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I think that based on what I've said here and with my videos on youtube, it's a well documented fact that I ride my motorcycle to and from work, daily, to save on diesel fuel for my truck. Having said that, "BOY DO I HAVE A STORY TO TELL YOU!"
Basically I was cruising down HW 29 as usual, doing around 60 or 65 mph for the 45 to 60 minute trip. I usually run Pandora thru my phone, and up into my ears with ear buds, but this time I just wore my ear plugs instead, wanting some calmness in the morning ride. This morning was the second morning it was super cold, a sign of more to come I'm afraid. I was fully dressed in everything that I can put on. Gloves with liners, winter and rain liner in my jacket, sweat pants and water pants over my blue jeans, and my new neck cover that my brother bought me for my birthday. It's a lot of put on but it all does it's job in keeping the 60 mph wind and cold away from your skin. I actually work up a light sweat by the end of the ride, to be honest with you. My co-workers would never believe that though.
Anyways, I'm buzzing down the road, and I see a situation in front of me that will forever live in infamy in my tiny little brain. I see a car and what seems to be either a moped or scooter pull out in front of me, quite a ways up the road. No biggie. I know that I'll catch them pretty quick, so I roll out of the throttle and let the bike start to coast, and sure enough, I'm all over them within another 30 seconds. I quickly notice that the 2 wheeled vehicle is a Scooter, and this guy is dressed for the cold too. He has a thick Carhardtt jacket on, with the hood blowing in the wind under his helmet, and it looks like blue jeans and just regular boots. He is riding this Scooter, huddled down, trying to protect himself from the wind with this tiny little windshield.
The car in front of both of us is only doing about 45 mph in a 55 mph zone. We both get anxious for the guy to either speed up to the speed limit or for us to start looking at ways to pass him, just as the left blinker comes on as the guy dives into a side street. Thank God! That would have been a long 20 miles for the rest of the way to work. Right as he's turning, my guy nails that Scooter for all it's worth, and shows me assholes and elbows as the engine is screaming down the road. I grin as I let him get a head start, so that I can blow by him at Mach II and let him hear the 1400cc scream back at him. He's up the road quite a ways, and my right wrist gets twitchy, so I crank on it and pop 3rd and then 4th gear in, and I make an appointment to take that last name from him. This is where things get a little confusing, to say the least.
I'm blasting down the road at what I consider a high rate of speed, and I'm not catching him as quickly as I had previous expected. FINALLY, his tail light starts to grow as I slowly pull him back to me, like a huge catfish on the end of a line. Things are blurry in my peripheral now, but the bike is running smooth and sounds great so I keep twisting the throttle. He's running the right side white line strong, which is pretty typical of Scooters and Mopeds, so I pull up even with his back tire to my front tire, on the left side. The next stretch of road is straight and is where I typically pass slower moving cars because it gives me what I consider the safest area to do so. Right as I'm about to go for it, something just didn't feel right. It felt like I was already at my passing speed, as we were riding even, almost side by side. It felt almost like the bike didn't have much left to give me. Sure enough, I glance down at my speedometer, and WE ARE DOING 75 MPH, CRUISING!!!
WHAT??? Okay, hold the phone. Nobody told me that Scooters could go that fast! What the hell, man? Did you know about this? A Scooter? REALLY?
So, long story short, I never passed him. I have a personal limit of 80 mph, and I just don't feel comfortable going over that on a motorcycle, so we just rode on down the road, cruising, together, hand in hand, at 75 mph, until he took a right turn about 10 miles later. I mean, what is the deal? How does that happen.
So that was my lesson learned on a Tuesday morning. Scooters. Never underestimate them, because they can whoop your ass, if need be. And I know that he is probably getting around 50 miles per gallon or some crap, but I just would not feel comfortable going that fast on that small of a bike, with only 13" tricycle tires, okay. I'll take the sacrifice in fuel mileage for not only comfort, but safety in riding the bike that I do. It was just a crazy morning, and I felt like sharing it with the world, so here I am.
In another act of randomness, this is what I seen in our local Walmart at 10:30 pm, on a Sunday night, sometime over the summer.
Yep. That's a lady. And yep, she's walking her full grown Pitbull mix. That's where we're at, on a random night, in Anderson, SC.
Thanks for reading guys! To go back to my website, click here!
Take us home, Lzzy.
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