the rumbles and roars of the motorcycle shifting, accelerating, and decelerating.  One of my all-time favorite sounds was the Leo Vince exhaust we had on the Ducati Scrambler.  So I found myself recognizing the enjoyment I have in hearing the sounds of my ride.

            The trees are wintry in their bare branches with some dry, brown leaves clinging in places.  I only saw crows flitting about and squirrels rushing around.  But I did enjoy even more of the Christmas decorations; by Christmas Eve pretty much all the decorations are out and inflated even during the daytime.

            One thing I worked on during my ride was turning my head all the way during U-turns.  Bill had suggested it after watching my practice in the gravel lot last week.  I learned that I have been cheating on my head turns and stopping them short.  This realization became obvious to me after I had to dab my foot four times during U-turns.  A “dab” is when the rider puts a foot down to protect the motorcycle from a fall.  I haven’t had to dab in a long time as the R Nine T is such a well-balanced bike.  I will be spending the week thinking about what it is about the head turn is causing me to feel unbalanced.  And I will spend the week excitedly waiting for my chance to practice and ride again.

            Merry Christmas to you all!