morning ride ponderings...

[Guest]

left for work on a nice warm (60 degree) NH morning on the ES. The sun soon disappeared behind the ominous clouds and high fog rolling off the river as my route took me along side of it, winding southward to work. With so many pop up thunder storms and downpours this year, I half expected to have to stop and pull out my rain gear. It was one of those morning rides where your mind wanders. The mechanics of operating your bike goes into auto pilot.
Coming to a stop light I usually leave it in first gear unless I know there is going to be a delay. As I stopped for a red light, it soon turned green and I proceeded to release the clutch and blib the throttle. The SuperTrapp exhaust came to life but I stood still. What? Oh, I'm in neutral, so I quickly popped it down to first and was on my way before the cars behind me decided to honk.
Last week a rider from our small town was killed t-boning a car that had pulled out from an intersection. Life is short and can come to an abrupt end with only a "oh sh*t" before "lights out". This thought randomly mixed in with other more personal "what's going on my life" mindless ponderings. And on and on the thoughts flowed along with the passing smells. Smells can trigger the most images and pop you into different memories of life.
Still, it was a pleasure to ride in, and having the ponderings on a bike is better than falling asleep in the protected capsule of a car...and the rain never came!

[Craiger]

left for work on a nice warm (60 degree) NH morning on the ES. The sun soon disappeared behind the ominous clouds and high fog rolling off the river as my route took me along side of it, winding southward to work. With so many pop up thunder storms and downpours this year, I half expected to have to stop and pull out my rain gear. It was one of those morning rides where your mind wanders. The mechanics of operating your bike goes into auto pilot.
Coming to a stop light I usually leave it in first gear unless I know there is going to be a delay. As stopped for a red light, it soon turned green and I proceeded to release the clutch and blib the throttle. The SuperTrapp exhaust come to life but I stood still. What? Oh, I'm in neutral, so I quickly popped it down to first and was on my way before the cars behind me decided to honk.
Last week a rider from our small town was killed t-boning a car that had pulled out from an intersection. Life is short and can come to an abrupt end with only a "oh sh*t" before "lights out". This thought randomly mixed in with other more personal "what's going on my life" mindless ponderings. And on and on the thoughts flowed along with the passing smells. Smells can trigger the most images and pop you into different memories of life.
Still, it was a pleasure to ride in, and having the ponderings on a bike is better than falling asleep in the protected capsule of a car...and the rain never came!

Nice story, dude. I can relate with the tiggering smells. It's been that way with me since I've had my Jeep. On more than one occasion, I've thought there was something wrong with it when passing through an area with a smell that give you the "Oh Crud!" feeling....only to realize it was the Jeep.

Can't wait to get back on the bike and ride. Your story just made the itch a bit worse.

[GS1100e_RIDER]

relaxing

It sounds like a very nice relaxing ride
We've rode all weekend and it was so nice to be out in the country enjoying the peace and quite.....It makes the soul take a deep breath,we got up early friday morning met up with family ate some breakfast and off we rode,just enjoying the day,Saturday it was a little closer to noon before we headed out on and off the whole day,took a picnic lunch(sandwiches and such)to the local state park and enjoyed the slow pace of cruising along the tree covered roads and watching wildlife along the way,on our way home we took a differnet route winding futher out into the country side along the river and to territories(sp)we haven't been to since being very young,it was nice to see the familier but unfamilier places of our past,took a short break on the bridge overlooking the river,and then off again at a nice relaxing pace....might sound boring to some but for myself it was the best day I have had in a long time I felt the stress of my work week melt away as I felt free.

[Rat44]

Thats one of the things I love about riding
It makes you Aware of your surroundings .
And lets you be part of that world.
Sounds corny but it works for me.

[Kerry]

Thats one of the things I love about riding
It makes you Aware of your surroundings .
And lets you be part of that world.
Sounds corny but it works for me.

I second that big-time! One of the really cool things about riding (especially for me, having just started riding again three months ago after a 25-year absence) is that it turns your mind-numbing daily commute that you've done a million times into something completely new and different. And it seems to renew itself every morning. It was foggy this morning, and I realized that riding in the fog is a completely different experience than driving a car through it.

...so is driving past a dead skunk, but that's another story...