blessed by the good weather, i went out saturday and did it all on the
backroads (having left the city friday by highway)

riding in weather warmer than 45 is like being in love ... it was in
the 60's in fact



i was pretty happy i didn't have pipes any louder than stock...benefit
would be outweighed by burden in the sleepy jersey towns i rolled
through


i rode for a short stretch, just by happenstance, with another
bike ... first time for me ... it was some old philipino man on a
metallic orange goldwing, with a teenage guy 2up, maybe his son or
grandson .... he was smiling like i guess i must have been, riding
that first 60+ day

funny thing, sort of, was we were staggered in one lane waiting for a
light ... he was about 10 feet behind me and on my right ... the light
changed, we rode off, the road became two lanes, then three, and i was
in the rightmost lane - the perfect spot to see him move into the left
right away and try to make some speed, which didn't quite happen as he
was riding too close to the cars over there and one shot into the left
lane without seeing him

nothing happened... the goldwing slammed the horn, which was
surprisingly loud (do all goldwings have a little trumpet under the
radiator, or is that aftermarket?), and i just chuckled to myself as
the "slow" lane was nice and empty all around me



at one point, on a road i had just turned onto, a lady off to my right
in a fancy silver sedan was about to pull out in front of me to make a
left...she slowed when she saw me, then she realized i was moving
pretty slowly and started rolling again - i had the brakes covered
since i first noticed her, but i actually watched the wheel to get the
situation and i was a little proud of myself for having that teeny
edge, timewise

so i went for the brakes and would have stopped before meeting where
she would have been had she not rethought and stayed put

still, thanks for the tip, it definitely helped



then i went and ate a bucket of ice cream with my lady


and then, riding that night, i made up my own little trick for
nighttime intersections...

or maybe i stole it, or it's too obvious to have an owner ... i flick
the high beam on when i'm about 60 ft away (or 2-3 seconds from
crossing the intersection)

i'll switch back to normal if there's no one there, but if there's
someone in the turning lane that might cross me, i'll leave it on
until i'm passed

i have to fall back on "i'm not going to feel bad that my attempt at
security may inconvenience someone a little bit" but i guess i'd have
to see how bad the brights were from the car's perspective before i
can think it's fair

thoughts? does it sound passive aggressive ("i'm just doing this thing
for myself and if it hurts you, so be it!")? does it sound regular
aggressive ("YOU! you will NOT make a left and kill me! i'll blind
you!")?

are there alternatives, other than always stopping at green lights or
always hitting the horn or only making right turns?


otherwise, it was all good, i did about 50 miles and almost got around
to installing the saddlebags i bought 2 weeks ago

-c

On Mar 17, 12:13 pm, c <smalltalkingchic...@gmail.com> wrote:
> i rode for a short stretch, just by happenstance, with another
> bike ... first time for me ... it was some old philipino man on a
> metallic orange goldwing, with a teenage guy 2up, maybe his son or
> grandson .... he was smiling like i guess i must have been, riding
> that first 60+ day

maybe it's the same guy who tried to fix my Widder switch
harness: it did not work before he worked on it and did not work
after he was done with it. No wonder he was smiling:
probably thinking to himself "freeze! you fucker!".
these people are absolutely positively mostly incompetent
not to mention that the Inglis comprihinsin vares gritly

> are there alternatives, other than always stopping at green lights or
> always hitting the horn or only making right turns?

without an aftermarket pipe hit the brakes, rev to the redline
and proceed modulating the speed with the throttle :-]

On Mar 17, 2:13*pm, c <smalltalkingchic...@gmail.com> wrote:

> and then, riding that night, i made up my own little trick for
> nighttime intersections...
>
> ... i flick the high beam on when i'm about 60 ft away
> (or 2-3 seconds from crossing the intersection)
> thoughts?

Just the concern that someone might interpret your flick of the light
to be "permission" to go ahead.

> are there alternatives, other than always stopping at green lights or
> always hitting the horn or only making right turns?

I cover my brakes and clutch, move to the far side of the lane away
from traffic, slow down, prepare to stop, and intently monitor the
traffic in the intersection. It's worked so far for 30 years.