Sunday, October 01, 2006

Thar She Blows !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was spectacular. I was riding the BigBluePlasticKawasaki to work this morning. Nothing inusual about that.

I pulled out on the State highway and was heading to town and fell in behind 2 cars. There was a Buick going about 40 mph in a 55 mph zone and another car behind the Blue Haired Granny in the Buick.

As soon as I got to a good open stretch of road I signaled, honked and pulled out to pass. I'd downshifted and ran her up so I could get around them in a hurry as I don't like being out in the other lane any longer than I have to.

I was going probably 75 when I went past Blue Hair when ............. BOOM!!!

Holy Shit! A huge cloud of steam and antifreeze engulfed the bike. Shit, I blew a hose. Either off or a hose failure, I don't know yet. I'm sure the Blue Hair was not impressed.

Damn, There was a business with a big parking lot and 2 entrances a few hundred yards ahead so I chopped the throttle and hit the front brakes hard so I could zip in and back out and make a run for home.

I totally did not think about all that slippery ass antifreeze on the back tire. WHEEEEEEEE! I had already commited and the rear end slid out and I went sliding along with the handlebars to the locks like Dick Mann or Gary Nixon, into the parking lot. I just kept sliding around and out the other way and made the run back to the house.

Damn, I wish I'd have gotten the whole thing on tape. It had to have looked cool, and nobody's gonna believe I was TT'ing that big landwhale around so slick like that.

Could I have planned it like that? Hell no. I'm not crazy enough to even try and slide that big bike around like a flat tracker. It was just lucky as hell I didn't fall on my ass and get run run over by Blue Hair.

Looks like I'll have to figure out what the hell blew tomorrow. I didn't lose any oil, so that's a good sign. Just one more thing to keep me busy and not riding.

Could've been worse. I was only 3-4 miles from the house. It was daytime. It was sunny. I rode it home. I didn't crash.

See Gary Nixon looking all cool and sliding all over in the picture, there?

I did not look all cool like that. I'm sure of it. I Was sliding pretty much like that though. On pavement. But, unlike Gary Nixon there, my ass was puckered up so tight you couldn't have pulled a Banjo String through it with a Bulldozer. Warp factor 9, baby. All's well that ends well.