Beautiful, beautiful things

Confidence is an amazing thing.  I am NOT a natural athlete.  My husband is; David can throw, catch, and hit just about any type of ball.  He can sprint like a freaking cheetah, and he ice skates just as well as he roller skates.  Natural.  Me on the other hand, NOT a natural, lol.  I run as slow as a turtle, I'm deathly afraid to catch a football, and a year's worth of ice skating lessons taught me to skate backwards and manage to come to a shaky stop WITHOUT having to use the wall for brakes.  What I can do, is ride.  Am I a genius on horseback?  No, but I'm certainly not bad.  I just have to be mounted on an appropriately sized horse :)  Big barrels and short legs do not mix!  But the principles of riding well; staying in the middle, strong but relaxed arms, eyes up and looking ahead, heels down and legs steady ... that I'm good at.  And I DO have guts.  I have no problem with hopping on a "scary" problem horse and applying my knowledge to try and solve an issue.

Most recent equine "problem child".  Love it when they improve!

Maybe that's why I've taken to riding motorcycles, as David puts it, like a duck to water.  The day I got my bike, the ONLY road experience I had at ALL was 4 times around the demo track on the 2 demo Scouts I rode.  The only "curve" experience I had was around orange cones on a closed "range".  Well ... we left the dealership in Knoxville, hit the interstate, and headed up to Townsend, then through Gatlinburg.  If you've ever been to the sleepy little tourist towns of east Tennessee, you know the entire area is one small curvy mountain road after another!  We gassed up and rode those roads!  I had a few moments where I gritted my teeth and forced my hands/arms to relax, but for the most part I have had no issues.  My "fear" is of hairy stop signs; uneven ground and/or steep hills along with stops where you have to make a bold turn into the flow of traffic.  Sometimes when I stop, I feel the pull of the bike to one side or the other, and I get a flashback of dumping the Harley.  Just makes me more determined to hold my baby up and keep the rubber side down!

Love it that hubby and I do this together!

Sunday, I rode in front of David to my work.  I have a 30 minute drive; 10 minutes through town, then 20 minutes up the narrow, 2 lane part of the scenic road Hwy 411.  He followed behind me to make sure I seemed "good", and when we pulled into my parking lot he just shook his head and said he was amazed.  He said other than my tendency to ride in the middle of my lane instead of 1 side or the other, there wasn't much to "correct".  I felt good.  A little bit tense at times, but I felt confident enough to give it a go!  And then ... the rain came.  All.  Week.  Long.  We were able to take a QUICK ride around the block one evening after I put the baby down, and it was actually a little discouraging.  My ride around my actual neighborhood did not feel good.  I felt shaky and "off".  I could feel my arms tensing again and wanting to fight against the handlebars.  Dang!

I love my bike.  Have I mentioned that?

The weekend was a total wash, as was Monday morning.  I was beginning to get what I'm told is PMS.  Parked motorcycle syndrome, hahahaha!  I harassed David to plan us a ride for Monday when I got off work, somewhere we could spend a few hours together.

The view from Foothills Parkway.  Spectacular!

We headed out on 411 towards 129 ... that's the official name of the Tail of the Dragon.  I started to get excited, but horribly nervous at the same time.  The Tail is notorious on my lady motorcycle boards I frequent.  Most recommend staying OFF until you have several year's experience under your belt.  The in-laws told us we were NOT to ride it until we had at minimum 6 months experience.  They told David even he should not tackle it.  As we got closer to the start of it ... we turned off on Foothills Parkway.  That's a LOVELY scenic road up on a curvy ridge overlooking the mountains.  I was literally smiling as I felt Khaleesi eat up the turns and curves of the road.  I practiced on the tighter hair pin type curves looking around the turn, then looking WAY down the road and finishing the turn without actually "looking" at the road.  That's hard to do, but it definitely works!  I felt amazing through the curves, concentrated on staying in the middle of the bike and letting her do most of the work.  We rode about 3 hours or so.  Did NOT do the Dragon.

Are we gonna do the Dragon?  Not tonight!

    FINALLY, Tuesday, I was ready to hit the road solo.  I prayed like crazy that my comfort level would come back.  I just reminded myself to get in the friction zone, and stay relaxed.  It worked!  By the time I got to work, I was feeling pretty good!  The ride home was AMAZING!  I rode Khaleesi again on Wednesday, and that desire to grit my teeth was finally gone.  I ride my bike the same way I drive my car; not trusting anyone around me to drive safely.  Constantly scanning, backing off the throttle when I see brake lights, and generally driving as though I'm invisible.  Wednesday after work, we again headed out 411 to 129.  This time, after we turned off just AFTER the Foothills Parkway turn, David asked me if I was ready to tame it.  I said my bike is named after the Mother of Dragons, I'd better be ready!  I will just say it.  I am DAMN proud of myself.  Not once did I come to a corner too hot, no shaky start/stops, no issues through the curves at ALL.  Didn't miss a shift or stall the bike ever.  My mantra of Slow, Look, Press, and Roll went through my head at every turn.  The speed limit is 30, dipping down to 15 on the hairpin U turns.  We kept it between 20 and 40 the entire road.  I rode my own ride and had the time of my life letting her lean through the curves and power out.  One photographer; I focused on my ride didn't look at him.  At then end, we pulled down into the Deal's Gap motorcycle resort and regrouped.  I was proud of David too.  He looked like a bold and confident badass rolling through the turns.  He took them with a little bit of speed, too!  I let him get out ahead a few times, but for the most part I kept up pretty well.  To be honest, the hardest part of the whole ride was pulling OUT of Deal's Gap!  It's a pretty gnarly hill rolling out of that parking lot; AND I had Khaleesi's kickstand sort of down in a hole.  It was hard to get her out of it!  But I did great, and the ride BACK up the Dragon I laid hard on the throttle rolling out of the turns and kept right on David's tail almost the whole time :D

Thanks to Killboy.com for the amazing Dragon taming pic!

Thursday was more storms, and this morning I rode my 3rd solo ride to work.  What a DIFFERENCE some saddle time makes.  I rocked it out.  No hesitation, no shakiness, and not so much as a foot stutter the entire road to work AND back home.  Tomorrow is epic.  Heading back to McCloud Mountain, this time for breakfast.  That road in is intense; it should be FUN on the bikes.  Will be touring through THREE state parks.  Should end up being about a 10-12 hour day, taking into account breaks and eating.  Can't wait!  So blessed and happy to be on this journey; I love the connection I feel to my husband.  What a difference being on the same page makes <3

All 3 of us, first ride on the Dragon with 2 wheels!

Khaleesi and Cheyenne feeling good!