Her first ride

[planedick]

Since buying this old used up XS11, I have been trying to get the SO on it for a ride. She has never ridden before, doesn't even know how to ride a bicycle, and scared to death of motorcycles. This Sat. (7-2-05) I got her on it and we set out for a short ride. Within 30 mins she said she liked it! The ride was going to be a short 50 mi run, but it turned into a 6 hour 300 mi adventure on freeways, mountain roads and beach towns. We went through Santiago Canyon to Laguna Beach, PCH down to San Juan Capistrano, freeway to San Diego and back to SJC, then Ortega Hwy to Lake Elsinore and freeway back home. Since this was her first ride, I would give her the "Iron butt award". Near the top of the mountain pass on Ortega Hwy we had to sit on the road in hot afternoon sun for over an hour while the fire dept, hwy patrol and forest service cut some guy out of his car that went over the side and put him in a rescue helicopter for the trip to the hospital. Ortega Hwy is a favorite MC ride and on weekends there are hundreds of MC's going up and down the hwy. Lots of curves and hills with favorite stops along the way with parking lots full of MC's. Now I'm afraid that there will be little riding solo anymore.

[Ken Talbot]

That's the way it starts!

SWMBO rode on the back of Tsunami with me two or three times, then came to the realization that she'd see a lot more from the front seat. I wasn't about to ride behind, so we lined her up for the full MSF course. We started her off on her own little Yamaha 200 . After a season, moved her up to an XJ 650 . She rode the XJ to Sturgis in '98 and that was enough to convince her that she still needed something a bit bigger. Now she rides Purple Reign , her own 'H. She also really likes riding Black Ice around because it is so much more nimble than Purple Reign. With any luck, you'll be back to riding solo in no time, with SO also solo on her own wheels...

[planedick]

Her ride...

Well, I don't know about her own bike. I heard it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks and since she's 56 and I'm 65 I figure it's best to not try to push it. It doesn't take many hours on the bike to satisfy her longing to ride for quite some time. Yesterday was enough to make her complain about her buns being numb and I'm sure she won't want go for a ride for some time. LOL I happend to mention something about a Reno run and she began shaking her head and saying no, no, no, but adding "You can go if you want". I did the cross country once and just love long rides and surely would qualify for the Iron Butt association. Up until the late 70's I had owned a long list of MC and went on many a long ride on the west coast. We have several nice canyon runs around here, some lead to the coast, some to valleys and some to the mountains. Lots of places for a good ride. I'm lucky I guess.

[strom]

I put my SWMBO on my ex MZ 250. Explained how things work, she revved the hell out of it, dropped the clutch, landed on her ass as the bike did a wheelie, somehow managed to miss all the cars in the street and landed on the side near a dumpster.
I didnt know whether to laugh my ass off, then pick up the girl and then the bike, or first the bike, then the girl, then laugh.... anyway, she's still riding in the back.

LP