Motorcycle

First Day of the Journey

By Lisa B on October 9, 2008

We survived the first day of the journey. We rode about 225 miles (I’ll have to get the exact mileage off my bike). When we checked into the hotel, I left my bike parked and rode with Duck to get a snack. It just would have taken more energy than I had at the moment to drive my bike, pay attention to every thing around me and try to get to the place where we were going.

Here are some tidbits from the first day of my first long motorcycle trip:

When you are riding a long ways, it’s easy to relax or not be in an alert state all the time. I don’t share that to scare y’all, but it was just a realization I had. After traveling on the highway for an hour or so, we came into a town with some stop lights. It took a minute for my brain to process how to stop the bike.
Music makes everything better — except when it’s the same song over and over and over. I thought my MP3 player had gotten stuck on repeat song somehow, but in actuality, I have multiple copies of the same songs on my MP3 player. I’m definitely going to fix that tomorrow before we ride again. I also discovered that some music is better to ride to than others. At one point some Alabama songs were lulling me into a false sense of security — well, let’s just say that doesn’t go well with the staying alert.
Communication is vital. There were many times I wanted to ask Duck something or tell him something. We’re having a communication system installed on our bikes in the morning and we’re really looking forward to it after the long ride up here. We’ll be able to listen to music but when we talk, it’ll turn the music down. It’ll be great for those times when I miss a turn and Duck has to “feel” his way there. At least he’ll be able to tell me which way to turn.
Stop for gas when you have a quarter of a tank or more. We started looking for gas and had a little trouble finding some. We had gas in our reserves, but the way the gas situation is, it’s better to start looking before you have to dip into reserves. Oh, and when you stop, if there’s a girl checking out your bike and you — don’t make eye contact. At least not if you’re a woman too

Duck wanted to get on the road after lunch so I fixed my MP3 player up and took off riding. We stopped about 142 miles later. He said, “I thought you were never going to stop!” I’ll take that as a compliment. He didn’t think I’d ride that long without stopping — although he thought it’d only take 30 minutes for me to stop — NOT! My bike is the bomb! I love it and it’s comfortable to ride. Don’t get me wrong. My booty is still sore. Speaking of which, the jacuzzi’s calling my name.

More updates tomorrow as we hit the start of the parkway!

| Filed Under: Marriage, Motorcycle, Personal

Enjoy the Journey

By Lisa B on October 9, 2008

Don’t worry about the destination, just enjoy the journey. That’s what Duck’s been saying to me this week. We’re packing up and heading out. We’re riding our motorcycles north to the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Leaving this afternoon and coming home Sunday. Keep us in your prayers for safety if you don’t mind

I’ll be Twittering as we go when I can — and when my phone has service. The updates will be compiled and posted here, or you can check my Twitter page to see how things are going.

We’re celebrating 12 years of marriage this weekend It actually seems that the time has flown by! We’ll see how I feel after the weekend though

| Filed Under: Blessings, Marriage, Motorcycle, Prayer Requests, Vacation

I’m in LUH-OVE!

By Lisa B on October 4, 2008

I’m still in love with Duck — no worries there. But now I have a new love I’ve got my Sportster sold and we picked up my new bike this morning. I was nervous starting out riding it, but I absolutely LOVE it! It’s an awesome bike! The ride is so smooth and I actually handled it well

I’ll have to share more later. Doodle is talking to me through this whole movie and I can’t concentrate on anything to say.

| Filed Under: Motorcycle, Personal

Another Goal Accomplished!

By Lisa B on August 16, 2008

Wuhoo! I’m on a roll this month First the stadium stairs, and now my Motorcycle Miles! We rode to dinner tonight which put me well over 500 miles.

Now Duck’s trying to say I need to get to 750 miles before he’ll let me ride his bike. Phooey, I say. I’ll go buy my own Softail. Take that

| Filed Under: Motorcycle

Somebody else caught the Motorcycle Bug

By Lisa B on June 17, 2008

Before I took the Rider’s Safety Course back in March, one of the guys Duck works with was asking me a lot of questions — well, asking us a lot of questions about motorcycles. Tim W. (it’s important to distinguish because there are only 3 Tims who work in Duck’s department — not to mention the rest of the company) has caught the Motorcycle Bug!

I tried to get him to go to my class with me, but alas, he chickened out saying something about it being too cold in March. So now he’s taking the class in a few weeks in the blasted heat of summer. Duck, Tim W. and I went out to lunch the other day to look at motorcycles. Honestly I heard horror stories of Tim W.’s driving in a 4-wheel vehicle, so I was a little hesitant to get in the car with him. He was on his best behavior though, and drove quite sanely for me

Tim W. is quite a character — one you never strain for conversation with. He’s really entertaining and funny. He’s also got a great sense of humor and doesn’t mind taking a few jokes either — well, it wasn’t exactly a joke. He told someone nearby he had joined the Air Force in 1977. I said, “Wow man! You joined the Air Force when I was 4 years old!” His school of thought on driving (a 4-wheel vehicle) is 90% of accidents can be avoided with acceleration. I never did get to find out what the 10% situations were — maybe next lunch.

When we went looking at bikes, he pointed out one that he liked the look of, but I quickly advised him it was a “sissy bike.” Really it was too small for him, but he thought it was funny that I called it a sissy bike. He bestowed upon me by the end of lunch, the privilege of approving his bike purchase when the time comes. He can’t be seen riding around town on a sissy bike

He’s been a little anxious to get on a bike (should have come with me in March!) so he came over to the house Sunday. Duck took him to a big parking lot — like he did me, and let Tim W. ride my Sportster. {No, I didn’t add Tim W.’s miles to my miles ridden — although I did note the odometer change.} He did very well on it, so Duck let him take it on the road. My bike is too small for him too, but at least it let him know what *not* to get. Did you know that you can only rent Harleys? No other dealership (at least around here) will rent out their different models of bikes, and you can’t really take them for a test drive like you can a car. This makes it difficult to figure out what bike is for you unless you have some really great buddies who already ride.

Duck and Tim W. joked about going on rides together like the movie “Wild Hogs,” but there’s just one catch — I’d be going with them! And blogging about it too Now to work on Mrs. Tim W.!

| Filed Under: Motorcycle

Not exactly according to plan

By Lisa B on June 13, 2008

Yesterday didn’t go at all according to my grand scheme. I was not able to stay off the computer as much as I’d hoped — I had a work project to complete. I did refrain from reading blogs, and only checked email for ones regarding the project. Duck worked from home which always throws my schedule off, and he convinced me (although it wasn’t that hard) to not clean house and ride our motorcycles to lunch.

When we rode to lunch, it was the first time I’ve gotten my bike on a major highway. I think the fastest I got the bike up to yesterday was about 63 MPH. And that was fast! Without a windshield, the wind was coming at me from all angles. I was afraid of one big gust knocking me over, but I survived! The vibration in the bike was a little much at that speed — something that Sportsters are known for I think. I was tired even after a short ride and that’s just not how it should be.

I need to give Duck a big THANK YOU! for riding my bike to put it in the shop. I think he had it up to about 70 MPH and had a much longer distance to ride it! My bike is too small for him and not comfortable at all. He takes such great care of me

I played in my last softball game of the Spring League last night. One of my players broke her foot attempting to slide into home. Please keep Nikki in your prayers. She’s in a lot of pain and can’t swallow pills. I hope they give her some strong liquid pain medicine! Other than that, we lost by at least 11 runs that I know of. The team we played shouldn’t really be in a church league, but since Duck warns me to watch what I say on here, I’ll leave it at that.

The best part of yesterday was when Duck paid me a compliment. He said I’m doing really well on my bike and looking more comfortable. I still have to learn a lot — how to park and I can’t back the bike up in our driveway to go out by myself. But that’s ok — I’m headed to the gym. Maybe if I get some bigger muscles, I’ll be able to roll my bike over the gravel to get it out. For now, Duck’s relieved I can’t go anywhere on my bike without him

| Filed Under: Fitness, Marriage, Motorcycle, Prayer Requests, Softball

More Rackin’

By Lisa B on May 5, 2008

up the miles that is Duck and I rode to get dinner. I think I did better last night — I didn’t think about stuff too much. Tonight, my brain was worried about how I stopped and stuff that should just be natural. Of course Duck says it’ll just take practice, and today I’m 29 miles closer to him letting me ride his bike

Bike Miles Today: 29 miles
Bike Miles Total: 179 miles
Odometer: 1375