Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

Apr 15, 2003

15 April 2003

Filed in Blog

Miles Today: 14.2
Miles This Month: 50.9
Miles This Year: 83.7

I went out for a fast and furious ride with Don this afternoon. We got our tax stuff done, signed, ready. I had left it to the last minute because I’m so depressed about the whole thing: no income for 18 months, to all intents and purposes. Don has a short fuse when it comes to all things beaurocratic, so it was not a terribly comfortable ride on back. I’m still aching from the jolt as we went over some big bump - oof! But we did get to see some new parts of Fremont, and went over the Dumbarton Bridge which is a lot of fun and I’ve only done it a couple of times before.

Got home; had tea; went and had a nap.

Got home, looked at weather forecast, it said it was going to rain. 50% chance. I was feeling sorta feeble, but I decided I was going to take my rain jacket and go anyway. I can’t fit into my old rain trousers, but it won’t take much weight loss to get into those, unlike my leathers. I think a pair of chaps will be in my future, as I need to lose far too much weight to see myself in leathers this summer.

So, for the first time I set out before the commute was done. It wasn’t heavy traffic, but it was heavy enough! I went to the post office first, and was surprised to see a lane coned off with workers helping out by taking your stamped return and adding it to the big tub of tax returns. Sort of like a post office drive-through. I had never seen that before, and I got an extra cool grin for being a girl on a bike. :-)

Then I went back to Central Expressway and rode on that right at the speed limit, and I took Rengstorff. The top is a hill and I got to play with my friction zone and completely forgot until later than it’s also possible to hold the bike still with your rear brake/foot, just like they taught me in England. It’s not a technique that is used much here, people expect to have both feet down at junctions, but I’ll remember next time.

Then a bit on El Camino, and a right turn into the appropriate car park, a short amble, and a slightly crooked parking in a space which already held two bikes. This was promising!

Went in, there was a private room at the back with lots of people already there, primarily women. (Naturally.) Hung around for a while listening, sat next to Carolyn, and got a drink; didn’t want to eat. After a while I started getting introductions and the like, and listened, then started chatting. It was very friendly and welcoming, and I was glad I came.

There were a few points of business, then the guest speaker, Amy who started Friction Zone magazine, came in; we all introduced ourselves, and then she told her bit, and the rest was a sort of open conversation about motorcycle safety, techniques, and the like. Lots of laughter and noise. I was surprised when someone mentioned I’d published a book too, apparently people read my Web sites :: grin ::. I was delighted to find others who had the same issues as me - whether to drive at the speed limit, or what; having trouble leaving the house.

Afterwards, we went outside for photographs and ended up hanging around the bikes outside, people sitting on others’ bikes, etc etc. It was really cool - the sort of cool you get in a large, friendly group. Eventually a truck came and couldn’t get round us, so we all had to leave, and I left in a really good mood. I think I really will get the support and encouragement I need from this club. :-)

The ride home was lovely, and if I’d known where to go I could have gone on and on. The sky was clouded but with my two jackets on I was toasty, and the moon was peeking out. All in all, a great evening.