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Updatiness
Apr. 15th, 2012 11:20 pmLife is going well, all things considered.
On Monday we bought another motorcycle. A coworker was selling a 1998 BMW R1100R for a good price and we decided it was the right addition for us. We had long wanted to get another bike that we can both ride and had planned for that to be behind some other expenses, but opportunity knocked.
Friday my parents came over to get a mirror hung on the wall in our dining room (over the side bar.) WR said that the only thing missing was a black cat; we had ladders and mirrors on Friday the 13th. Afterwards we had dinner and, being unable to secure a decent time reservation at one restaurant or get out of work in time to get to another that gets really busy on Friday evenings, I made a reservation at a little restaurant in Durham named Four Square that we'd never patronized before. It's a bit more upscale than I expected but was quite good.
Saturday began early, due to me incorrectly reading the schedule for a group ride (it's next Saturday, and we can't go because we have other plans) so we went to Burlington, NC, then rode a while, rather aimlessly...okay, we went south on NC 49 until we reached US 64, then headed home (64 to US 15-501.) In the afternoon we went to Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, doing two-up riding on my Voyager and with the trailer. I scared WR with a few turns in the garage complex around the mall, mostly due to the fun combination of grade changes (top or bottom of ramps) that happened at bumps (raised or depressions.) Two-up riding is still an interesting experience, and that's the first time we did so with the trailer. It's one of trust - a lot of trust on both of our parts. Her part, as the passenger, is probably pretty obvious, but also that I trust her because movements she makes affect the bike. This choice of transportation proved fortuitous when we were able to score a prime parking spot that couldn't be used by any cars. It was some wasted space in an angled parking aisle where a stairwell took space. The entrance between the concrete curb and the line was about five feet, a bit wider than the trailer.
Sunday we got up early to head to Brier Creek to meet up with a women motorcyclist group for a ride to a place called Locked and Loaded in Garner, NC, for an annual festival they have. I rode the BMW and WR her ZR-7s; the BMW attracted a surprising amount of attention. We had a nice ride home by way of Falls Lake and Creedmoor. In the evening, I rode with WR to work, then met her there when we rode to dinner then home (she took the car as she was tired.)
I'm really liking this bike. It's been a long time since I've ridden anything that wasn't an inline 4-cylinder and I've forgotten what having low-end torque is like. I also realized that it means I've ridden (seriously ridden - at least hundreds of miles and at highway speeds) bikes with five different engine types - V-twin, parallel-twin, V-four, inline-four, and, now a boxer-twin.
On Monday we bought another motorcycle. A coworker was selling a 1998 BMW R1100R for a good price and we decided it was the right addition for us. We had long wanted to get another bike that we can both ride and had planned for that to be behind some other expenses, but opportunity knocked.
Friday my parents came over to get a mirror hung on the wall in our dining room (over the side bar.) WR said that the only thing missing was a black cat; we had ladders and mirrors on Friday the 13th. Afterwards we had dinner and, being unable to secure a decent time reservation at one restaurant or get out of work in time to get to another that gets really busy on Friday evenings, I made a reservation at a little restaurant in Durham named Four Square that we'd never patronized before. It's a bit more upscale than I expected but was quite good.
Saturday began early, due to me incorrectly reading the schedule for a group ride (it's next Saturday, and we can't go because we have other plans) so we went to Burlington, NC, then rode a while, rather aimlessly...okay, we went south on NC 49 until we reached US 64, then headed home (64 to US 15-501.) In the afternoon we went to Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, doing two-up riding on my Voyager and with the trailer. I scared WR with a few turns in the garage complex around the mall, mostly due to the fun combination of grade changes (top or bottom of ramps) that happened at bumps (raised or depressions.) Two-up riding is still an interesting experience, and that's the first time we did so with the trailer. It's one of trust - a lot of trust on both of our parts. Her part, as the passenger, is probably pretty obvious, but also that I trust her because movements she makes affect the bike. This choice of transportation proved fortuitous when we were able to score a prime parking spot that couldn't be used by any cars. It was some wasted space in an angled parking aisle where a stairwell took space. The entrance between the concrete curb and the line was about five feet, a bit wider than the trailer.
Sunday we got up early to head to Brier Creek to meet up with a women motorcyclist group for a ride to a place called Locked and Loaded in Garner, NC, for an annual festival they have. I rode the BMW and WR her ZR-7s; the BMW attracted a surprising amount of attention. We had a nice ride home by way of Falls Lake and Creedmoor. In the evening, I rode with WR to work, then met her there when we rode to dinner then home (she took the car as she was tired.)
I'm really liking this bike. It's been a long time since I've ridden anything that wasn't an inline 4-cylinder and I've forgotten what having low-end torque is like. I also realized that it means I've ridden (seriously ridden - at least hundreds of miles and at highway speeds) bikes with five different engine types - V-twin, parallel-twin, V-four, inline-four, and, now a boxer-twin.
