4/10/2004

I have been riding bikes on and off since I was fifteen. I have only had one previous embarrassing moment. It was the classic forgetting to take the disk disc lock off mistake (of course at the time my parents, my brother and his wife and two cousins were watching).

On the way home from today's ride three of us stopped to figure out where we were. I realized I was not far from the town that the woman I was dating lived in. Her mother, who I had never met, was in town. So I said goodbye and pulled into a gas station to call her and get directions. Once at her house we chatted for a while and I decided not to join them for dinner as it was starting to get cold. I backed down her steep driveway. As I started to pull away I looked over and saw her mother in the window waving at me. I had just
gotten moving and almost finished letting the clutch out. If I waited any longer she would have been out of view. My mind was telling me I was not moving fast enough but it was also telling me it would be rude not to wave. I lifted my left arm and waved. You know what happened next. It is amazing how quickly you can lift a 500 lb bike with the correct motivation.

There are some scratches on the mirror (but I think there were some when I bought it) and some chips out of the paint on the middle part of the fairing. I guess I waited too long to buy frame sliders.
Rupert (off to find a beer)