Various rides

With the weather warming I have spent the day on the motorcycle at regular intervals, every one to two weeks.  These rides have been spent alone or with others.  Then during the week I carry within flashes of memory - the light, the speed - which nourishes me as another life lived inside the usual one, sustaining it.  

These rides frequent the golden triangle of course:

And Maldon, with Em. There was a vintage hill climb event on and we wandered about the old motorcycles, such as this one:

Speaking of Em, after much hard work and scrimping and saving, her bike was finally sorted, road worthied, and I rode it to Vicroads and it was registered.  That night she finally, after five months owning a non-running bike, and having her learner's license, Em took her first ride on her Suzuki GN250.

We rode around empty back streets, up and down, while Em gained experience at slow speeds.  We then extended the loop to another street running up hill. It had a high camber.  Em did a u-turn and...dropped the bike.

Most rider's know that this is a classic learner's accident, a slow speed drop from which riders walk away with little more than a bent mirror. Unless they are unlucky.  Em was unlucky.  After all these months of waiting, and only half an hour of riding, the bike fell at the perfect angle and fractured her talus (ankle) in three places. She is in a cast, housebound, and will take three months to recover, with potential long-term pain.

Regardless she intends to get back on the bike as soon as reasonable.  A number of the medical professionals she has dealt with have been riders themselves, and have challenged her to not be discouraged about bikes. As they say, many people suffer such fractures while walking through the house.

Speaking of people who have gone down, broken their ankle, and recovered, in the last year, last Tuesday I went riding with Norm, fellow member of the Royal Enfield Club of Australia. We had a great time, trundling along at a gentle 80kph which pleased us both, and talking bikes over coffees. Norm is a wonderful riding companion.

Norm would not have a photo taken of him, but here I am, fighting off a bee.

My bike was not running well, and would not start the next morning. At 80,000km, this is the first time that the W650 has ever had a problem. It push started straight away, but prior to bumping it I checked the spark plugs, and saw this.

Obviously I am worried about the problem, especially with summer coming. I suspect there is a vacuum leak, and will ride on Prime sometime in the next day or two to see if they return to their usual tan. Thank goodness that the bike did not start, otherwise I might not have discovered this.

My next post documents the beginning of a new adventure.