Rode to church today. Very nice! It's great to ride with my wife. She's doing awesome!!

The New Girl

Thsi is the new family member parked at work. It's a 2003 SV650S found on Craig's List (only 7,000 miles). It's a sweet ride. Notice the Two Brothers Exhaust. The twin sounds awesome with the aftermarket pipe. My girl rode it last night for the first time and I think she's now hooked on sport bikes. Uh-oh. A raging momma!

Old reliable parked at work.

My daily ride parked in the parking lot at work. Notice the windscreen/flyscreen I added. It's small, but it keeps the wind from hitting me square in the chest. Much more comfortable for commuting now. I had the carbs redone at Cycle Pro in Orlando. (They are the best shop I have found. Great work, great people, and great prices.) The bike runs better than it ever has since I have owned it. On a cold start after sitting for a few days I need the choke for less than 30 seconds.

My darling wife with the instructer after ACING the driving test!!!!

I took the MSF basic riding course with my wife (she was uneasy to go by herself). She ACED the driving exam. Yeah, I admit it. I also learned a lot. It's amazing how many bad habits you pick up in 20 years of riding. My wife is awesome! She's 100% on board with this daily rider thing. She hopes to ride often too. For now we just ride together in our development (Not as lame as it sounds, the posted MPH is 50 on several of the roads and there are two 5 mile straight stretches. It's actually a perfect place to learn to ride.). Just ask her though, and she'll proudly show you her 'Motorcycle Also' endorsement.

BOLTED

Challenge #2:
OK, so here's the deal. Last Friday I meet the wife and kiddo's at the local Big Blue W for a final pickup of a few items for back to school. A terrible storm comes up, so I put on my Frog Togs and head for home. It went pretty well until I got about 5 miles from home when it began to dump. It was raining so hard I could only see about 100 feet ahead. I heard thunder but nothing close. I slow down to turn into my development and, BAM. I'm hit by lightening. Not a direct hit, but certainly a scary jolt. Suddenly my whole body is on fire and it feels like I'm getting zapped by an electric fence all over. You know the look when you spread a blanket in the winter in the dark and the sparks fly? We'll that's what my whole body looked like times 1,000 and it was broad daylight! I could hear the charge disperse through the overhead powerlines as the sensation subsided. When I told my family, my son got real excited hoping I had achieved some sort of super powers. But alas, no. Other than my left hand and right foot tingling like they were asleep for the next day, I seem to have gained nothing but a new respect for lightning. Guess I'd better go buy a lottery ticket.

The Commitment

This week I took the plunge. I'm becoming a daily rider! My beloved PT Cruiser is on Craigslist. This site will chronicle my joys and sorrows, tribulations and triumphs as I learn to deal with the challenges of daily commuting. We are adding a second steed to our stable of bikes so that our family is not immobile should our lone remaining car fail. My wife is taking the riding course this weekend to learn how to ride. She rocks!!!

Challenge #1: I found out the hard way yesterday that my bags aren't waterproof!!