Let's see...last weekend was the International Motorcycle Show, and I took my nephew as part of a belated Christmas present. The show itself felt smaller than the past two years, but traffic was pretty good, nonetheless. Since bike parking was free, and the temps weren't sub-freezing, LOTS of folks rode to the show. We took the truck to the show, but later in the day, as a finale for his present, I took Alexander out for a ride on the VFR.
He's wanted to get to ride since I bought the Ninja, but I was never comfortable enough with my skills or the bike's two-up prowess to do it. I borrowed a helmet and gloves from a guy at work, made sure Alexander packed his boots for the weekend, and had him wear a Joe Rocket jacket that was given to me when I first rode (guy's jacket, slightly large on me...fit A pretty well). It only got up around 65 for the day, so it wasn't hot, but not too cool for him wearing jeans.
The VFR handled well with the extra weight, and he leaned pretty good in the turns, so we didn't have any scary moments on my first ride with a pillion participant :) Stopped twice for little stretch breaks and took about 2 hours to get him home via an 85 mile detour, finding the twistiest way for the last few miles (hee hee!) I might have to do that again some time.
This week, in the continuing saga of the Ninja, TJ thinks he's gotten the throttle back to good on the bike, and it should be back on Aladdin Street in a couple of days. It's either time to repost it on Craigslist, or let my friend convince me that she needs to buy it. Her attention span is often gnat-like, so I'm not sure about getting her into what needs uber attention and concentration. Plus, I don't want her mom to get any more gray hair on my account. We'll see how that one goes.
Finally, in one of those split-second, 'that sounds like a crazy idea' moments, I've decided to head down to Daytona Beach on Friday, and come back on Saturday. One of the big guns from BBO (the famous Capt. Crash) has compiled a book of essays on riding, many of which were originally posted on the site, and he's going to be down there, autographing books. He lives in Idaho, and since I probably won't be out that way for at least a couple of years, this seems like the perfect excuse, erm...reason, for a ride! I've got hotel points with HI Express, and will be staying in St. Augustine, about 40 miles away from the craziness that is bike week, and it's costing about $15 more than a Super 8 in Jacksonville. This will be the perfect time to test out Spencer's seat on the VFR, as well as a good trip to blow some cobwebs out of my brain. Too many spiders in there lately.
eta: And it looks like I've lost my hit counter again. Snot boogers!
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