What's this? A motorcycle ride??

Your eyes do not deceive you! I went on -- drum roll -- a motorcycle ride today!!

OK, don't get that excited; it was about 7 miles long.  But it was the first time I'd been on a bike since June, so I was still grinning in my helmet the whole time.

All ready and rarin' to go!

It was a gorgeous day, if a little warm. 

The heat made the views of San Francisco a little hazy.

I stumbled upon Vista Park and decided to stop and look around.

It turned out to be a neat little city park, a pilot site for a native plant/pesticide free park.  They have a little landscaping area set up with examples of native plants and a little info about each one.

Behind the landscaping area is a trailhead.  Looks inviting, huh!

I took the opportunity to sit in the shade for a few moments partway along the trail.  I didn't see any of the aforementioned wildlife; only the native beer bottles and discarded trash that people seem to feel appropriate to dump in parks.  Grrr.

I'm pretty sure "hiking in motorcycle gear on a 95F day" isn't one of my PT-approved activities, so I turned around and walked back to the bike.

The round trip was only about 7 miles, but it was riding!  It felt great to ride the XT -- though I'm not entirely sure the new clutch lever I put on was disengaging the clutch completely -- and I'm looking forward to more tiny trips.  :)

Comments

[Roger Willcut]

GOOD FOR YOU!! I really know how you feel. Just last night I sent a text to a friend after having just taken a short runabout on my 1981 SR250 Exciter. I told him "I have forgotten how great it is to ride these sub-500cc bikes. If you need a lighter pulling clutch let me know - I think my friend Delmar might be able to help you out. Roger

[Peter]

Woooohooooo!

[Bruce]

It's good to see you out and about again!

[Roger Willcut]

Would that be the Turbo City Denali rack on the XT? I'll bet not. I bet it is your other, a discontinued rack.

[carolyn]

Roger, see my last comment to you, here: http://bluepoof.blogs.com/motorcycle/2009/09/a-hot-pair-of-twins-at-work.html

[Roger Willcut]

Just curious - why not ride the Beemer that day? And I could use some help on this blog business. I sort of assume that if I sign up right, or something, your posts and stuff might come just like email. or is that wrong. do you have time to educate [email protected]

[carolyn]

Re: Beemer -- since I threw my back out, I'm not yet strong enough to hold up the weight of the BMW. I could barely ride the XT. :D But I'm doing my exercises and am getting better.

Re: blog -- I'm not sure what you're asking. You want to be able to get post and comment notifications via email? I think what you want is an RSS feed. There are a few free ones online (I don't use one myself so have no personal recommendations; just do a google search).

I actually have no idea what my RSS feed address is because I don't use it myself. Maybe someone else can chime in ;) or I'll poke around a little and see if I can find it.

[carolyn]

Oh nevermind, I'm an idiot. Just look over in the righthand navigation bar for the phrase "Subscribe to this blog's feed." Clicking there will take you to feed://bluepoof.blogs.com/motorcycle/atom.xml -- I think that's the URL that you would enter into a feed reader.

[Roger Willcut]

Thanks I will try that. My tent came, I practices setting it up in the garage (it's cold and rainy here in SD).

Can you direct me to the post on the terminal block (electrical) you and Peter put on the XT, I think it was a Radio Shack product.

The reason I asked about the Beemer. You have really put lots of miles on the XT and it seems to be such a good Go To bike. And your BMW seems to fill a good niche for you. But I have much short and fewer riding options. My rides now are 2004 HD Dyna Low Rider (FXDLI) and the XT. As I contemplate looking (if I look I usually buy) at F650GS Low, I wonder: would it be enough of a tour bike to let go of my 2004 Low Rider. I do ride my HD on "typical" gravel but you don't relish it. The flip side is the GS going to be close emouth to the XT for me to foregoe it and keep the Harley?3 bikes are just too much for me to keep up with. Would appreciate thoughts.

[motorcycle]

Wow! I'm happy to see you out and about again!

[Salvia]

I envy you, I have so much work these days that even a 7 mile trip in a bike would do me good.

Great pics.

[Arrr]

Glad you could get back in the saddle. Hopefully pretty soon you'll be able to do this: http://tinyurl.com/yzehe44