Bring out your dead! 3/15/2007
This morning, I met up with Intensecure, proud and excited owner of the “Flying Banana”. We had made arrangements the previous day to go for a ride today, to “blow away the cobwebs”, as he so aptly put it. I agreed, mainly because I had some time off from work due to me, and I decided to take it. I turned up at the cafe a little late, because I had a very sad duty to attend to in the morning. When I got to the cafe, Intensecure was waiting. He had suggested that before we went on our ride that he needed to get some proper riding gear, gloves for a start, to replace the very gay pair of Nike weight lifting fingerless gloves he was using yesterday.
I agreed, because, at this stage of my life, where bones take a long time to heal, and the body is no longer as resilient as it used to be, personal safety when riding is paramount. Both he and I agreed that we have nothing to prove as riders. Been there, done that, just missed doing jail time for it. So we ride because we choose to. We also have to, but that’s another story for another time. We rocked in to my favourite bike accessory shop in the city, a place that has been in the business of supplying riding gear to bikers for the last 20 or so years. We started with a pair of gloves for the each of us. Then I suggested that Intensecure look at getting a proper riding jacket. He found one he liked, and then I pointed out the boots to him. And he settled on a pair which suited multi-use, and wouldn’t look out of place in an office, not that he ever enters offices these days. He started cursing and swearing at me for being a bad influence on him, and I said, it’s only money, and you can’t take it with you. We both laughed at this. For reliable safety is never cheap, and life is priceless.
After getting kitted out, we headed out on the road, and towards the hill. I promised Intensecure that I wouldn’t be pushing it, which I didn’t. Much. He was still running in his bike, and didn’t know the road. I was riding Bikebike, and she’s a commuter, not a sportsbike. Although Intensecure might argue about that. We hit the first set of curves, and I could see him in my mirrors, getting to grips with the very different handling characteristics of a middleweight V-twin, as opposed to the open class boxer he previously rode. The one thing he remarked upon was the weight difference, which allowed the Flying Banana to be very nimble, and resulted in a very much later peel in point for corners than the BMW.
I had the advantage of knowing the road, from my canyon strafing last Sunday. He had the advantage of a much larger engine, and fuel injection, and tyres that weren’t just black round doughnuts decorating his rims. We took things easy. Traffic was moderate, and there were a couple of tour buses holding up long lines of cars, which meant overtaking had to be done with a certain amount of discretion.
We stopped at the midway point for a breather. I know how quickly adrenaline can build up when you’re riding, and with Intensecure having to cope with a new bike, a 4 year layoff, and an unfamiliar road, along with different unwritten road rules, I thought I would give him a chance to decompress before we pressed on. We took our helmets off, and had a short debrief. I asked about the bike, and how he was coping, and how he felt about the ride and the curves we just sliced through.
And he smiled…
Welcome back from the dead.