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[ST] Spring is in the air



Yesterday I got the word that my gas tank was fixed and not leaking for 
24 hours. The past two weeks have been hell. My office window faces FDR 
Dr. and every time a motorcycle went by I was jonesing to get out there 
too. Last saturday I took an experienced riders course. I had to take it 
on the "Putt-Putt." Not only did I have the oldest bike there, I also 
had the smallest.

Today, I drove down to the dealer, picked up the tank, drove home and 
installed it. My wife wanted to go cabinet shopping. I figured if I went 
along without any complaints then I would get in a longer ride later. 
While sitting at a light at South Mountain Reservation near West Orange, 
New Jersey something caught my eye. A red ST! Yikes! That's the first 
one that I've ever seen out on the open road. (I'm not counting Erik 
Miner's because I ran into him at the dealer one day.) Was that someone 
on the list?

Later in the day after the shopping trip and lunch I got suited up and 
went for my ride. I gassed up the Blue Devil and headed toward South 
Mountain Reservation. There are a few fun twisties on the road that runs 
through there. Last spring I worked at Paper Mill Playhouse for a week. 
I would ride that road 1) to work in the morning, 2) home for lunch, 3) 
back to work, 4) home for dinner, 5) back to work, and 6) home at night. 
It would have been easier to eat there but nowhere near as much fun!

Anyway, while I'm riding along, drops start to hit my visor. Ah, crap. 
Rain. At the light where I saw the red ST this morning I stop and look 
at the drops on the visor. Hey! Wait a minute. Those raindrops are 
brown! And they aren't even rain drops! They're gnats! A sure sign of 
spring!  After the light goes green, no vehicles are in ahead of me and 
I proceed to the fun part of the road. As I'm coming up on this nice 
sweeper another motorcycle is heading toward me. Hey! I recognize those 
headlights! It's a black ST! WOW! I've never spied another ST on the 
road before and today I see two! Each sighting within a half mile of 
each other! (Black ST rider, if you are on this list I apologize for not 
waving, I was setting up the up coming curve so I merely let off a weak 
nod.) Well, I should have slowed down and waved. I was so giddy about 
seeing two ST's in one day that I messed up on my entrance and went 
little wide and started to cross the yellow lines. I put in a little 
extra lean, recovered and continued a little slower than I would have 
liked to. I continued into Millburn, turned around and headed back for 
another try. This time I was stuck behind a Mom-mobile that was 
puttering along at the speed limit. I decided to head up to Eagle Rock 
Reservation.

As Eagle Rock Ave. passes the Reservation it twists and winds its way 
down a hill into West Orange. (It's more fun when the road is free of 
cars.) At the bottom of the hill I turn around and head back to go into 
the Reservation to take a brief rest and enjoy the view of NYC. I'm 
moving along at a good pace in the curves when suddenly, ah, crap, a 
line of left turners coming the other way. And, you guessed it, one cuts 
across. I saw it coming and had plenty of time to react. I continued a 
little slower than I would have liked to.

Up at the Reservation I ended up chatting with an older fellow who used 
to ride "a big Honda." We talked for about 15-20 minutes. This was one 
of those moments that tells me "It's not the destination, it's the 
journey." We parted and I decided to turn down a road to see "Where does 
this go?" As I rode along I smacked into serendipity. There they were. 
Hair pin turns less than three miles from my house. I just found a new 
way to go home and spring is in the air!

- -- 
Steve "Devil Dawg" Lawler
A Red Sox fan living in Yankee country

2000 Sprint ST "Blue Devil"
1980 Honda CM400T "My Little Red Putt-Putt"

I.A.T.S.E. Locals #52 & 84

"I'm not a real carpenter, but I play one on t.v."


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