Time…
Time… That was the last piece I was working on. Some how, it got forgotten and lost with the passing of… well you know what. Today was… interesting. At midnight, I was in Seattle coming back from my latest IKEA run. At 02:00 I was stopped on I-5, waiting for… something… I don’t know, the Gods of traffic and construction to let me pass through. I finally made it back to the woman’s place after 3. Unload, then straight to bed.
Around 10, I was awake. I commented that we needed to go for a ride today. The last week was hellish for both of us, for different reasons. Anyway, a comment was made about going to the coast, so we did. We were saddled up on the FJR by 11:30. I stopped to score fuel out in North Plains, my old stomping grounds… The trek across the coastal range was easy enough. Having another ear infection made it all the more entertaining. I keep trying to hide the discomfort from the woman. She doesn’t really need to know. It just is what it is. Pain. Occasional blood. Basically, the status quo for me. I refuse to stay home and sit on my ass, just because my body isn’t in optimal condition. At least everything felt fine first thing in the morning. So, we rode.
We stopped in Tillamook and separated. She went to the Farmers’ Market. I went looking for Trask Mountain Cycles. We regrouped about 30 minutes later. Then off again. This time we headed south on 101 to pick up the south end of the Three Capes Loop. I was thinking we would stop in Pacific City at the Pelican Pub. We stopped and waited 45 minutes to get a table. The food was good, but the BS wasn’t worth the effort. Back on the bike, we headed north. Traffic was insane. Every 200 yards, someone would slam on their brakes. After almost tagging a truck and the woman slamming into me, I decided the loop run was a bust. We took Sand Lake road back to 101 and turned our attentions to simply getting back to Portland in one piece. The trip over was more entertaining, spirited riding, I guess. Traffic flowed along a 10 over the speed limit. I moved through the traffic as needed and made an effort to clear out before we got to the real twisties. 35 mph corners at 70, toes dragging as we climbed up through the Wilson River valley toward Browns Camp and the Coastal Range summit. Somewhere along the way and Audi caught up to us. I never even saw it close on us as I was focused on a particularly fun segment of road. I knew he was pushing harder than I wanted to two-up. I tried to let him through in the last passing zone as we summated the range, but he stayed on my left rear quarter. Once over the top, we railed through the curves pushing 80. The road was resurfaced last year, so the corners are much, much better. And this was how we returned to the Willamette Valley. I would pass a slower car, the Audi would follow. I would speed up, still followed. I would slow down, still he followed. Argh.
Finally, I hit the last passing zone before the valley. We sprinted past a pick-up and a Camero. Immediately, I dropped back into the right lane and slowed down to 60. The Audi STILL stayed on my ass… That last one must have given him the right message, because he pulled around and flew past me. I resumed my pace and watched his taillights. The rest of the ride was boring and uneventful until… There was construction going into the tunnels. I had already slowed down to under 35 mph (in a 50), when the car in front of me slammed on its brakes for no apparent reason. WTF? I had enough room to stop, but I pointed the bike to the center lane just in case. The woman again slammed into me, as we slowed much faster than either of us expected. Hmm…
Not a good day out on the highway.
We got back home without any other incidents, but it didn’t thrill me to have two hard stops in one ride. I think we only had one hard stop on our 5 day trip to Canada. Why 2 in one afternoon? Am I that out of it or is everyone driving like a Looney?
Notes:
FJR: New speedo @ 3591 miles. The old one had a software bug associated with the instant average fuel mileage display. The new display already has over 500 miles on it. The new color matches Yamaha top case is on order. It needs an oil change.
DL: I don’t know. It needs an oil change so I haven’t been riding it much lately. I still haven’t taken care of the Corbin saddle. The woman doesn’t really like it. The leather finish is really slick and we both slide around on it. I guess it will have to go. “It can be fun to slide around, but not at 80 miles per hour on the tarmac,†so saith the woman. It has over 10k miles on it.
YZF: Runs fine. Just like it always has. MY hands are going numb most morning by the time I get to work. It needs to go as well. It has just under 26k miles on it.
PR5: My car needs an oil change too. Maybe I will trade it off. I have been thinking about getting a pick-up for the last year or so. Now that I have a ‘real’ job… This evening, I read a few online reviews. The Nissan Frontier NISMO 4×4 looks interesting. The Mazda has just over 75k miles on it.
Music: I scored a few more CDs tonight. The latest Paul Oakenfold album is thumping through my little H/K laptop speakers as I type. I picked up a couple Shreikback discs, a Iron Maiden collection, the Run Lola Run soundtrack, some Berlin, the new Def Lep, Dream Theater, and a semi-old Deep Purple.
It’s after midnight… Time to crash.
