Newbie Ride report (I did it again)

 Shirley, a round for all who care to read. Especially since this is much
longer than
it needs to be. ;-)

I asked my SO Saturday morning if she minded if I went for a ride later that
day.
(In light of her recent crash, and the fact that she would be home
babysitting)
By mid afternoon she had lined up a riding partner (another newbie) for me.
(Now she is nervous about me going out on my own...)

We headed out about 4:00 p.m. It was very sunny at a whopping 96 degrees.
Standing there looking at my SO's road rash, we did not think twice about
gearing up in our armored mesh jackets, full face helmets, jeans, fingerless
gloves and boots.

We did a shortish ride, 100 miles RT. Left Austin and headed out 1406. Last
time I was on this road I could not maintain 55 on the curves but this time
it wasn't a problem. I'm learning! Went into Georgetown down the mainstreet
to 29. It's nice there, and considerably cooler, with huge old oak trees
providing a shaded canopy all the way. We had issues at the first
intersection we came to on 29. The light turned green and I started to go,
only to quickly stop and let the 18 wheeler that jumped the light through,
and the car behind him, and the idiot making a left turn from the other
way....
29 is fairly straight 5 lanes, rolling hills and 65 mph. Great run for a
couple of rookies. As we went north and the afternoon crept on, it got a
little cooler, and we were actually very comfortable, even in all the gear.
From there we headed north on 183. Same kind of road, 70 mph. This made me
just a little edgy, only cause I had never been this way, and the road
conditions we not quite a nice as 29.

All was fine...I was lead. I check my right..yet, there's my wing man,
checked my left, oops, flashing blue lights. Now, I had a little panic mode
here (flashing blue lights do that to me).
I scanned ahead for a place to pull over. No shoulder, but a street coming
up on the right, past that car on the side of the road.
Signal, check my right, wing man gone, blue lights in my lane now. Is he
after me? No way I was speeding. <sfsf>
Pull into the side street, almost stop, front wheel takes a dip, pulls
handlebars to the right, and boom, bike falls over. (4th time in 600 miles I
have dropped my bike at a standstill...damn, Damn, DAMN!) (yeah, I was
looking over that shoulder too..next time, get stable, then look)
I got off the bike and waited a second to see my "wing man" coming around
the blue lights, which had stopped by the car on the side of the road. She
helped me get my bike up, and we took a smoke/water break while we watched
all of the excitement behind us. No idea what was going on...car on the side
of the road in the middle of nowhere, but police, ems, fire..everyone showed
up in a few short minutes.

Got some composure (really pissed about dropping my bike again) and on to
138.
Nice stretch, big sweepers, easy on the newbies. Picked up 195 and headed
back.
Stopped again in Georgetown to hang out by the river a bit (it was cooling
off nicely now, about 6:00 p.m.) and then headed home.

SO was nervous cause we were gone longer than we were supposed to be..I
can't blame her though...she can't get on a bike yet, and she worries about
my experience level.

I really enjoyed this ride. This is the first time I have gotten out on "new
roads". Till now I have been staying on known roads, so there was a nice
sense of adventure!

Have a great day, and another cold one for making it this far...

jojo

 jojo wrote:
(4th time in 600 miles I

Thats definately bad.  I almost dropped mine once, I had a couple
whiskey shots in me and forgot the forks were locked.  I was able to
catch it before it hit the ground.  Doorman might have seen me do this,
it was at Neighborhood Grill.

 On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 18:39:37 GMT, "jojo" <cgv_2000@*remove your
hat*yahoo.com> walked in circles muttering:


<snip>

heh... can understand that.


...and I really enjoyed the tag-along.


Thanks... you too.  Hope your SO is recovering with as painlessly as
possible.

Dr. Quin
we are not evil
(just don't piss us off)
*Remove yourclothes to email me*

 


Thanks,
Actually she is...the road rash is healing fast! Still have problems with
the left wrist, may
need a new cast....

jojo

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