There would appear to be those days when for one reason or another you probably shouldn't be on your bike. I have been told that everyone has them, but until today I hadn't really. Sure I've had days when the bike didn't feel right, there was nothing wrong with it, it...just..felt off. Today was off to a bad day from the start anyway, You know it's going to be one of those days when you sit down to put your boots on at 6:45, and then you have a little body jerk, open your eyes and it's 7:30. And your boots still aren't on. That was my morning.
I looked out the door and it was overcast, everything was wet, and I thought to myself, hell, it's warm enough, I'll take the bike to work. So I grabbed my chaps and threw them in the saddlebag, jumped on the bike and headed down the road for coffee and cigarettes. By the way, on a dark overcast morning, sunglasses, dark sunglasses, were probably not the brightest (no pun intended) things to have on. I stopped at the convenience store, (named so cuz you can cash your lottery tickets, buy cigarettes and get a Dunkin all in one stop, I hear they even have gasoline). I picked up my coffee and a bagel, and asked what flavors of cream cheese they had, the dude read off a list that was literally 12 flavors long. I ordered what sounded good and then was told by the girl at the register they don't offer that any more. The girl at the register told the guy waiting on me the list of flavors is on the wall behind him, no it wasn't.
Back on the bike, riding down 1-84, dark shades on a dark day and it felt like my head was up my ... well, it wasn't really with me. I was following a pickup truck and he applied his brakes and slowed down, the first thing that went through my head was... nothing, absolutely nothing, I was a complete blank, I actually looked down at my feet to see where the brake was and had to remember to use the clutch. Not really that good a thing when you are riding. The car in front of the truck pulled off and we were back up to speed. I hooked a left on 117 heading for the interstate, as I approached the reservoir area I noticed something about 40 feet ahead in the road, and immediately... (brain fog) I drove right across it. It turned out to be a rag or something, but my brain just couldn't figure out how to move the bike sideways in the lane.
The rest of the ride was fine, maybe I was still asleep or maybe the remnants of the head cold were still fogging the brain, but, what ever it was, I probably should have taken the car to work.
Oh, yeah, I pulled in at work to park it, It was like I was running in auto drive, Clutch in, down shift, clutch, brake, pull up and park. drop the kickstand, drop the clutch....oops.
Ever put your bike on the stand and just let go of the clutch? There's a big clank sound, sort of a clunking clank sound as the bike (in gear) jumps ahead and stalls There is also a slight...lurching feeling.
I should have brought the car.
klay
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