13-mile ride on the XT

See, I told you it wouldn't be long before I had a motorcycle update.  Ye of little faith.

Today was warm and sunny (ha ha, East Coasters) and my back was feeling decent, so Peter and I decided to go to lunch and run an errand on the bikes.  

Since we're not exactly racking up the miles lately, our game plan has been to rotate through the bikes so that no one bike sits for a completely unrealistic amount of time.  My last ride (in early December) was on the Beemer, so today I took the XT, which last saw daylight at the end of September.

Peter was going to take the DRZ, for similar reasons, but the battery was utterly toast.  Oops.  Peter now has 2 out of 3 bikes with completely dead-as-doornails batteries, which tells me the boy needs to ride more, hrm? So he took his one remaining bike, the V-Strom that he recently bought from Tony.  Um, did I mention that Peter bought Tony's V-Strom?  If not, there you go.  

About 20 seconds after leaving our driveway, the XT ran out of gas halfway down the hill.  For the 99% of you who have never been to our house, we live on a one-lane twisty hillside road.  So it was exciting for me (and more so for Peter, who was following me, and even more so for the car that was tailgating him) to suddenly sputter to a stop around a blind hairpin.  My bad!  I wasn't expecting that as the bike only had 80 miles to the tank, but apparently I had forgotten about the 192832398 times I'd just let it idle in the driveway for 10 minutes at a time.

At the gas station, I looked back through my records (I use Gas Cubby for the iPhone) and learned I'd last filled up the XT on April 4, 2009.  Sigh.

Anyway, we rode to Jersey Joe's for lunch and then on to Jo Ann Fabrics, where I needed to pick up some embroidery needles.  Yes, I do needlepoint.  What the hell else can I do while sitting on the couch?  Stupid back injury.

OK, I look like a dork and the sun is in my eyes, but at least you have proof that I rode my motorcycle somewhere!

Overall, it was a great experience.  The whole ride wound up being just about 13 miles, which is now officially my longest ride since June (watch out, Iron Butt members).  

I had some stiffness in my back, but nothing terrible, and only a bit of the glute burning that I've come to associate with overextending myself. There was a bit of sacral pain at the very end of the ride, but I was happy to specifically notice it as that means most of my life is now sacral pain-free, which is a marked improvement from a month or two ago.

So, not sure when I'll next ride again, but I'm happy to report that this ride -- however tiny -- was still successful.

Comments

[Red]

Yay for riding again! Go you! :D You might even inspire me to ride to work one of these days. :P

[Craig]

Been thinking about you. Read your blog this morning. What a great way to start my day. Thanks for the update!

[Pat Johnson aka zzo]

Hey guys, it was just Christmas! Didn't either of you ask for a Battery Tender from Santa Claus? I highly recommend it. They are much cheaper than new batteries and all you have to do is rotate it from bike to bike occassionally. For those of us in the frozen north, they keep batteries happy over the dark months. Glad to see your bike column again. pj

[Mike]

Yay recovery progress!

[Roger]

Way to go. Based on the snow on my roof and in various 5' high piles in the driveway, I'll consider myself lucky if I get my scoot out of the garage by Mother's Day. I best hook up the battery tender I got for Christmas in 2008.

[SonjaM]

Glad you made it back on two wheels. Take it slow. The XT is not so bad and less weight, too. Be better soon!