Tis' a Season Ender and Season Starter

I was looking forward to a leisurely ride on beautiful wooded paths around the Quabbin Reservoir in MA. There were six of us riding in total on a nippy Columbus Day Monday. A variety of bikes were there from a Ducati, to a couple CBRs, and my GSXR. After meeting up with the crew and chatting in a parking lot in South Bay Center, we started our engines and blasted towards our riding route. We took I-90 north, or the Mass Pike, and maintained a steady 90MPH in tight formation during the long straights and only stopped for the tolls. It was so cold going that fast I shivered the entire way up. "Need to get better riding gear", I thought. The brief stops at the tolls and waiting for others gave everyone a chance to get warm. After 45 minutes, our exit in Auburn, MA was reached and we stopped in at the closest gas station for a quick rest.

After warming up, re-fueling, and getting bio breaks, we started up again and hit the wooded paths of Auburn. It was beautiful as well as dangerous. The roads were narrow and as winded and twisted as an overly excited snake. It takes an advanced skill to navigate these roads at high speeds. Adding in the fact the roads were still a bit damp from the rain the day before and cluttered with wet leaves made it even more difficult. This one particular corner was menacing. It was at the end of a downhill and veered to the left sharply where I wasn't able to see. My folly was not calculating my speed going in versus knowing how sharp the turn actually was. "Uhh ohhh", I thought. Skreeeeetchhhhh... BOOM!

Round 1. I lose.

I went into the turn too fast and without leaning my bike down enough to the left to clear the turn, I under-steered into a small open area with wet leaves and small branches breaking me and my GSXR's fall. I landed on my left shoulder and the bike laid on top of me. "Ouch", I thought. After accessing what happened, I felt I was OK. There were no severe injuries and I only had mild left deltoid pain. I was glad I hit the gym frequently, because that probably played a role in saving me from a visit to the hospital. I picked the bike up and with help from my fellow riders, started it back up. There were issues with the bike so I couldn't continue any further without slowing everyone down. We said our farewells and I headed home. The ride home sucked. The bike topped out at 45MPH and kept shutting off when I wasn't throttling. It took me twice the time to get home and I was so relieved to finally get back.

I had a great time riding. I busted my bike my up, but I walked away unscathed, luckily. At least it's the end of the riding season, so I can just put my baby into storage and fix her up next year. What that means is that I'll have more time to jam on some video games! The weather is colder and there are few things as lovely as bundling up in sweats and a hoodie and rocking to some new games. The holiday season is fast approaching and it is gaming's hottest time of year. Borderlands 2, Resident Evil 6, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown are already available and I'm far behind. I'll probably hold off on those titles and purchase Dishonored by Bethesda Softworks and Arkane Studio. Stay tuned for my thoughts on that.