Big Smiles

More later, but this was at the time of the bike delivery - Ryker sure enjoyed visiting the shop. His mom and his Auntie TeeTee brought him along when they took me up to the shop to take delivery of the bike. Kara, the saleslady, thought he was quite cute and playful.  He tried to play on all of the scooters, but I did tell his mommy and his aunt that if they let him knock over a scooter, it would be their responsibility. After that, they kept a much closer eye on him. He still enjoyed his visit to the shop and tried to help his mommy pick out a ride as well.

I delayed picking up the ride until the mid-afternoon since the weather was supposed to improve to at lease partly sunny and mid-60s for temperature. Unfortunately, just as we headed out the door for the shop, it started sprinkling rain from the light clouds blanketing the sky. It was still better that be strong gusts of winds and bouts of hail we had yesterday, but I had hope for a little better weather for the ride home.

Nevertheless, when the time came to wrap up the paperwork and head out, it was still sprinkling.  The temperature, according to the thermometer on  the MP3 500 noted the outside temperature at 55 degrees fahrenheit - not the best weather from riding home, but since is was only about a 7 mile trip it wasn't much to worry about.

Kara took me through the basic mechanical controls of the bike again before we rolled the bike out of the shop. I confirmed my appointment to have the windscreen installed next Wednesday and I asked her to look up the price of an extended warranty for me (since I won't want to do much mechanical work myself, it seems a reasonable additional expense). Once outside, I dressed in my protective gear; armored jacket, full face helmet and gloves. Then, of course, I had to pose of the bike for a few more images for the girls.  While gearing up, I took some advise from an experienced cyclist who had dropped by the shop and offered me his congratulation. He advised me to start slow, be paranoid about other vehicles, and enjoy life. Good advice it seems to me.

The ride home was quite fun. I did a loop through the neighborhood next door to the shop to regain the feel of the bike. A trio of young men playing with skateboards right in the middle of on of my turns was a bit of a surprise, but easily handled a low speed. Back at the shop, Talitha and Tanith were finally ready to go, and so we were off.

It's pretty much a straight shot from the shop to my home. Straight north on Cornelius Pass Road to NW West Union Road, crossing several major intersections, then east on NW West Union for just a few mile, then a left into my neighorhood, around a few curves, and then up to the house where the bike fit easily into my side of the garage.

It was a slightly moist and cool ride, but quite fun nonetheless. Had I the extra time, I would have loved to keep riding for a while, but as it was I needed to get back to a meeting that wasn't an option.