Last night, I went and visited my friend on Whidbey Island.
Getting started a little later than I intended, I hit I-5 northbound with a vengeance. I decided to get in the left lane and go like hell. After riding my Sportster from just north of Seattle to Mount Vernon, I'd had enough of 70+ mile-per-hour travel. The wind gets tiresome, especially on a motorcycle without a windshield.
Also, the combination of the "drag bars" (low-slung handlebars) don't really work so well for me with the existing forward-mounted footpegs that the bike has. It's okay around town, but on the highway, I found my legs were getting tired from having them in an awkward position while holding myself against the wind. This surprised me; I've spent a lot of time on the bike over the last couple months riding at 40-50 miles per hour, and never run into this issue.
So, I was more than happy to cut over to 536 (or whatever it's called) that would intersect with highway 20 en route to Anacortes. Then, I followed 20 over Deception Pass, through Oak Harbor, to Greenbank.
It's funny, at fifty MPH, the wind is hitting with about 71% of the speed that it is at seventy, but only about half the force. (If you don't have a motorbike handy, you can get a sense of this by holding something big and flat, like a folder, out the car window at thirty, and then again at 45 miles per hour... the wind resistance goes up much faster than the speed increases.)
This caused me to reflect that this is an analog for a lot of other things in my life. Sometimes, running around and racing to get to a goal I want to hit just doesn't bring me the satisfaction that I expect. Sometimes getting the thing I want also doesn't work out as well as I think it should. But that's okay; I get to stop and take a break at Deception Pass (both literally - as on the trip - and figuratively).
After I got to Greenbank, my friend took me to the monthly Birthday meeting in Langley, where there were two other guys besides myself who were celebrating 23 years this month.
I mean, whod've thunk it? Out of a couple dozen people or so at that little meeting, there were three guys who all got sober in June of 1988?
And not only that, but I ran into someone who goes to two of the meetings I regularly attend.
Go figure.
By the way, if you're anywhere near the area, the meetings in Langley, at the fellowship hall happen at noon and in the evening. It's a small community, but there's a weekly step study, and some really nice people with some good recovery.
So, lots of pleasant stuff to think about. But it's time to get some studying done.
-M
Getting started a little later than I intended, I hit I-5 northbound with a vengeance. I decided to get in the left lane and go like hell. After riding my Sportster from just north of Seattle to Mount Vernon, I'd had enough of 70+ mile-per-hour travel. The wind gets tiresome, especially on a motorcycle without a windshield.
Also, the combination of the "drag bars" (low-slung handlebars) don't really work so well for me with the existing forward-mounted footpegs that the bike has. It's okay around town, but on the highway, I found my legs were getting tired from having them in an awkward position while holding myself against the wind. This surprised me; I've spent a lot of time on the bike over the last couple months riding at 40-50 miles per hour, and never run into this issue.
So, I was more than happy to cut over to 536 (or whatever it's called) that would intersect with highway 20 en route to Anacortes. Then, I followed 20 over Deception Pass, through Oak Harbor, to Greenbank.
It's funny, at fifty MPH, the wind is hitting with about 71% of the speed that it is at seventy, but only about half the force. (If you don't have a motorbike handy, you can get a sense of this by holding something big and flat, like a folder, out the car window at thirty, and then again at 45 miles per hour... the wind resistance goes up much faster than the speed increases.)
This caused me to reflect that this is an analog for a lot of other things in my life. Sometimes, running around and racing to get to a goal I want to hit just doesn't bring me the satisfaction that I expect. Sometimes getting the thing I want also doesn't work out as well as I think it should. But that's okay; I get to stop and take a break at Deception Pass (both literally - as on the trip - and figuratively).
After I got to Greenbank, my friend took me to the monthly Birthday meeting in Langley, where there were two other guys besides myself who were celebrating 23 years this month.
I mean, whod've thunk it? Out of a couple dozen people or so at that little meeting, there were three guys who all got sober in June of 1988?
And not only that, but I ran into someone who goes to two of the meetings I regularly attend.
Go figure.
By the way, if you're anywhere near the area, the meetings in Langley, at the fellowship hall happen at noon and in the evening. It's a small community, but there's a weekly step study, and some really nice people with some good recovery.
So, lots of pleasant stuff to think about. But it's time to get some studying done.
-M
No comments:
Post a Comment