Monday, April 06, 2015

First Rides of the Season

"This place is great, Lucky! I've got dibs on the porch."
"We're not moving here, Triumph. It's a museum."
With rain in the forecast for just about every day this week, I knew I had to jump on the opportunity to get Triumph out of the garage. I've been feeling a little anxious to ride recently, if you can dig it.

So, bright and early on Saturday afternoon, I took Triumph out for a little exercise. On the short ride to air up the tires, I was shocked by just how fast my skills had become rusty. I rode a little extra cautiously as I got reacquainted with being on two wheels again. The next destination once the tires were at the right pressure again was a parking lot, to practice all those basic skills that had apparently atrophied over the winter. 

I'm pretty proud to say that I only put my foot down once while I was practicing [the world's biggest and sloppiest] figure eights. After thirty minutes or so of making myself dizzy, with an occasional break to practice emergency braking, I cruised the neighborhood a little and called it a day.

Well, with more relatively excellent weather on Sunday, it was imperative that I get Triumph out again. I thought about terrorizing the parking lot again, but ultimately decided that going exploring would be more fun.

"I said, I've got dibs on the porch, Lucky."
I ended up simply picking a direction and rolling, taking whichever roads looked interesting at the moment.  It wound up being a hell of a lot of fun, and I found all kinds of nifty places I hadn't known about before.  Like the Burwell House in the photos.  It's on the National Register of Historic Places, and is conveniently visible from Highway 7.  My curiosity got the best of me, so I had to go check it out a little bit.  Apparently they give tours although, for obvious reasons (Happy Easter, by the way), they weren't giving any while I was there.  I guess a return trip will be in order.

As I mentioned already, it looks like rain for the rest of the week, so I'm glad I was able to get Triumph out. Today I'm feeling all the riding muscles that haven't been used recently. I'm looking forward to getting the bike out more, and getting back into proper riding shape.



9 comments:

RichardM said...

For me, the "proper riding shape" might be round. I need to start walking and riding the non-powered bike more...

Canajun said...

Good on ya for taking some time to practice. Too many just jump on and go but, as you know, we do get rusty after 5 or 6 months of no riding. Now all I have to do is find a big parking lot nearby that isn't filled with little old ladies (both literally and figuratively) all jockeying for the next handicapped spot 7 days a week.

mq01 said...

im with triumph, great porch! :)
bravo for getting some riding in, and for getting brushed back up on road skills. we get rusty so fast! i know im thinking and worried about same, all while looking out at (much needed) rain... ride for us lucky! :)

Dar said...

Awesome! Glad you got out and about . Yup taking it to the lot should be the first stop after winter hibernation. I spent 2 days with a new rider who 's a friend of mine & she took the course last October & then parked in November. So off we went & worked on smooth starts & stops, slow straight line riding, circles & figure 8's. Then we went for a good rip yesterday & today after starting to feel like Shriners with all the lot work. It was a good weekend!

Good job on your 8's, throw a couple of u-turns in there and your golden.

red said...

I need to get out and do some practice too. I got out for a bit on Sunday to run some errands.

Definitely a bit rusty!

Trobairitz said...

The Burwell House looks pretty nifty.

Glad you got out on the Triumph. Have to take those dry days when we can in the spring. Kudos to you for hitting the parking lot first.

Lucky said...

RichardM - Ha! I'm just thinking of the strengthening up the muscles in my shoulders, and my left ankle, mainly.

Canajun - Thanks! Tackling a parking lot full of crazed shoppers could be a more advanced exercise, now that you mention it.

MQ01 - Thanks! Hooray for needed rain, but I hope you'll be able to get Bob out on the road soon! :)

Dar - Thank you! Right, too much time in the parking lot and I think one is legally obligated to start wearing a fez...

Which is OK. Fez's are cool.

Red - Hooray for getting out!

Trobairitz - Thanks! Right, any opportunity to ride is a good one. And it's awfully nice when the good weather just happens to be on a weekend as well. :)

Chris Cope said...

That Museums of Minnesota site looks like a treasure trove of riding destinations. I am particularly taken with the idea of visiting the Mousenik site, where a bunch of students in 1957 put a mouse into a rocket and fired the poor thing into the 1,600 feet into the sky. The mouse did not survive and was buried with honors.

Greg Prosmushkin said...

Thanks for taking the time to share this wonderful post with us for your first ride of the season. It's always great to see what adventures you take and photos to go along with it as well. Have a great upcoming weekend.
Greg Prosmushkin