Confidence & lessons

I left at what appeared to be dawn today, in the fading days of summer here in Minneapolis. The mirky sky and wet sidewalk as I moved to the backyard told part of the story, a long overdue rain of some kind (probably not enough to matter) had finally spent a little time overhead last night.

There were some tiny driveway puddles, but not standing water to enough to worry about, I think to myself. The sky remains thick with low-hanging scud and this drizzle that feels insufficient enough to wet anything. Maybe we'll get more rain later.

I decide to ride north east towards Taylor's Falls on the river and start my work day there. The cityscape and throng of the impending rush-hour millions quickly give way to a more sedate scene as I skirt around and avoid the highways and bi-ways in favor of backroads and residential drags to stay pointed where I'm headed.

Handling slick streets and wet seems to have etched its lessons into my brain and reflexes, and mostly, I don't even think of the concerns in this kind of weather. Slick streets from floating oil and debris. Limited visibility from a continuously speckled or fogged or both helmet visor. Making myself extra-visible to traffic, that completely disregards motorcycle traffic on days like these. And then there's the wet paint.... well, I almost had that figured out. :-)

As I'm pulling out of an intersection that I waited too long at, I was a bit aggressive on the throttle in first gear. Sure enough, as I'm urging the bike forward, I fail to notice the effect this will have on my rear tire as it passes over the slick wet painted crosswalk directly underneath my front tire.

True to form, the Bandit 1250s pulls hard out of first, like a tractor firing hard on all cylinders, and yet the second my rear wheel hits that 2 foot patch of wet paint, I'm suddenly gliding along and my rear wheel is spinning up a storm. The surge-surge feeling had me grabbing for clutch and easing off the throttle instantly until we past the painted walkway, and then all was well again with the world and we pull away, lesson learned.

I guess I had a lot of confidence at my ability to handle rain-slicked roads, but obviously I still have lessons to learn - experience is really still the best teacher.

It's chilly for August - I'm gonna grab a coffee... :-)