i need to practice braking.
I skidded my rear wheel in a stop again the other day. I really really need to get into the Apple parking lot some weekend morning and work on maximum braking. Maybe on Sunday I'll do that.

I'm rereading David Hough's Proficient Motorcycling. If you haven't read it, do it. Go buy one right now (or do what Peter did, just "borrow" it long enough that the loaner gives up and buys themself a new copy ;) ). It's the best book ever.

today's picture
Today's picture is of Lassen Park, with Mt. Shasta in the background, about 50 miles east of Redding. Photography © Louis Perrochon.

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It turns out that this year's ride is in Redding, California, about 250 miles north of me, from July 4-6. How could I pass that up? Rather as a spur of the moment thing, I filled out the form, wrote out a check for registration and a T-shirt, and filled out the vacation form at work the next day. The time off was approved, and plop went my registration form and money in the mailbox. Woohoo! I'm very excited.

I was hoping that Peter would be able to take the time and ride up there with me, but his work schedule is looking pretty nuts up until then. His clutch is still acting up, and frankly, I wonder if it'll even be fixed by then. :( We're going to order a new pushrod and install it, and see if that fixes the problem; basically, after we replaced his clutch plates, his hydraulic clutch lever has zero play in it at all. It starts disengaging the plates as soon as you even think about squeezing in the lever. It's like all friction zone, all the time.

Even if Peter doesn't end up making it, though, the trip is going to be a blast. Tai said she was going to check her calendar, and she might ride up to Redding with me; I haven't heard back from her for sure though. And today I heard wonderful news: another one of the women who posts to the same message board I do is also going to the Ride-In! She's from Colorado, so I'll probably just end up meeting her there (I don't think any of our routes will intersect), and I'm really looking forward to meeting her. She has a 2000 Honda VT750C, so it would be a ton of fun to ride with her. I've never ridden with a cruiser; only other sportsbikes.

I took some time last Friday and plotted out the route I expect to take. I'm purposely staying away from Highway 5 and keeping to smaller state highways. This adds about 100 miles to the trip, but I think it'll be worth it to ride through the twisties and alongside rivers and such instead of being stuck on the concrete freeway. It's ending up being about 350 miles one-way, so I figure that if I leave at around 7:00am again, I'll make it there by evening with no problem, even taking breaks along the way. The nice thing, too, is that if I get sick of the state highways at any point, or start getting tired, or whatever, I can just jump onto highway 5 and go the direct route. When I pass through Calistoga again, I'll be the furthest from Highway 5 that I'll be on the whole ride, and that'll only be 70 miles. Most of the ride north of there skirts the highway, and I'll be less than 10 miles from it. That's good to know in case I end up riding up alone.

I won't mind riding up alone, but it'd be nice to have some company. My dream is to eventually do some heavy duty travelling on a bike (whether the SVS or some future purchase, depending on when this ends up happening), and I don't want to try and bite off more than I can chew too quickly. One of the reasons that I know that I'm doing the right thing with my riding is how everything has been coming together without me even needing to push it along. For example, re-read my wanderlust entry written right after Burning Man last year. I'd totally forgotten about writing that entry until it occurred to me today that I'm already partway to achieving the dream I talked about in it. I'm already starting to do long trips where I accumulate stories and meet people and am just thrilled to be on the road. And, like I said, I haven't even really been trying. The Calistoga trip fell into my lap and I thought, "why not?" and had the time of my life. The Women on Wheels trip fell into my lap and I thought, "why not?" and I'm terribly excited to go. Someday I'd love to be able to take a month or three and just travel the country. I'm sure I will. I don't know when, I don't know with whom (if anyone), I don't know how, but I'm sure I will.

I know riding is right for me because it's the only damn thing I have any patience about. ;)