Subject: a hooky day... Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 19:53:30 -0400 From: gayathri well, afternoon, really. LaBikers TonyA and Jeniffer McMullen forced me to play hooky yesterday... I say force, as Jeniffer called and cajoled me with visions of madcap rides thru the mountains... How could I resist? the boss is out on jury duty, and the time critical work was done... so, we meet up at the Shell Station at 2 pm and head up the hill. Hey, Jeniffer's bike isnt a pain in the lungs to be behind anymore. Still some black smoke, but very very little. Poor Tony. He didnt want to lead. We made him. :) Angeles Crest to Upper Big Tujunga to Angeles Forest to some dirt road and a shady tree to drink ice water and contemplate dirt bikes... back on Angles Forest to Aliso Canyon. (Tony, where were you?!) I thought he'd gone right by and managed to make a stupid turn onto ALiso only to be passed by him and Jeniffer. :) (oh, no! stuck behind smoky!) Aliso was fun, and I hit that turn again where the back end steps out... Wheee!!! Tony must be tired or something. He's letting us keep up. (wheee!!!) Then taking some winding twisting roads we end up at the beginning of Lake Elizabeth Road, and Tony calls a feeding stop. Jeniffer and I gratefully run into the air conditioned Sizzler at the intersection of Lake Elizabeth and i dunno what that road was... surprisinginly, the buffet/salad bar was REALLY good. I convince Jeniffer to let me borrow her Seca II -- always wanted to ride it. :) So she perches on Huckleberry and we take off. I wonder if I remembered to tell her the brakes didnt give a lot of feel, but stopped the bike adequately.... Lake Elizabeth: Its weird seeing my bike from this view. (Hrm, a hugger would look good, and shaving that license plate holder...) I wish I had a chatterbox ("Jeniffer, roll it ON! Roll it ON!" in the straights). I get to ride Rocinante 'til San Franscquito... Hey, riding Rocinante was fun! The seating position is alittle upright and my knees were starting to bother me, but no problems flinging that thing into the corners. wheee!!!! (oh, better stop, she keeps looking in the mirrors.) We trade on San Fransquito and chase after Tony again. Something wakes up. Evil Squidgrrrl takes over and I start to chase Tony. Who of course, just goes faster. I'm feeling really good. The musics pretty hard and rocking. ~Heaven knows what a girl can do Heaven knows what you've got to prove I think I'm paranoid and complicated I think I'm paranoid, manipulate it~ and: ~The car is in the front yard, and I'm Sleeping with my clothes on Came in through the window last night And your gone~ As I'm riding, the best I've been in a while (this always sounds so familiar), the road tightens up from long fast sweepers to tighter, less visible turns. I dont slow down enough, or quickly enough, and hit a right turn and think, "hrm -- i'm a little faster then I want to be," and as I look thru the turn (and at the left coming up) and lean the bike harder, in the oncoming lane is a Big Ford Truck. A dualie. His rear wheels are over the double yellow. I target fixate on the truck, and chop the throttle. (oh, two dumb moves compounding entering the turn as fast as I did...) Bike starts to go wide. I scream at myself "Dont look at the TRUCK, you fucking bitch!" and force my head to look away and thru the turn, stepping hard on the inside peg (and sliding off the seat,) and countersteer, rolling on the throttle. I feel the rear wheel slip, "God, this would be a STUPID way to go, under the rear wheels of a dualie..." and stay on the throttle. Tyre catches, bike flicks 'round the turn, i miss the dualie. Barely time to slow down for the next turn, I grab the binders hard, the bike stands up and slows down, and I slow myself down and practice takeing each turn coming up as perfectly as I can... "well, let's not do THAT again." A bunch of dumb moves on my part. I hadnt realized that traffic had picked up, didnt realize/ wasnt paying attention to the fact the road had tightened, target fixated and chopped the throttle. The only reason I didnt hit the truck was even tho I paniced, I didnt give up and kept trying. "Look where you want to go," and Keith Code's admonishment to roll on the throttle all the way thru to tighten a turn... End San Franscquito... Then Tony takes us on a merry ride to get to route 126, as I'd asked him to show me -- then we end up in some warehouse district, and in a dead end circle... At first I thought he's missed a turn, but then I realized he wanted us to carousel around. Wheee! I wasnt looking into the center enough and began to get dizzy, but it was fun being able to see both Jeniffer and Tony ahead and behind me as we went around in circles. (I didnt think about it'til later, but I should have tried hanging off...) Jeniffer wanted to go to Cycle Gear, so I followed them to Newhall and then jumped on the 5 to head home (had a dinner appointment. :) Gayathri >-------------------------------------------------------------- gayathri@world.std.com Calamari Club #002, WSMC #158 '88 FZR400 ('gurlzbike') '98 T595 Daytona, "huckleberry" "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason." - T.S. Eliot ------- End of Forwarded Message