daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
Wasn’t feeling my best this afternoon, so I did what any reasonable person would do – I grabbed Kiki and headed out for a quick ride. Honestly, it worked like a charm. Mood: instantly restored!
We’ve been getting some surprisingly warm days here in Texas to kick off the year, so I’ve been taking full advantage with a few evening rides with Kiki. Night rides are such a blast, cooler air, quiet roads, and that calm, end-of-day feeling. Of course, they come with a few extra hazards. Deer love to appear out of nowhere, and cars are always the wildcard. If only everyone rode motorcycles, right?
Here’s a short clip from one of our night rides. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Tonight I took Kiki, my 2007 BMW F650 GS, out for a relaxed ride around the neighborhood. We rolled down some of the same streets I used to ride on my Supercub many years ago, and the nostalgia factor was very high. The neighborhood has changed quite a bit since then, but cruising through it on two wheels still feels just as good. And this time of year makes it even better. Riding past all the glowing holiday lights was fantastic.
Bye bye to my old motorcycle boots after 15 years of loyal service. Wow. These Gaerne Panorama boots were unbelievably comfortable and took me on countless rides, but time finally caught up with them. The rubber soles are no longer grippy, and the shift pedal pad actually disintegrated a few years ago.
The good news is I now have a brand new pair of boots (made by Gaerne), and they are fantastic so far. Here is hoping these new ones can rack up another 15 years of adventures.
Today a friend and I took a trip up to Waco to check out the motorcycles at Barger’s All Sports. There were so many cool machines, but one tiny bike completely stole the show. The CF Moto Papio looked like something straight out of Mario Kart. I could not stop thinking about how fun it would be to race around on those little bikes.
After that, we headed over to Health Camp for burgers. I ordered the Double Health Burger and wow, it was incredible. It easily landed a spot in my top ten burgers of all time.
From there we stopped by Ride Now Powersports in Georgetown for a little more browsing before heading back home. The weather was sunny and warm, so I took my beloved motorcycle out for a ride to Sunset Deck. The view out there is always beautiful, and the stretch of gravel road on the way makes the ride even more fun.
Today was a perfect 75-degree day here in Austin, so Kiki and I took a relaxing ride around the neighborhood. Tomorrow the temperatures drop into the 40s, so I am glad I made the most of today’s beautiful weather.
Today I set up a new waterproof bag for Kiki, and I am really happy with how it turned out. The bag is thirty liters and fits perfectly on the passenger seat and rear rack. I love my North Face Base Camp duffel, but at seventy liters it is enormous. It will be great if I ever need to haul a mountain of gear for moto camping, but for everyday riding it is way too big. For carrying my tools and a spare inner tube, this smaller bag feels just right.
