Since getting my new ride home, it has been very cool in my area with not much riding except to work and locally. Except for today which was still pretty cool here near Lake Michigan, but much warmer inland. So, I asked Kari if she would be available and like to meet me today at Jug’s Hitching Post near West Bend for lunch with the bikes, and she said “yes”. I was so thrilled to actually put some miles on and see her.
We both were busy in the morning and planned to meet sometime after noon. I left here around 10:30 and told her it would take me a bit longer than usual as I was going to take the Scenic Route through the Northern Unit of the Kettle Moraine. It was very quiet through there which was fine by me since I am still getting acclimated to my new ride. When I got onto Cty D heading west north of West Bend there was a road closure sign, so I redirected to the west frontage road along Hwy 45 attempting to find the road that goes along Sunburst, but that took me a little bit and while I was stopped to see how to get there, I texted Kari to let her know this.
I finally took Prospect Road west just north of Sunburst and while approaching a two-way stop, I was looking both directions for oncoming traffic while approaching and seen nothing, but there was a house on the corner blocking the view too to the south when I got closer to the stop sign and was going to do a Chicago stop, when I noticed just as I was starting to take off, a white truck cresting the hill from the south going full speed. So, I grabbed a handful of front brakes, but when I did so the front end compressed and started going down to the right side, and when I put my foot down to regain my balance, my foot slipped and I couldn’t keep it from going down. I was still slightly on the bike when it went down, but seemed uninjured, except a broken heart and ego. I attempted to get it up on my own without any luck and before I could try to the correct way to do so, I heard a voice asking if I was okay. I told the gentleman in a truck that yes, I thought so, but couldn’t get my bike back up. He parked his truck and then another gentleman with his son pulled up behind me on a UTV and asked the same thing. As they both lifted my bike I had explained why I went down and one mentioned that my bike was pretty heavy, and also a woman recently got hit at that intersection crossing on her motorcycle. They asked me several times if I was okay, even while I was taking off. I also told them I was on my way to meet a friend at Jug’s and asked if they knew the best way to get there with D closed, if continuing on Prospect would be good, but they said no and to go north to Cty H, then west to Cty W south. I said I knew that route and so off I went. I was pretty shook up though, and proceeded to tell Kari about it when I arrived at Jug's, who was patiently waiting for me at the bar.
We had a nice little catch up, lunch and visit, and she agreed to follow me to Theresa where I told her I needed to stop to refuel before continuing onto my friend Scott’s near Mayville, as he wanted to see my new ride.
When I got to Scott’s, I told him about my incident and he could tell I was very upset and did his best to comfort me, and even adjusted the damper on the shock to soften it a little since the seat didn’t go down much when I got on the bike. He also took it for a little spin, and then I headed for home. Still very skittish, but not at all when I was fully up to speed, and even took some additional roads around Elkhart, although I already could feel the temperatures drop when I got to Armstrong.
My tracker did not work on my way to Jug’s so I added that part of my route manually. 70 miles to Scott’s from Jug’s and home, so I’m guessing it was around the same there if not more with all of the curvy roads through the Kettles, and forgot to look at my odometer when I arrived home.
Now, what to do? I am not so sure about my new ride and my ability to keep it upright under certain conditions without being able to get my feet flat. In fact, I am not sure I can even get the balms of my feet completely flat either. Decisions to be made. 😞
