The sky was clear but I didn't ride the bike to work this morning as
it had been below freezing since 1 AM and the streets had been wet
yesterday. "Damn," I thought as I pulled away from the house in my truck.
"It's going to be nice and warm by noon." As I rounded the first turn,
though, I was able to make the truck break traction so I decided I had
made the right decision.
Sure enough, it was over 65F by noon and at 5:00 it was still above 60F
with all but no wind. I got home as fast as I could and jumped on the
bike. I got on Hwy. 20 and headed west from my Grass Valley, CA home
thinking I'd ride down to Penn Valley and return via some back roads.
The bike just would not turn up the Rough and Ready highway, though, and
before I knew it I was in Marysville with the thermometer right at 70F.
I had to wait at the traffic light where 20 meets 70 and there was a
pretty lady on a HD waiting to continue north on 70. Her bike was so
quiet I thought she had killed the engine while waiting for the light.
When she got the green and passed in front of me, though, I realized
that she was a rare bird who doesn't rely on decibels to save her life.
I headed south on 70 then 65 planning to ride down to I-80 and make a
loop home from there. About 2 miles north of Lincoln there was a train
coming toward me on my right. The way the things lined up I figured the
engineer had to be looking right at me so I gave the pull-the-chain sign
with my left arm. Instead of the usual little toot I immediately heard
a long and LOUD blast from the train. At the same time another rider on
a BMW was coming my way, too, and he also sounded his could-not-be-stock
horn! I grinned all the way to Roseville.
I was concerned that traffic around Roseville would be a bother but it
was late enough when I got there to be past the worst of it and was
actually quite light. I never had to brake and there was always a lane
available when I came up behind slower vehicles.
From Roseville the choice is to turn up 49 at Auburn or 174 14 miles
later at Colfax. Today it was Colfax because I was actually enjoying
I-80 for a change. On 174 I wound up following a sporty little car
with a dealer's cardboard "plate" who was willing to keep a decent
pace but he pulled over near Chicago Park and let me by.
From there it was just straight home and the bike was in the garage
and I was putting the trash on the curb for tomorrow's pickup while
there was still plenty of light in the sky.
I just love this time of year!
--
========================================================================
Michael Kesti | "And like, one and one don't make
| two, one and one make one."
mrkesti at hotmail dot com | - The Who, Bargain
On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:33:23 -0700, "Michael R. Kesti"
>The sky was clear but I didn't ride the bike to work this morning as
>it had been below freezing since 1 AM and the streets had been wet
>yesterday. "Damn," I thought as I pulled away from the house in my truck.
>"It's going to be nice and warm by noon." As I rounded the first turn,
>though, I was able to make the truck break traction so I decided I had
>made the right decision.
>Sure enough, it was over 65F by noon and at 5:00 it was still above 60F
>with all but no wind. I got home as fast as I could and jumped on the
>bike. I got on Hwy. 20 and headed west from my Grass Valley, CA home
>thinking I'd ride down to Penn Valley and return via some back roads.
>The bike just would not turn up the Rough and Ready highway, though, and
>before I knew it I was in Marysville with the thermometer right at 70F.
>I had to wait at the traffic light where 20 meets 70 and there was a
>pretty lady on a HD waiting to continue north on 70. Her bike was so
>quiet I thought she had killed the engine while waiting for the light.
>When she got the green and passed in front of me, though, I realized
>that she was a rare bird who doesn't rely on decibels to save her life.
>I headed south on 70 then 65 planning to ride down to I-80 and make a
>loop home from there. About 2 miles north of Lincoln there was a train
>coming toward me on my right. The way the things lined up I figured the
>engineer had to be looking right at me so I gave the pull-the-chain sign
>with my left arm. Instead of the usual little toot I immediately heard
>a long and LOUD blast from the train. At the same time another rider on
>a BMW was coming my way, too, and he also sounded his could-not-be-stock
>horn! I grinned all the way to Roseville.
>I was concerned that traffic around Roseville would be a bother but it
>was late enough when I got there to be past the worst of it and was
>actually quite light. I never had to brake and there was always a lane
>available when I came up behind slower vehicles.
>From Roseville the choice is to turn up 49 at Auburn or 174 14 miles
>later at Colfax. Today it was Colfax because I was actually enjoying
>I-80 for a change. On 174 I wound up following a sporty little car
>with a dealer's cardboard "plate" who was willing to keep a decent
>pace but he pulled over near Chicago Park and let me by.
>From there it was just straight home and the bike was in the garage
>and I was putting the trash on the curb for tomorrow's pickup while
>there was still plenty of light in the sky.
>I just love this time of year!
Sounds like a great afternoon. It was 80-ish here in N. FL today, wind
was a bit gusty off and on but otherwise it couldn't be nicer and I
did a bit of tooling around the countryside before heading for the
barn, myself. In the words of Supertramp, take the long way home.
As for the time of year, I sometimes think the only thing that gets me
through the winter (which I know is a laughable concept to you people
who live where you have REAL winter, but it's all relative) is knowing
that these days are coming. I don't know if the Energy Bill of '05
accomplished crap as far as saving energy, but anything that brings
DST 3 weeks earlier can't be all bad, IMO. And now we're just 4 days
from the vernal equinox, nothing but longer, warmer days ahead for a
while. Whoo-hoo!
XML Sitemap
>it had been below freezing since 1 AM and the streets had been wet
>yesterday. "Damn," I thought as I pulled away from the house in my truck.
>"It's going to be nice and warm by noon." As I rounded the first turn,
>though, I was able to make the truck break traction so I decided I had
>made the right decision.
>Sure enough, it was over 65F by noon and at 5:00 it was still above 60F
>with all but no wind. I got home as fast as I could and jumped on the
>bike. I got on Hwy. 20 and headed west from my Grass Valley, CA home
>thinking I'd ride down to Penn Valley and return via some back roads.
>The bike just would not turn up the Rough and Ready highway, though, and
>before I knew it I was in Marysville with the thermometer right at 70F.
>I had to wait at the traffic light where 20 meets 70 and there was a
>pretty lady on a HD waiting to continue north on 70. Her bike was so
>quiet I thought she had killed the engine while waiting for the light.
>When she got the green and passed in front of me, though, I realized
>that she was a rare bird who doesn't rely on decibels to save her life.
>I headed south on 70 then 65 planning to ride down to I-80 and make a
>loop home from there. About 2 miles north of Lincoln there was a train
>coming toward me on my right. The way the things lined up I figured the
>engineer had to be looking right at me so I gave the pull-the-chain sign
>with my left arm. Instead of the usual little toot I immediately heard
>a long and LOUD blast from the train. At the same time another rider on
>a BMW was coming my way, too, and he also sounded his could-not-be-stock
>horn! I grinned all the way to Roseville.
>I was concerned that traffic around Roseville would be a bother but it
>was late enough when I got there to be past the worst of it and was
>actually quite light. I never had to brake and there was always a lane
>available when I came up behind slower vehicles.
>From Roseville the choice is to turn up 49 at Auburn or 174 14 miles
>later at Colfax. Today it was Colfax because I was actually enjoying
>I-80 for a change. On 174 I wound up following a sporty little car
>with a dealer's cardboard "plate" who was willing to keep a decent
>pace but he pulled over near Chicago Park and let me by.
>From there it was just straight home and the bike was in the garage
>and I was putting the trash on the curb for tomorrow's pickup while
>there was still plenty of light in the sky.
>I just love this time of year!