Dropped the new bike last night

Dropped it off at the dealership for it’s first service, that is. Heh heh heh.

But this means I have no wheels for 2 days (why two days? They did us a favor by squeezing us in on short notice, so we weren’t going to argue if they said they needed two days to get both bikes fit in).

So anyways, having a dead truck and a bike being serviced means I have no wheels. What to do? Well, I gotta get to work…so Brother Bill lent me his bike; ’02 Deuce…no windshield, no fairing, no radio. Jeez, it’s like I’m riding a real motorcycle again. None of this living room sofa crap that I’ve become far too accustomed to of late.

Temps this morning; 31 degrees. Hmmm…having a windshield allows for some exposed skin on mornings like this, but no windshield = no room for sloppiness. Damn…ok, I did this for years, I can certainly do it again. Wrapped up tight? Ok, let’s roll. Damn, missed a spot on my forehead, its freezing up pretty fast. Ok, tug the hat a little lower…that’s better. Now there’s a spot beside my right eye which is exposed. Adjust the face mask to cover that up. Crap! Too much - now there’s a spot on my left cheek that just became exposed. Where the hell is my windshield?!?

Ok, settle down. Actually, this is nice. Feet are splayed out in front of me, I’ve got that familiar “leaning-forward, arms locked, back-hunched” riding position going again...neck muscles are tightening up, wind is racing up my pant legs, fingers and toes are yelling at me, my head is wrapped up so tightly that I can’t move it more than 2 inches either way…yep, I’m a real biker again!

(Oh yeah; Bill’s bike is a lean, mean, street fighting machine, so it doesn’t have any of those sissy things on it. You know; like forward controls. You can imagine how many times I tried to shift by stepping my foot downwards…into thin air. Folks behind me must have been thinking “Why does this retard keep trying to pedal his motorcycle?”)

And no tunes! Holy crap, I actually have to talk to myself again?? I thought those days were gone!?!

Ok…ok…I’ll get through this…

Oh yeah; Zig and I scrapped the plans to ride to Jersey on Saturday. Weather wasn’t going to cooperate. Plus; considering the outlay we each just did, it’s not like we can easily justify throwing money around on bars, concerts and hotels. (At least not right away. Maybe in another month…)

Lastly; I need to clean up some things on the Fatboy before I try and sell it. One thing needing replacing is the seat. My ass has worn more than a few wrinkles in it, and some of those wrinkles have actually cracked. So a new seat is in order. I found one on Craigslist – the guy selling it was actually in Jersey and I was going to check it out when Zig and I rode down there. But now that we won’t be there, I’m having it shipped up. I’m buying it sight-unseen, which I recommend against, but I’ve been talking with the guy a few times and he seems pretty cool and legit. Famous last words? Time will tell…

Ride Hard, Take Chances