Motorcycle Riding 2-25-2010

I've ridden motorized 2 wheel vehicles since I was 8 or 10. I'm now 62. Though I got a Kawasaki KLR 650 dualsport I got it mainly for back roads riding on country roads and dirt roads. So, now I've got my 600 plus miles on the bike I needed to get it serviced to keep up the guarantees and service maintenance schedule and all that. When I was younger I maintained my motorcycle myself. But now my life is a little different than that. After all, I was 25 to 40 then and now I'm not.

So, the day I was dreading because the weather was turning for an upcoming storm tomorrow. You know the type when the barometer is dropping and it makes you feel a little funny and unstable because it affects your inner ear some and there is wind in the trees with the upcoming storm. However, I didn't want to ride my motorcycle in the rain so I decided to take it in today so I wouldn't have to do that for my appointment tomorrow. But I haven't been sleeping well lately and I don't like to ride at this age unless I feel pretty centered and I feel all my reflexes are working just right and the conditions are perfect or close enough so I feel confident of the outcome. I've always been very coordinated but you don't want to act like you are still 25 when you are 62. It is sort of like the statement, "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots." The same is true with motorcycle riders. So like most of you I prefer to be among the living. So I see to it that I do.

So, I decided to take whatever route felt right intuitively. So that meant I could take about 3 main routes and about 20 subsidiary routes to my destination. Doing this calmed me down so when I had to get on the freeway in full traffic I found that I was right on the money and the quick acceleration of my bike being a single got me quickly out of any potential jam and I arrived at the Motorcycle service center feeling pretty good about my riding skills in heavy traffic and in quite a wind. Though the wind buffeted my helmet around some as I rode I was able to compensate quite well for the traffic and the wind and get safely to my destination. Life is Good.