[ST] Destiny . . . .

[Richard & Lisa White <RedRiders@xxxxxxx>]

Well, we just got back from a "long" riding weekend.  We left early
Sunday morning from Houston on our way to Palestine to meet up with Bird
Dawg.  We ran into a bit of rain on the way.  It wasn't to bad, and
luckily, it was all the rain we experienced during the trip.  

We got to our chosen meeting location before David did, and I pulled in
a parking spot with Richard pulling in beside me.  Before I knew it, he
was yelling my name and his bike was going down on its left side,
perilously close to both the ground and my bike.  It took me only a
couple of seconds to realize that I would have to get off my bike to
help him get his up, which I did.  Once we got it veritical, we examined
it for damage.  The lucky *$&%*!  Only he could almost drop his bike and
not get a scratch on it!  Anyway, a minimum of $300 was saved, for only
a sore leg, which was all that was between the bike and the ground!  The
bottom of his pannier helped, but the black does not show scratchs ;-)!

After we met David, we went and had a nice lunch, and a nice ride into
Lufkin, where we stayed the night with my parents and got fed delicious
BBQ!  On Sunday morning, it was off to the historic town of Jefferson,
via the most squigly lines we could find on the map!  What a nice run! 
David let both Richard & I ride is V11S. It's a nice bike!  I liked the
way its sounded and handled, but the vibration is not for me!  David
said he's used to it.  The ST felt plush when I got back on her!

We had lunch in Jefferson and then did a run by the Lake of the Pines. 
We all narrowly avoided a ticket.  David actually had a conversation
with Mr. Deputy, but all was well.  He then headed back to Dallas, and
we had a lovely dinner in Jefferson and stayed overnight at a very nice
Bed & Breakfast.  

All was not well the next morning, however.  We got up, got ready to
load the bikes before breakfast, and to Richard's horror, when he got
downstairs, my bike as on it's left side, and his was perilously close
to going over itself.  Mine had hit his on the way down!!!  It seems
that there was a hellish thunderstorm during the night, and neither one
of us heard a thing!!!!  

We had parked the bikes on centerstands (with kickstands down) on an
area that had looked like pretty hard packed gravel.  It was off the
street and out of danger of cars.  Well, between the rain and the wind,
my poor bike evidently didn't have a chance!  The gravel was not that
hard packed after all!  Well, we got the bikes upright.  Richard's
righthand fairing has some gouges in it from my broken Zero Gravity
Double Bubble.  My bike has some scratchs on the left pannier and left
side fairing.  The pannier's "hook" that goes in the latch was bent so
it would not stay on the bike, and efforts to return it to it's normal
shape failed.  Part of the pannier bracket on the bike is also broken.
There are gouges in the front left cockpit piece, and the part of right
cockpit piece that holds the windscreen snapped off.  Obviously the Zero
Gravity is toast!  Our concerns quickly turned to whether the bike was
rideable.  We did call our mechanic in Houston, at home, who said that
it should not be a problem.  The bike did sit upright for 1.5 hours
before we tried to start it.  Now we had to figure out how to get the
triple clamps back in allignment.  The center bolt for the top clamp
would not budge, and Jimmy told us not to mess with the bottom triple
clamp.  We loosened the side bolts, and it was just enough to get the
wheel back into allignment.  So, I packed 4 panniers worth of stuff into
three panniers and the tankbags, and we set off to send the 4th pannier
home via UPS.  Richard asked if I wanted him to ride the bike home, and
I said if it wasn't safe enough for me to ride home, he had no business
on it, so I rode it home.  We made it back--not via the twisties we had
hoped to find--but both bikes are home, and mine's off to the shop
tomorrow. 

I only wish that if Richard's bike had been destined to get scratched
this weekend, that my bike had not been used as the instumentalty to
accomplish that objective :-(!  Now I can only hope that replacement
parts (primarliy the bracket, pannier hook, windscreen & right cockpit)
come in in time so we don't have to go the Rallye on one bike.  Of
course, it is currently rideable in it's broken form, but I just don't
know if I want to do that . . . .  We also have to decide whether we'll
file a claim with the insurance.  I figure there's over $500.00 worth of
damage on my bike, and my liability should cover Richard's fairing
piece, but is it worth chancing increased insurance rates????  Part of
me, though, says I have insurance for a reason . . . .

I hope you guys got in some great riding this weekend and had better
luck than we did!

Lisa 
Houston, Texas
'99 Sprint ST

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