Freedom & Peace

The title of this particular post sums up my feelings about motorcycling. It's been a few weeks since my last post...haven't had much to say. Truth be told, I'm not sure if I have alot to say now, but on I shall go. Spring continues to nudge along toward summer at a painstakingly slow pace. May ended with a week where we had three solid days of rain and temps down around 3 or 4... more like March than May. June has been a little better. Perhaps if the weather would improve I could ride more and thus have more to post about but as is often said about this place, we don't live here for the weather.

I actually started this post last Sunday after a great ride out the TCH to Goobies but then I got distracted. I left St. John's with temps around 7 or 8 and when I was drinking my coffee on the parking lot of the gas station at Goobies it was showing 19  degrees on my dash gauge. For the benefit of those not familiar with the geography of the island, Goobies is a junction point about 150 kms west of St. John's. There is a small community off of the highway but for motorcyclists it is useful as a refuel & coffee stop. There are  three gas stations/restaurants serving traffic heading west and also coming up off of the Burin Peninsula to the south.
It was at Goobies that I met Ken & Ken. I can't remember last names but one guy sold cars and the other real estate. They had been on the go since 6:00 AM and had left St. John's when it was 1 degree. They had been south down the Burin Peninsula to do some salmon fishing and were  heading back to St. John's on their bikes when we crossed paths. That is the nature of motorcycling; you meet someone in a parking lot and the bikes give you a common interest and some great conversations are had, as if you are the best of friends, then off we go again. In this case since the b'ys were heading back in the same direction as myself we headed out together. For non riders, there is a benefit to riding with other bikes as it makes us more visible to sometimes heedless car drivers. I can't tell you the number of times I have been cut off and nearly run over and the response is typically the same.. "oh, I didn't see you".

So we headed back to St. John's and it became quickly evident that these guys liked the northern range of the speedometer and I was happy to keep pace. I have an had a few speeding tickets over the past three years and that has gotten expensive, so I am cautious with when/where I open 'er up. However as these guys were happy to lead ( and thus risk the tickets) I was happy to follow. Unless one rides I'm not sure I can explain the rush from leaning into a curve at high speed or opening up on a straight-away. It is pure freedom. In that moment when I am concentrating on the ride ( and staying alive) nothing else matters: Peace!

The day ended with another coffee stop downtown St. John's. The bank of fog just outside the harbour had the temps down around six or seven but there were a few guys around to chat with. So, thus ended another great riding experience. We have had a few warmer days this past week, so I did get out over the highway for some short runs after work. The school year is coming to an end and that will give me more time for some extended runs. Until next time, then, See Ya out There! Ride On....