{"id":276,"date":"2007-10-28T18:46:02","date_gmt":"2007-10-29T01:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=276"},"modified":"2007-10-28T22:13:12","modified_gmt":"2007-10-29T05:13:12","slug":"rode-hard-put-away-hungry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=276","title":{"rendered":"Rode Hard and Put Away Hungry"},"content":{"rendered":"

I met three buddies at a Tucson gas station at 8:30 this morning for a ride to the Cycle World Motorcycle Show<\/a>\u00a0in Phoenix.\u00a0 Good thing I choked down an English muffin at home first, because we rode two hours to Phoenix without a stop, spent two-and-a-half hours at the strangely food-free show venue, then rode two hours back to Tucson, once again without a stop.\u00a0 My buddies thought this was quite normal.\u00a0 I’m forced to conclude, therefore,\u00a0that my propensity to get hungry around lunchtime is abnormal.<\/p>\n

Since getting home, I’ve been a snackin’ fiend.\u00a0 Popcorn, a popsicle,\u00a0pickle slices, Spanish olives\u00a0. . . my poor stomach!<\/p>\n

Lack of food aside, the motorcycle show, at least in terms of vendors, was a shadow of its normal self.\u00a0 Last year I walked through tent after tent, each one stuffed with riding gear, tires, and helmets.\u00a0 No tents this year, and only a few vendors on the main floor.\u00a0 Too bad, because I really need a new helmet . . . now I’ll have to buy one over the internet.<\/p>\n

Motorcycle manufacturers, on the other hand,\u00a0were well represented, and I finally saw a new Victory Vision<\/a> in the flesh.\u00a0 We were too late to sign up for demo rides, but when I found out you can’t get a Vision with anti-lock brakes . . . well, that’s a deal-breaker right there.\u00a0 I sold my Electra Glide in order to buy an ABS-equipped\u00a0Goldwing the first year Honda offered the option, and if I could have afforded it, I would have bought an ABS-equipped BMW years earlier.<\/p>\n

Don’t know if I should admit this, but at one point I lagged behind my buddies and waited until they were out of sight in order to sit on\u00a0motor scooters.\u00a0 Can’t say exactly why, but . . .\u00a0I like!\u00a0 Suzuki<\/a> has a 650cc scooter (that’s huge!),\u00a0and Honda’s<\/a>, though slightly less powerful (only 600cc), has ABS.\u00a0 Both, by the way, have automatic transmissions, which is surely coming to full-sized motorcycles soon.\u00a0 You know, if you wanted an economical commuter, a scooter could be the answer . . . if you didn’t mind being a pariah to your motorcycle buddies.<\/p>\n

But maybe I already am a pariah.\u00a0 Riding to and from Phoenix we passed at least 200 motorcyclists riding the other direction.\u00a0 Every damn one of them waved.\u00a0 After waving back the first\u00a050 times, I\u00a0decided this waving\u00a0thing’s a crock of shit.\u00a0 How do I know those other riders aren’t just heading down to the local Ace for a tube of caulk\u00a0and some hose washers?\u00a0 How do they know I’m not merely\u00a0running a quick errand for the wife?\u00a0 Brothers and sisters of the lonely highway my ass.<\/p>\n

Ooh, suddenly I’m not feeling so hot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I met three buddies at a Tucson gas station at 8:30 this morning for a ride to the Cycle World Motorcycle Show\u00a0in Phoenix.\u00a0 Good thing I choked down an English muffin at home first, because we rode two hours to Phoenix without a stop, spent two-and-a-half hours at the strangely food-free show venue, then rode […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motorcycling","category-personal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}