Subject: a wonderful afternoon ride... and some humble pie... Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 14:27:26 -0500 From: gayathri yesterday had gotten so bad at work i couldnt take it anymore and decided to give myself the afternoon off. (repeat after me, "y2k sucks") So I head home, get into my leathers, and head out to GMR, our local sooper sekrit local twisty... head up Rt 39 to a joyfully EMPTY road, and with the music cranked up, I'm forgetting all about the rotten month, about work or any other stress, and starting to remember all the things I do have to be thankful for, and all the things that are going so WELL in my life. Whew, the headache was melting away, the complete feeling of exhaustion was disappearing and my butt is sliding around the seat, just gently working the bike thru the sweepers at the bottom of this hill. Turn onto a connecting road, and head towards GMR -- still empty, tho a few trucks pass me going the other way -- I marvel at this one right turn that is sharp, downhill and until you are RIGHT ON top of it, it looks like the road is going straight. Even knowing its htere, I still have trouble and slow down way too much... oh well, VROOM! make the turn onto GMR to see two bikes parked on the side of the road (red tl1000 and something else). I give 'em a thumb up and they nod and wave and I keep going... yeeeahhh! I bottom out in the same spot as I did last time, following Cecil and remind myself to order parts on Monday. Definately not going as smoothly or as quickly as I did the last time when I had someone to follow, but kept it strong and smooth. After the intersection that can take you to Mt. Baldy and skiing or back down into Azusa, I see two people standing on the side of the road with a big cruiser parked. I pull over when they both look really sad to see what's up. They've run out of gas. The guy, Bobby, is completely embarassed, as this is his first date with the really cute girl who's standing 15 miles away from civilization. (its also nearly 5 pm, and the sun is setting...) Stupid me, I dont have a hose to siphon gas. We wait for the two other bikes to see if they have anything. When they finally arrive, they are completely useless -- I wasnt sure they understood the problem, or if they were sober... eeek! I tell the two kids I'm going to head down and see about getting some gas or a siphon hose and will be back soon. I head on down a couple of minutes after the other two sportbikes leave and almost immediately catch up to the TL1000... he's scaring me. He's all over, cant stay in his lane, will not let me pass 'cause he speeds up in the straights and takes the turn like its not two lanes! aaargh! I cant pass him on the left! I'm tempted to pass him on the right, but I'm afraid he'll end up hitting me. I flash my brights and finally he notices. and pull to the left. Into the oncoming lane. I'm wondering, WHAT THE F*CK? and he waves me on! I give up. Speed by him and head on down the hill... its gettin' dark. The sun setting is lovely and not in my eyes and I can see the lights of the cities starting to blink inthe distance. No smog to speak of and the night sky is coming out beautiful and blue/black. First gas station I find, I go in to see if maybe i can get a towtruck to go up the hill with some gasoline. Person behind the counter thinks I want a TACO, and I start to lose my temper. TOW truck, not TACO! (I had my helmet off...) She gets me the manager as I start to make more noise and the manager lets me borrow a sealed gallon gas jug... I fill it, bungee it to the back of the bike and head back up. Its now almost pitch black. I've never done this road backwards before and I can NOT see around the corners. This sucks. I crank up the music and try to relax and just go... I hit a rock while leaned over in a downhill section and feel the entire front end bounce around and almost have my handlebars ripped out of my hands. Fortunately my immediate FEAR reaction was to grab the tank with my legs as hard as I can and tense my stomach muscles, so that actually took weight off the front from me and let he front end finish out its little dance without getting too out of shape... Its really dark, I have to pull over to re-aim the headlights so I can see the edges of the road... the lights of the cities are even brighter and its so SO pretty. I was never really annoyed about having to run down the hill and back up, but at this point, I was actually glad to get to be up here when it was so pretty... FINALLY, I make it to where the two kids and the Venture Star are parked. They are so completely flabbergasted I'd do this for 'em (oh for pete's sake, it wasnt that big a deal, and its really is a long way to anyplace with gasoline, and I couldnt just LEAVE two people sitting like that on a road they CLOSE overnight) and tell me that only one car had come by the entire time and the cage wouldnt stop for them.. put the gallon of gasoline in, i bungee the empty container back onto my bike, they hop on their bike and he turns it on and tries to start it... it wont start, she freaks, and I yell, "Wait for the fuel pump to finish!" (I could hear it clicking) Of course, once its done clicking, it starts right up... and I say that I'll follow them. Barely. The Kid on the Venture Royal proceeds to KICK MY ASS down the hill. (He lives locally and rides it all the time) I'm mortified. He's not even sweating. I can barely keep his taillights in sight. boy i suck. It would be sad except that it was pretty funny.. racer squidlet that I am, I cant keep up with a cruiser two up on a road at night. I laughed all the way down the hill, pretty glad I could be of some assistance. They gave me their email, so we'll keep in touch. Gayathri >-------------------------------------------------------------- gayathri@world.std.com Calamari Club #002, WSMC #701 '88 FZR400 ('gurlzbike') '98 T595 Daytona, "huckleberry" "It's not rocket science. Hell, its not even yards and meters!"