Ride #9!

Yesterday we went out for what was my ninth ride. It seems so...low...a number. I'm feeling much, much more comfortable. Nick said he wanted to see how Lucia rode on the freeway, so we traded bikes at a gas station and pulled back out onto 5.

You know what I discovered? I actually REALLY LOVE my bike! Nick's bike is heavy and cumbersome, and I never feel like I'm really in control of it. I have a half-windshield on Lucia (the old owner had it that way and we didn't take it off) and Nick has nothing. The combination of wrestling with the bike itself and fighting the wind at 70+ mph was not one I care to repeat, I can tell you that. I never felt like I had a solid grip and a solid seat. Then he suggested I put my feet on the pegs, and...oh, gracious. That just was not a good ride. I gave him about 5 miles on the freeway, then I pulled off and said, "GIVE ME MY BIKE!" Back on Lucia, I was all settled and happy again. :)

It's nice to know that we actually found the right bike for me. She and I are definitely getting to know each other, and I'm feeling--a little bit--like I can handle her.

And I have to confess, now that the terror of being OUT of a car, in the MIDDLE of traffic, HURTLING through space at 70mph has abated a bit I am liking the idea that I'm a woman who rides. I want people to notice that I'm female when I take off my helmet. I want people to notice the helmet next to me when we stop to take a break. In my jacket you can't really tell I'm a woman, but I gotta confess...

I kinda want a pair of leather pants. ;)

OI

I need a PinLock! Oh my goodness. We were out of town for a week and when we came back we wanted to go on a ride. It was my first night ride, and I was a bit nervous. I was also a bit annoyed--I was wearing the gimp suit and a long-sleeved shirt and my extra elbow pad, and my jacket sleeve wouldn't go quite all the way up. So I was struggling with that and with getting my glove to fit and trying to fasten the sleeve on my jacket and it was just not working well. Finally I twisted it round to something of a working proposition, and we went out.

When we first started out we were on surface roads, and I ride with my visor slightly open anyway. Didn't realize there was a problem. By the time we got going up the 805, though, we realized there was a misty fog coming in and it was making vision a serious problem. Nick said, "Do you want to just say this was a bad idea and head home?" and I nodded and signalled toward the exit. We turned around and were coming home and the fog got worse.

Fog I can handle. It gets foggy around here a lot, and I'm used to it. BUT. In a motorcycle helmet, when hot breath is hitting one side of the visor, the mist and fog hit the other, you're travelling at speed and can't crack the visor because it dries out your contacts and makes them stick to your eyeballs like suction cups? NOT GOOD. I seriously felt like I didn't have contacts in at all. Everything was blurry and misty and there was no depth perception. One merge had a car trying to come through me from my left, a big rig trying to come in from the right, and me with no vision to speak of. NOT FUN!!

We made it home safely, though, which was the important part. And we're getting me a PinLock (it's like an anti-fog plate on the inside of your visor), so all is good. :)

In happy news, my license plate holder came! The top of it says "BADASS BIKER" and the bottom says "CHICK(en)". I'll post a picture later.

I'm happy to be home and back to my bike! I think we're going out later today, which should be awesome.