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blues2cruise wrote:All kidding aside, I heard dr_bar talking to 2 Valkeyrie owners. He told them that although he had been riding for over 30 years, he considered me to be a better rider than he. He told them that I out corner him on the twisty roads.

Nothing to be embarrassed about, it's just a statement of facts. I know my limitations and you've surpassed me in skills... I will now bow to the master.... or is that mistress??

blues2cruise wrote: I think one thing that has really helped me to come this far in 1-1/2 years is that I stuck to my guns and didn’t let people push me beyond my ability and skill level. Greatness does not happen overnight.
Living by the philosophy of “RIDE YOUR OWN RIDE”, has helped me have fun and stay safe.

Absolutely Blues! That is a fantastic philosophy and you are an excellent example of it. You've gone on some pretty amazing rides so far and I wish you all the best in all the ones to come and in your upcoming October 2 week trip. Oh, and congrats on hitting the 20,000 on your bike!

Friday, August 18, 2006

My morning ride to work.....and the mystery man

Something interesting happened this morning. Something that showed me that there is camaraderie among motorcyclists….regardless of what you ride…..even if they are strangers to you.

I was patiently making my way in the line of traffic toward the light at Marine Way. Just as I accelerated to move ahead to make the light, someone from the left turn lane suddenly cut in front of me without the benefit of signals.
I braked hard and let them get a bit ahead of me before I accelerated to the corner for my turn. The driver of the car had made their turn and went into the passing lane going only about 70kmh. (The speed is 80kmh).
I pulled onto the highway and passed in the slow lane going about 90.

Then I did something very immature.

As I passed that driver, I beeped my pathetic Yamaha horn to catch her attention and then I gave her a leather clad finger as I went by.

When I was about a couple of blocks ahead of that driver, I signaled and moved into the passing lane. I was planning on taking the left exit, so I needed to get in that lane. Suddenly, I heard this frantic honking coming up behind me. The driver that had cut me off to whom I subsequently gave the leather clad finger was rocketing towards me from behind at an alarming rate of speed. Although I was getting close to the exit, I figured I better get out of the way. I signaled that I was going to change lanes, but as I was about to move over, the wacko driver pulled into the slow lane….again with no signals…..and sped up beside me. As she went by, she looked me square in the eye and I could see the crazed expression on her face. She was smiling a maniacal smile as she went by. At that point I chose not to engage. I recognized potential trouble. She sped past me and pulled in front of with mere inches to spare. Of course then I raised my fist and the finger just somehow pointed up!

In my mirror I could see a motorcyclist about a block behind me in the slow lane. I guess he had seen what had transpired from the beginning. As he came along beside me, he gestured at the car and pointed his finger at her. I nodded yes.

He then sped past me, and caught up to her and pulled in right in front of her, forcing her to brake. He then gave her fist shaking and a finger and then he moved back into the slow lane.
She then got into the left turning lane. I don’t know if that was her plan all along, but I prefer to think that she got scared off by the fact that there was now another biker on the scene. When I saw her go into the left turning lane, I decided to go a different route to work.
The other biker was stopped at the red light and as I pulled up beside him, I gave him a wave of thanks. When the light turned green we set off together for a block but then he turned right probably on his way to work and I kept going straight.

Whoever you are, the mystery man in black on the black sport bike…I thank you.

What a nut job lady! That's why I don't even bother to flash them the finger anymore, it's not worth thier retaliation. Im glad you made it to your destination safe.

I really enjoy your blog Blues keep it up!

Thanks ,Sweet Tooth. I try to keep my hands to myself, too. There was something about her that just seemed to bring it out of me.
Maybe I've been driving in the city too long. I'd love to be able to find a job somewhere quiet and slow moving and get away from this craziness.

blues2cruise wrote: Maybe I've been driving in the city too long. I'd love to be able to find a job somewhere quiet and slow moving and get away from this craziness.

Amen!

Careful, Blues. Ya never know which crazy-a$$ cager didn't take their meds this morning.....

jstark47 wrote:Careful, Blues. Ya never know which crazy-a$$ cager didn't take their meds this morning.....

No kidding. Today was my day off and I didn't even leave my place until 3.
I went for a leisurely ride to meet dr_bar for coffee and cheesecake and then after we went our separate ways, I had a nice ride through a quiet area with a slow moving winding road.
Then I got my tripod and did some "self portraits" of me on my bike.

Apparently there are some who still don't realize I am a woman, so I may just have to post a pic. Maybe in the artsy bikes.

blues2cruise wrote:Apparently there are some who still don't realize I am a woman, so I may just have to post a pic. Maybe in the artsy bikes.

You’d think the avatar makes it kinda obvious……

blues2cruise wrote:It's entitled "headlights". I think it's quite artsy.

Daa-aamn, Blues!! R u gonna leave that one on the server for awhile, or should I save it to my local drive?

There is along story behind being able to actually have the photo taken and actually posting it for the world to see.

I suffered a lot of sexual harrassment in the past and even my own ex hubby was so jealous of his co-workers even seeing my legs, that he used to make comments to me in the form of disparaging remarks so that I woud feel bad about myself.
And of course, I believed it. I went through a phase where I believed that I was unattractive, and had to hide my body. I went for years and never wore a dress or shorts. Always long dark pants.
Anyway, I finally left him. Although it was a difficult thing to do with five year old in tow and no job, but I knew if I stayed I would wither away.

After I moved out, I began to find that men did indeed find me attractive.
I then had to put up with unwanted attention. A couple of times I had to go to a boss to get help with the situation just to get a couple of men to leave me alone.
Sigh......I was born with blonde wavy hair.....sometimes total strangers would come up and touch my hair...Ooohh, baby.....

At one point, I got so withdrawn from all the unwanted attention. I wanted to hide myself. I cut my hair off..really, really short. I started wearing big baggy sweaters and skirts to my ankles.

It was a long process and with the help of some counselling and some very good friends I gradually started to come out of my shell.

I had let my hair grow again, but I was so hot this summer, I had to get it cut. I dug out my bikini and thought it might be fun to take a "saucy" picture for someone in a riding club who happened to think I'm a guy. Our riding club has a forum and memebrs all over the place. This particular member took it for granted I'm a guy. So-o-o-o-o-, I showed him I'm not.

For me to first actually do the photo and then to post it, is a huge step in peeling off the layers (no pun intended) of self consciousness and shyness.
Of course, learning to ride and getting better at it all the time did wonders for my self confidence.

This was the first one....notice how anonymous I stayed with the helmet on....

Then I found a more discreet place to play with my tripod and camera and voila....


I wonder what that youngster thinks of 55 year olds now.