A Statue Day...

After getting the bugs off the front of the HitchHiker and putting the ReJex on, I rewarded myself with a great ride through the Hills. Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue. Today was a "statue day." As I pulled up to the stop sign for the turn onto my favorite twisty road here, a guy with a yellow and black sport bike roared by. He was wearing black and yellow leathers and a yellow helmet. I know some of you will say this is juvenile and macho, but I throttled up the V-Strom and turned to follow the crotch-rocket. His bike was bigger, more horsepower, and a sportier suspension. BUT, this road is full of twisties, road signs that look like a portrait of a snake, and a plethora of 25 mph curves. And no traffic. I got close enough to let him see me coming over a hill... yeah, his head turned to check the mirrors and he accelerated. Then, it was just some cat and mouse, with the V-Strom consistently gaining. By the time we approached the T at the end of the road, he had backed off the throttle. He stopped at the stop sign, put his kick stand down and took off his helmet. He said, "I think something was dragging on my bike. Oh, and you can ride!" I flipped up my helmet so he could see that I was about 30 years his senior. "Thanks, that was a lot of fun." We turned different directions; he was heading to the highway, I was staying on the back roads. Now, where's that minivan?

The V-Strom is classified as a dual purpose bike, but definitely geared towards road riding. A lot of V-Strom owners consider them "adventure sport touring bikes." I just think it's agile and fun. Having owned mostly big touring or sport touring bikes, this is a departure. It doesn't have the staccato growl of my last BMW, nor the unique baratone rumble of the Harleys... this is more of a tenor. But lots of torque + light weight = tons of fun.

I ran through the back roads, seeing very little traffic. Then into Keystone, up past Mt. Rushmore, along a great road to Hill City, then back through the famous Keystone Y wood bridge, through the Hills, and back "home."

Joan had Izzy out on the leash, chairs set up on the patio, and Radio Margaritaville on the satellite radio. We sat out on the picnic table and chopped pieces of PVC to make sewer hose risers... I did the chops while Joan put on the caps and Ts. Kinda like Tinker-Toys for grown ups. We don't need this here, since the utilities are set up very nicely, but I know it will come in handy. We finished the project in time to put stuff away as the late afternoon thunderstorm clouds rolled in.

And some people wonder what we do all day.