First Ride and More Small Bursts

My new motorcycle arrived at 10:30 am yesterday -- driven up from Sunnyvale by JT, the biker friend of Henry's. He talked me through some bike basics -- making it all seem a lot simpler than the explanation in the owner manual and the safety class. Like the masked man in Lone Ranger episodes, he probably would have been happy to ride off into the sunset (sunrise) with nothing more than my thanks, but he needed a way to get back to Sunnyvale, so I bought him a cup of Angelina's coffee and a raisan cookie (his modest selection from the array of goodies) and collected more cycling lore while I drove him home.

Rain was threatening by the time I got back to SF, but I was eager/nervous about my first ride and decided to head out into the mist. As usual, the things I had worried about were not the things I needed to worry about. The bike was not all that difficult to balance and maneuver. I did have trouble accelerating and braking smoothly. I can see that this will get easier with practice and I have a perfect practice area within a few blocks of home. For my first ride, I wound through the ritzy Sea Cliff neighborhood overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and up to the Legion of Honor. Today I'm hoping to take a ride through the Presidio, another beautiful and low traffic area near home.

On the subject of small bursts, Ty and I went to a San Jose Earthquakes soccer game last night with Rain and Sally. We almost backed out when we discovered that it was an open stadium under threatening clouds, but Ty urged us to go for it. Rain convinced the guy at the ticket booth to upgrade our $20 tickets to $40 tickets at midfield. Between that and finding street parking, we saved $100. That small burst made up for getting soaked by the rain that fell off and on throughout the game. The Earthquakes lost to the New England Revolutionaries (1-0), but I had forgotten the fun of being at a live sports event. We all enjoyed stomping our feet during corner kicks to create an earthquake effect in the stands.