Second Half of June, 2004

Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Yesterday, I was ready to go riding but Scott just wasn't up to riding. I toyed with the idea of going out by myself but quickly dismissed it.

As for today, I had to work this evening but my class lets out at 7:45. I finished up a little early, so I was home by 8 pm. I parked on the street and as I walked up the driveway, I couldn't see the flag on the back of Scott's bike, so at first I thought he'd gone out without me. Then I saw the bike sideways by the back porch. So I went in and got ready to go. I made sure to lube my chain before we went out, too.

He was awfully quiet; maybe he didn't feel like going out tonight, but realized this is my last chance for a while. He and the boys are leaving for Alabama on vacation Friday morning. I'm a little apprehensive about going out by myself while they're gone. Even around here. Although, around here I could walk the bike home if it broke down. I'm worried that if something happened I'd have absolutely no one to call. Not even Matt. We really need to find some sort of roadside assistance program to subscribe to. That way, I'd be more secure.

Anyway, we headed out of the driveway and proceeded to snake our way through the side streets towards Brookpark Rd. The wind felt great. I had been looking forward to this all day. This turned out to be a pretty nice ride, and we both made it home safely, thank God, but I had a couple of scares.

We wound up going south on Canal, as usual, and I was so glad he didn't attempt to turn around in the Cinemark complex. When we got to Rockside Rd, he signaled and got into the left turning lane. He asked if I wanted to go check out the place where Jason (our youngest) has to go for his Radio Shack interview and I said okay. We were already set to turn anyway. I thought it was over by I-77 but he said no, it's up the hill, which happens to be in the opposite direction from what I thought initially. So up Rockside we went and turned left into the Hi Point complex. Basically, these are strip buildings with offices. I tried to do a U-turn to come out but wound up doing more of a roundabout. I'm really rusty there and quite unpracticed with this bike. It IS top heavy. Oh well, something to work on. He found the place and we headed out.

He asked if I wanted to go up into Garfield Heights and I said okay. I was happy to be out riding, even though I was getting tired of the same old thing all the time. A different route would be cool. We went up to Turney Rd and headed north on Turney to Granger Rd. I went past my mother's street on my bike; she's just not there anymore. I had wanted to get better at riding and one day just pull into her driveway for a visit— and surprise her. Too late for that now.

We turned left on Granger and headed towards "the hill". We stopped at a light beforehand and Scott told me to use the gears to go down the hill (Granger Rd. hill), probably fourth would do it, and not to burn up the brakes. Literally. You don't want to heat up the brakes. This hill has earned a certain amount of notoriety around here. It is quite steep, and has had some well known accidents— mainly involving semis. There's a blind curve at the bottom and a short stop to a light. And sometimes the traffic is stacked up but you don't know it until you're right on it. Well, fourth gear worked great. I never got above 37 mph. Scott was a little ahead of me, but this was no time to try to catch up! I did just fine, downshifting to third at the bottom, but I would have had no trouble stopping anyway.

We headed west on Brookpark Rd., towards home— but I really didn't want to go home. I was having fun. We passed up our side streets and State Rd, and kept on going. Scott finally signaled and moved into the left turning lane when we came to Big Creek Parkway. Big Creek Parkway is part of our Metroparks system, and is one leg leading to the longest continuous trek of the Emerald Necklace. The Emerald Necklace, as it is called, is a string of parks that circles around the Greater Cleveland area, connecting numerous suburbs.

As we were turning, a pack of Harleys blasted by us. It startled me and I just told myself to concentrate— I was just about to turn. I don't know why those idiots do that— I could have had an accident. Jerks! Somehow I kept my cool; I'm usually pretty jumpy. Anyway, it's just a short drive where you have to stop before entering the actual parkway. Scott asked me what I thought of that blow-by. I told him it hurt my ears. He said at least I had a helmet covering mine. He could wear a helmet too; no one is stopping him.

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We headed down the parkway. Even though the speed limit is 25 mph, and the tight curves are 20 mph, I took them faster (about 30) and kept up. We stopped for a break just past Snow Rd. I was starting to let go of the clutch too soon as I hit the kill switch. The bike lurched and then died. Oops. I have to keep reminding myself: clutch, clutch, clutch, clutch, clutch…! Scott lit a cigarette and said we'll have to go home from there because he needed some antacids, but we could go back out if I wanted. We took a very short break and headed back. He was obviously anxious to get home.

We were on the parkway, stacked up in traffic to turn right on Snow to head home. I was on the left and I could see a car turning left and further down, closer to us, another car with a left signal on. The first car turned and traffic started moving up. I knew there would be another left and I couldn't say anything. Scott was out of earshot. He hit the throttle hard and the car in front of him moved up and abruptly stopped. He locked up his back brake and I heard a loud screech. He stopped about six inches from that car's bumper.

Then, when we're on Snow, we came up on Pearl Rd, bumpy as hell, with a traffic light at the bottom of a hill, and I'm trying to brake— and this is hard to explain— but I think I had too much pressure on the front brake, which I let off of quickly, but it was just as I went over a big bump that went all the way across the roadway, in other words unavoidable, and I felt myself lurch forward. I definitely felt a weight shift. I thought, damn, that was close. I could have lost it there. I went at MY own pace after that. I'll do 5 miles over the speed limit but I have to be careful when it comes to traffic lights and such. I just don't want to end up a grease spot on the road! I managed to shake this off later by rationalizing that I "handled" it.

We headed home from there. We went up State to our street and did a rolling right into the driveway. I thanked him for going out tonight as this is probably my last ride until the day after he gets back, a week from this Sunday. He said gladly or something like that. He said, "You could go out by yourself, no problem. You ride good." That made me feel better.

For tonight,I chose not to go back out. It was 9:30 already and dark. My eyes were tired and I still had much to do that night. He understood. And I never did get to everything I had to do that night. 23 miles tonight— not bad for a quickie.

Maybe I can clean my chain and relube it while he's gone. I need to polish some of my hard-to-get-at chrome, that's for sure. I have gobs of other things I want to do, too, including some long overdue coastering. Villain, here I come at last! So much to do and so little time to do it.

Sunday, June 27, 2004
Villain was superb. I went to out Geauga Lake (formerly Six Flags Worlds of Adventure, and now called Geauga Lake again) last Sunday and almost didn't make it through the evening. I was hungry and tired, but as the sun was going down I got my second wind— and it was glorious. Almost empty trains, they were running two of them, and I got some dark time in. In June!!! On the longest day of the year. I closed the place; they closed the line at 10:10. Unbelievable. Fathers Day is a good day for something like this. How many dads want to go to an amusement park? Mothers Day is even better. I did that once once; we had the place to ourselves. No lines. Moms don't usually request a trip to Geauga Lake, or some such, but I did one year. That's why my kids call me Psycho Mom. Cool.

Anyways, I didn't take my bike out while Scott and the boys were on vacation. The day they came back, I was cleaning up some of my chrome. Scott wasn't as crabby as he usually is after vacation and I wasn't either. I did miss him and the boys. I always miss my boys, but I really missed Scott this time, maybe because we're doing more together than we ever did before. That would do it. We decided to go riding the next day, Sunday (today).

We headed out around 12:30, we went up to W. 24th, and down Lincoln to Sunoco to get some gas. Then we headed up State Rd to Brookpark Rd. We decided, by my request, to go down to Akron our usual way, but to come back all the way on Riverview Rd. I suggested turning off on the parkway (Metroparks, Brecksville Reservation) and taking it up to 82. We ended up stopping for a break off of Riverview. Since we had to head up to Garfield Hts, for a graduation party, we decided to take Riverview all the way to Pleasant Valley. That last stretch is pretty hilly and curvy.

I took the curves faster today, but he didn't think I stayed up with him enough. I tried to stay closer on the way back, but it's tough when you're both doing the outside-inside-outside thing, and all over the lane because of patchwork, etc., and besides, he follows too close behind cars. When a car is stopping or slowing down to turn, I lag a little bit, mainly so I can downshift and roll through. Then sometimes it's hard to catch up to him because he throttles out with a vengeance.

On the way to the party, I had to go up Granger Rd hill. I had wondered if my little bike would make it up that hill at the speed limit, but Scott assured me it would. And it did. In fourth gear. We stayed at the party for a couple of hours. We were supposed to meet his friends over on that side of town, so we waited. And waited. Finally we were to meet them at our house. So home we went, down Granger, out Brookpark to Tuxedo, and home. He went back out; I had things to do, like taking Matt for a dry run because he starts his new job out in Avon Lake at some housing development. Scott might as well enjoy his last bit of vacation. On the way back, Matt and I stopped at the grocery store. When we were stopped to pull back out onto Snow Road, Scott, John and Sherry, and somebody else rode by. I wished I was with them. I was so jealous. Here we had this beautiful summer night just made for riding and here I am sitting in a car. At this point, I guess I'm not ready for these all day excursions. Yup, that's my only excuse. And anyway, somebody had to help Matt. He hasn't driven much and that's a heck of a long way to go for him. My babies come first.

I had a nice ride earlier that day; 64 miles today. And it was fun.

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