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Thursday 3 April 2008

First ride of the year

Lured by the welcoming spring light and decent temperature (cca. 10oC) last week on Saturday I finally decided to take out of it’s winter shelter my trusted travel companion. The GS’s engine purred into motion at the first push of the starter, after, in the most rigorous German style, completed all the preliminary checks accompanied by soft “shirrs” and flashing symbols and lights in the instruments console. I felt it happy to come out of the 5 month or so retirement, even though the place it wintered was cozy and some furniture and a couple of bicycles kept it company.

Trying to avoid the havoc brought to our roads by the upcoming NATO summit, I headed east, cutting through a rather strong and annoying north wind, on my way to the sea. I don’t know if being an Aquarius has something to do with this but I always loved and felt almost happy for no other apparent reason than being close to a large water surface. Be it large lake, wide river, inner sea or mighty ocean, wide stretches of water had a soothing and exalting effect on me. So, NATO summit induced road blocks or not, it was almost obvious that my instincts would take me on the first trip of the year to the sea shore, so let me stop blaming all on politics.

The entire morning was under the “take it easy” disposition so by not rushing anything, around 11am I was waving my way out of the city. Not even 50km into the trip a car that drove behind me for the last 5 minutes or so while we were both doing about 150km/h, went past me so I could see on the front passenger’s seat the wife of a buddy who since I told him about the journey I will embark on insisted I shouldn’t leave before introducing him to my new bike, as he didn’t had the chance to see yet. So here were two good things: by chance I had the opportunity to show the guy my Beemer and also got to stick the iPod’s headphones in my ears before putting my helmet back on. So I waved them to stop (as they could not possibly recognize me under the full face ski mask I was wearing under the helmet and sun visor) and we had a few pleasant moments on the side of the road, time I tried to act cool about their (otherwise well deserved) praise of the bike

Because I mentioned helmets, I have to point out that this was also the first time I wore my new Schuberth C2 helmet. I have read good things about the brand as well as the model, I asked on a couple of forums for experiences of other people with the device and finally decided it was worth the rather steep investment because let me tell you, this “shell” does not come cheap. But if someone expects quality one has also be prepared to pay for it and this helmet is nothing less than first grade motorcycling equipment. I’m not saying that the roar of the air rushing past your head (helmet) is not one of the thrills of riding, but when this is going on for a certain number of hours, the whole thing becomes more painful than thrilling or pleasant. And I talk out of personal experience here as my former Caberg helmet, otherwise a decent city piece of equipment, the moment was taken on the open road and exposed to speeds exceeding 80-100km/h turned into a savage roar like noise producing contraption, no matter how well I was trying to hide behind the windshield. So yes, if someone contemplates doing some motorcycle traveling, he/she better save on some less critical stuff and invest in a good helmet. At the end of a riding day, the clear, non-pounding head as a result of good protection from continuous (strong) wind noise is worth every penny.

Come to think of it, actually all the gear I wore on this trip was band new… what a poser I am… no, just kidding, you wouldn’t catch me dead with this kind of show-off . It just happened that in view of the trip I bought lately all sort of stuff that now I had the chance to try out in actual riding conditions. The leather touring Daytona boots, the nice RST part leather part cordura pants, the Rev’It wind proof under-jacket, the very good Fourigan touring jacket and even the black and yellow Axo gloves, were all crystal new. And as much as I try to avoid sounding self-sufficient, they all performed incredibly well. Good for me as this means that all the years I have been riding have taught me a thing or two about spotting and choosing good riding gear.

But let me get back to the trip. After about 250km, a little less than 3 1/2 hours riding and some fierce AC/DC keeping me company, I was there, facing the sea in the warm glow of the afternoon sun scattering on the white crests of the rolling waves. Hands a bit cold as the temperature at sea shore was about 7oC but thrilled by the ride, I parked the Beemer just next to the beach and sat on a curb just enjoying the sight of my bike projected on the backdrop of the sea. I was happy again. See for yourselves why…