Well I haven’t had much of a chance to go riding lately. With the birth of the baby and moving, I haven’t had a whole lot of time for other stuff. I’m sure if I were single I’d have other priorities, but after over eleven years of marriage and now two kids, I’ve learned which battles are worth fighting and which ones are not. The ones you can’t win are not worth it. I choose to save my energy for the ones I have a chance of winning. Let’s face it, two months of down time, looking at the big picture, is a small price to pay for a little peace and a few hot meals…
When you have a three-year-old, pre-ride inspections become more important than ever before. When I’m out in the garage, doing anything at all, Eric MUST join me. His one and only task is to work on any of my bikes. If I leave an 11mm wrench on the floor, he’ll find the only 11mm bolt on my Suzuki and attempt to remove it. He loves to use hollow axle bolts as screwdriver storage cubbies. For the longest time The Rookie had an unusual rattle in the exhaust of his CB500. He discovered three 16-penny nails in his exhaust pipe. We know that this was Eric’s doing because we saw using the nails to fix The Rookie’s bike. Yes, we should’ve known…
Why is it that we continually search for more riding buddies so we can go riding more often, then we go less because it’s so hard to coordinate with everyone? About a year ago I made the decree that if anyone planned a big trip, it should be planned for the third weekend of the month and that we should all try to keep that weekend open for riding. If anyone couldn’t make it, too bad they’d wait until next month. I thought this would make it simple and make it obvious that we weren’t purposely trying to exclude anyone. I got an immediate response from everyone, agreeing that it was a good idea. Then immediately after that, Pinhead planned a trip for the first weekend of the month. That was the end of that idea. Hey Pinhead, was that a hint…
As I sit here writing this it’s midnight, I think of Pinhead, Conehead and The Rookie sitting around the campfire at our usual campsite near the Rubicon Trail. I missed this year’s annual trip because of the new house, new baby, visiting relatives and a somewhat bitter wife (she’s not normally bitter) who is still recovering from her c-section. My thoughts are of drinking Gordon Biersch, listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd and staring at the stars. Then I realize that I’m sitting in my backyard drinking Gordon Biersch, listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd and staring at the stars while those old lazy farts are probably already asleep. Who’s really better off? Don’t bother answering that…
Now that I have a real (two-car) garage I feel that I must fill it. I want a pair of jet skis, a pair of snowmobiles and a small boat for lake fishing. However, I must ask myself why. I don’t go riding nearly as much as I want and if I had those things I probably wouldn’t go riding more. I doubt I’d ever use them though…
