A Perfect Day

Okay, time for a little audience participation. The question before us: What makes a perfect day of riding?


I just had one, so I know what the ingredients are for me. I decided to write it down before the warmth of the day's sun even fades from my face.


First, I ride out of the driveway with no regrets and roll back in the same way. Today's ride had the full support and approval of my family, and did not cause a moment's pause in my mind all day. I was invited to ride with a couple of good friends and great riders. I went over my bike the night before and knew that air pressure, oil and every other little thing was in order. Therefore, I was at perfect peace with both the machine, and the company. I came home happy, dirty, a little tired, and with a strong desire to do it again soon.


Second, the weather was marvelous. This morning hot air balloons were rising in the clear stillness as Jack and I sat on his front step waiting for Mike. The temp a perfect 70 degrees. While I'm sure things heated up in the lowlands we enjoyed comfortable cool air all day as we rode through the mountains.


The route was ideal as well. All familiar mountain tracks on clean roads with light traffic and only one stop in 300 miles.  The type of ride and its length were a super match for the bike I was riding. The Springer is a  sparky cruiser, but has no faring so a ride longer than 6 hours or which includes long stretches of fast freeway riding can be fatiguing. But today's ride was just long enough and consisted nearly entirely of twisties so the average speed was about 50 and the only work was riding the machine rather than wrestling the wind. The stop was great too; a light lunch at an outdoor spot with a great draft beer and enjoyable conversation.


Additionally, I was pleased with my own performance. Jack and Mike were riding 2010 BMW K1300 GT's and all I could do was remind them at the start of each run to wait for me at the end. And that's pretty much what happened, but the Springer and I weren't that far back and we even mixed it up a bit with those guys at times. It was great fun to ride well and be proud of my 16-year-old Harley.

Finally, and maybe to come full circle, I enjoyed being with my friends today. I don't know what made it so harmonious, but we seemed to all be in stride today. There was an absence of ego, tension, indecision, drama misfortune, or whatever other bullshit so often tags along when people get together. At the end of the day we stood under the Idyllwild oaks and genuinely declared how great it would be to have another perfect day of riding next week.


Here's a link my friend, Mike, made of one of our runs up the 243.


http://youtu.be/rb4fKaM2oSo