June 09, 2013 – Bit of everything today. Cold, warm, hot, cool, sun, cloud, rain… It was one of those days where you shouldn’t trust the weather report and leave your rain gear at home. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Well, not really all that bad since it didn’t rain all that hard, not for that long.
Late last week I got the new bike over the 1000km and yesterday got it in for its first service, then rounded out the weekend by bringing it up over 2100km, followed by a good wash.
Feels like I’ve hardly ridden it at all, but it’s not really all that bad considering April mostly rained, I was away the second and last weeks of May, and also away most of last week.
But for what little we have done together, the Ninja and I are getting along well 🙂
We got a typically slow Sunday start and decided to head towards Whistler for lunch, with a stop in Squamish for a coffee.
Within minutes on the Upper Levels Highway I had the first attempt on my life. I was less than a car length behind Kirk as we came up on a small white car. Kirk passed and when he was barely feet past the front bumper of the car, the driver decided to change lanes, when I was directly behind him. I hit the throttle to get out of the way and saw him lurch back into his own lane, and stay there. Seriously people, the head sits atop a pivot, try using it once in awhile. Before you change lanes, LOOK!!!
Surprisingly few bikes were in Squamish when we arrived and as we were finishing up our coffees a pair of BMW GS bikes came in and Kirk pointed and said “Look who’s here.” A woman I met through a forum was on one of the bikes – her brand spanking new GS700, still in the break-in stage. They were just passing through and saw us and stopped to chat. When they found out we were heading for Whistler she suggested we ride with them.
I always hesitate to ride with others. Of all my mileage on two wheels, about 70-80% has been alone, and the rest has been with Kirk. I tend to be shy of riding with others, partly because I figure I’ll just slow people down, and partly because I tend towards shyness. I’m no rocket, even though the bike is. Normally I would have found an excuse, but today I didn’t. And I’m glad. I was pushed to ride a little bit harder than I normally do, and on the new bike that was good. And when we got to Whistler and I just wanted to shy away from being social, I managed to not be the introvert I can be with people I don’t know well. And I was glad for that too, because lunch was fun and the pair of them were wonderful company and great conversation.
When the four of us rode back down to Squamish I was cursing myself for leaving my rain liners behind, because the rain started to come down on us, but as we got closer to Squamish the sun came back and we blow dried on the highway. A fist pump in front of me told me that Christine’s bike had rolled over the 1000km mark, all broken in and ready to go. 🙂
In Squamish the parking lot was overflowing with bikes this time. And as we went to get a coffee we ran into people we knew, and who we didn’t know even rode. One was a student I taught in two Power Squadron courses, and the other was a friend of a very good friend and who we had been at a number of parties with. I’m slow to meet people, and even slower to open up and be chatty, but as time goes on we are recognizing more and more faces and it gets easier to engage in conversation. It’s easy to be antisocial, it takes a bit of work for me to do the opposite, but it’s worth it most of the time.
The ride back down from Squamish was filled with the typical Sunday evening Weekend Warriors. Aggressive drivers all jockeying for that one extra car length. It irks me when drivers suddenly gun it to try and get ahead of you at the last second before the double lane ends. Kirk’s pet peeve are the drivers that you go to pass and who speed up from 80 to 120 the second you are next to them. Keeps you on your toes, literally.
As we rode down through our neighbourhood and headed for home, we could smell mouthwatering things on BBQs in backyards. It was definitely going to be a BBQ night as soon as we had the bikes washed and put to bed. A BBQ, a bottle of red wine, and a cool evening on the deck.
What a great end to a great weekend!