Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

I’ve been having a lot of fun learning to ride my new motorcycle. Yesterday I cruised through Portola Valley — very pretty horse country — which I don’t recall ever visiting before. The day before I checked out parts of Hillsborough and came back along Skyline and Canada Drives.

I had my first experience with not being heavy enough to trip the signal light switch at the Skyline/Canada intersection. A bit of a heart-in-the-throat moment turning left on red (lawful in California after two complete cycles of the light), but it all worked out fine.

Today I tried to squeeze in a ride before the rain showed up. I thought I’d do the Hillsborough/Skyline/Canada/Edgewood loop…but by the time I got to Hillsborough via Crystal Springs I realized “this is not a good idea” — rain coming! — and turned back.

I managed to miss any heavy downpour (that arrived after I got home). But as a result of being relieved to get home in one piece I forgot to put the kickstand down after I shut off the bike in my driveway…and I didn’t forget to get off the bike :(.

It turns out (for me, at least) you only have about one second to realize you’ve made a mistake before that 430 pound piece of equipment is so far off vertical that you can’t stop it. Fortunately, I was able to make it a controlled fall — one positive result from all those hours in the gym — but even a nice-and-easy lay down is a lay down. Sigh.

It took Caroline and me working together to get it back upright (Thanks, Caroline!). Except for the shift lever getting bent a bit there wasn’t any damage. A few minutes with a heavy pair of pliers fixed the shifter, at least temporarily. But I think I’ll run it by a real bike mechanic to make sure it’s okay.

Memo 5,913 to file: always put the kickstand down before you get off the bike!

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