Why I've ridden oh, ten miles or so this year

[tommystinson]

This sucks. I rode down route 46 a few miles then back again, probably back in April. As a general rule, I try to live my life and make decisions that won't engender despair when I look back. I'm not always successful, but I think I do pretty well with it, all things considered. Yet I've been saying the serenity prayer to myself every time I see the Falcon in the garage this year. All while the little voices in my head are spitefully whispering all the circumstances that seem to have eliminated so many opportunities to ride. So here's at least a partial list: 1) New job in January. Thought it was a great opportunity, turned out to be a wretched experience with zero appreciation of personal contribution and a supervisor who was actually looking for a slave and/or indentured servant. 2) New job in July. It's turning out to be the opportunity that I thought the previous job was. But there's travel involved, my scheduled work hours are 7-5 and often exceed a fifty hour week. 3) The house. Don't get me wrong, my wife and I love our house. But every project swells and grows and mutates into something much more involved than intended. It's like "The Blob". Can't forget the yard, the landscaping, fixing the mower after trying to cut a large rock in two, etc. 4) The car. Nothing is perfect, but my wife's 2005 Scion TC had a water pump go. There's another weekend down. Two other weekends went by while I removed the brake calipers, cleaned up the castings and painted them. They look great, but where the !@#$% did my two weekends go!? 5) The beer. As I consume large amounts of adult beverages while working on projects and getting depressed about not riding I wind up ensuring that I can't ride. And yes, 6) the Falcon. Needs new battery. Bought an AGM online because nobody carries them locally. Chalk up another 10 days of kickstand time. Needed a new rear brake piston. Call it 7 days of collecting dust in the garage. And now here I sit, typing my tales of lamentation and woe. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change things I can...

[randy]

Tommy,

The best therapy is right there resting on it's kickstand. Get crackin' on those repairs and get ridin' as soon as you can.

[mro]

The best therapy

What Randy said


mro

[tommystinson]

I'm already on it My wife is out of town for a week, which means I'm relieved of dinner prep duty. On goes the caliper, then a quick ( but hopefully halfway decent) paint job. I guess it was hitting me pretty hard as it was my fifth anniversary on the forum last Sunday.

[Incubus]

That's why I like to keep a couple bikes in reserve. I always have SOMETHING running....

Patrick

[randy]

Ya know, Tom, you can ride without paint! It may have more aerodynamic drag, but it'll stiil go!

[Jerry]

I can relate, that was the way it was for me this spring. Tranny fix, then bent valves, got the bike running 2 days before leaving for Yosemite. On return, oil leak fix. Commute with SWMBO 3 days a week, other days always seem to have chores that required the car. Bike has sat a lot this year. With gas over $4.00 per gallon I've not taken the recreational riding trips on weekends as I have done in the past.

Net result is that I've put fewer miles on the XJ this year (around 3,800 miles so far) than I have for a while. My hope is that conditions will improve this fall and I'll be able to do more commuting on the bike than has been the case so far. Not as much fun as recreational riding, but at least it gets me on the bike.

[randy]

As the gas cost got higher, I began commuting more on the bike. Not as much as I'd like, though. It's a delicate balance between weather and meetings. If I have to go into Manhattan for a meeting I need wheels and there is no easy way to park a bike there, most garages won't have 'em unless they're monthly parkers. There are some free spaces there, but no way I'm leaving my bike on the street in NYC!

[Incubus]

I ride a motorcycle to work everyday that I am not traveling. That's a minimum of three days a week, 25 miles one way. Parking is one of the best reasons to ride. Here in Austin you can park a motorcycle pretty much anywhere it doesn't impede traffic. I park on sidewalks, on striped off areas of parking lots, even on the street between small cars at meters. I have never gotten a ticket although I work in the heavily patrolled downtown area, and I get better spots even than handicapped drivers.

It's pretty sweet.

Patrick

[trbig]

I vote on the "Quit your sivelling!!" lol In the time it took you to type up your rant... you could have been several miles down the road! Go get parts with the bike.. Hell, go get BEER with the bike. Any excuse to keep the bearings working and the oil and grease moving a bit. A five mile rountrip on a bike...while not a road trip... is still time on the bike!

Now get your azz from behind the computer screen... and get it behind a windscreen!


Tod

[mason79]

Re: Why I've ridden oh, ten miles or so this year

Originally posted by tommystinson
This sucks. I rode down route 46 a few miles then back again, probably back in April. As a general rule, I try to live my life and make decisions that won't engender despair when I look back. I'm not always successful, but I think I do pretty well with it, all things considered. Yet I've been saying the serenity prayer to myself every time I see the Falcon in the garage this year. All while the little voices in my head are spitefully whispering all the circumstances that seem to have eliminated so many opportunities to ride. So here's at least a partial list: 1) New job in January. Thought it was a great opportunity, turned out to be a wretched experience with zero appreciation of personal contribution and a supervisor who was actually looking for a slave and/or indentured servant. 2) New job in July. It's turning out to be the opportunity that I thought the previous job was. But there's travel involved, my scheduled work hours are 7-5 and often exceed a fifty hour week. 3) The house. Don't get me wrong, my wife and I love our house. But every project swells and grows and mutates into something much more involved than intended. It's like "The Blob". Can't forget the yard, the landscaping, fixing the mower after trying to cut a large rock in two, etc. 4) The car. Nothing is perfect, but my wife's 2005 Scion TC had a water pump go. There's another weekend down. Two other weekends went by while I removed the brake calipers, cleaned up the castings and painted them. They look great, but where the !@#$% did my two weekends go!? 5) The beer. As I consume large amounts of adult beverages while working on projects and getting depressed about not riding I wind up ensuring that I can't ride. And yes, 6) the Falcon. Needs new battery. Bought an AGM online because nobody carries them locally. Chalk up another 10 days of kickstand time. Needed a new rear brake piston. Call it 7 days of collecting dust in the garage. And now here I sit, typing my tales of lamentation and woe. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change things I can...

well you are a good writer... and don't worry you'll work it all out, there's always the next day to do it right, what ever is right for you.

[wingnut]

I have a strict rule. No beer before ride. Thats not to say I haven't decided to have a cold adult beverage, say after cutting the lawn or some other chore, that has kept me off the bike but it was a choice I made. We all have to live with the choices we make. So make the ride choice and get out there! There's always time for a brew when you get home and you are getting the road dirt and bugs off your baby

[madmax-im]

go ride

Tommy...all that you wrote abt is water under the bridge...the only thing that truly matters is the here and now...here you are now go ride

[xsilerating]

Right on.... er, Ride on

Originally posted by wingnut
I have a strict rule. No beer before ride... / /the choices we make. So make the ride choice and get out there! There's always time for a brew when you get home and you are getting the road dirt and bugs off your baby

Couldn't have said it better myself

[egsols]

If it runs good and is safe.... ride...cosmetics and other crap can wait till winter.

Had to pick up a few things from the hardware store...10 minute trip in truck...nope....I'll take the bike...go to the other store at the farrrrr end of town....9 year old son on the back. Took the long way there and back....we were out for over an hour.

The lawn only grew a thousandth of a inch.....the deck hardly faded.......but the smile on my kid's face and his laugh when I laid rubber in the garage, locking the back brake, coming home..is something you can't ever get back.