Sunday Ridin'

omedays, just dont start out right. It was a bad morning,
culminating in a stressful lunch and a drive home that said to me,
"ok, girl, get yer ass out of the house. and now."

pulled on the race boots, cleaned off the new smith sunglasses, found
out I still fit into my vanson jacket and geared on up. Nothing in the
tank bag but the inhaler (asthma been acting up recently), cell phone
and a neck warmer...

vroom on out, singing in my helmet (since my headfones finally died)
and head onto the Shell station. Some old guy on an old Triumph is
gassing up, but he doesnt talk to me. put in 3.5 gallons and head on
up the hill. Its 3:30, the sun is out, the air is clear, the road..

the road was empty. Two cars the entire way up, and both JUST before a
passing zone. How lucky am I? Practicing the knee to knee exercise
from Level 3 of Superbike School, I also practice late apexing and the
quick flick -- Squid noticed at the track that I'm lazy getting down
into the turns. So practice being less lazy. *wack wack wack* (~Your
really lovely, underneath it all...I'm really lucky... Underneath it
all ~)

Nice thing about tourmaster pants, its easier to slide your ass back
and forth on the seat. Nice thing about an empty tank bag, you can
ignore it and drop your elbow just right into each turn, dropping your
shoulder and head as well... hey, the view's a little different
here... (~Oh my, starry eyed surprise... Sun down to sun rise Dance
all night... dance all night to this DJ~)


The Smith sunglasses rock -- the heavy sunlight is filtered cleanly
and my eyes dont hurt. I can feel those thigh muscles working hard
each turn and for once all weekend, everything is suddenly gone.

(~You better lose yourself in the music, the moment. You own it,
you better never let it go~)

Its me, moving along in the sunlight, in the clear air humming bits of
songs as I go along, and I feel the bike's powerful thrum, rolling on
the throttle and off, the engine responding, feeling the suspension
settling and rising, feeling me in motion, smooth, all smooth and
everything is moving sooo slowly -- except the RPMs are up and the
speedo... well, its not in a legal zone at all...

The zone. :) Its been a while since I've been here. I knew things were
getting better this past track day, and riding with Russ that sunday,
but today, alone, in the cool fall air, seeing the red, bright red
leaves on the maple trees, catching flashes of gold as the sunlight
hit the mountainsides, breathing in and out (~ the trick is to keep
breathing...~)

What could be more perfect? All too soon, I'm up to Newcomb's Ranch
and stop for a bit of hot tea to warm up and look at the late arrived
Squids. (~ As I look up to the sky today, well I can see you looking
down on me, it brings a smile to my face again~) Two guys in full
leathers on a new R1 and a new GSXR750. I read Free 2 Wheel's article
on the new falco and wonder if the Suzi or the Aprilia will find its
way into my garage next season? Then an older couple on _matching_
burnt orange goldwings come out to chat with the two sportbike guys.

Russ, I thought of you and Jane for sure, but they werent YELLOW
'wings, but those neat burnt orange coloured ones that DONT look like
pumpkins.

Wait until they all leave, and gear up to head on down
myself... Catching up to the woman onthe goldwing was painful -- her
lines were nothing like mine and it was tough to pass her 'cause I
kept staring at her... finally, vroom by on a straight. Then once I
hit the Angeles Forest turn off, the cages stack up and I end up
practicing keeping myself in the one wheel track the rest of the way
down... head on home, quiet in my helmet except for the big smile.