Another in my series of riding remembrances
I have mentioned before that I am a courier and that we are delivering the vaccines to the Walmarts in Western North Carolina. Last Friday night, I had a delivery out to Forest City. I had been to Simpsonville SC earlier in the day and was pretty tired of driving the stupid cage, so I looked at the weather map and convinced myself the rain was going to go east of my destination. Silly me!
I really did not know where Forest City was, so I pulled it up on my GPS, and saw that I needed to take Rt. 74 to get there. Being impetuous and dying to ride the bike I decided to make the delivery on it. Not only did I use the bike I forgot the difference between Rt. 74 and Rt. 74A. Well, truth is I convinced myself the difference was insignificant. (Justification time: who cares—I had found an excuse to ride!)
I got the vaccines in a cooler and pumped some go juice into the tank and started my way to my delivery. If you have not had a chance to enjoy this road---make time for it! It is about 12 miles of true fun. The road starts, from Asheville, with a two or three mile run that lets the rider open up the roar of life. Speeds over twice the legal limit are not uncommon, cars are few and the view of the coming mountains is beautiful. All at once, with little notice---to the first timer anyhow--- you drop from fifth to second ( or you go into the woods really fast). Going uphill the rider goes through so many sharp turns and switch backs, one loses count. And it gets better from there.
Usually, I push the bike through the maze of corners and curves, but this time I just wanted to enjoy riding the bike, feeling the power, enjoying the moment. Of course that lasted for about…two corners. The road was empty and my adrenalin began to flow. Pegs scraped, brake pads smoked and wheels spun. Who cares, just ride the road! Once again the bike and I became one. The transformation happened at some point, though I don’t know when. Gears changed by themselves, curves and turns found their way behind me, and straights flew by like a warm summer’s day.
The sky was beginning to turn the crimson of sunset, the world opened to my eye. I flowed up one side of the ridge and down the other. Cages moved out of my way and I floated down that road. Finally, the road filled with cars, yet I did not really care. Actually I enjoyed the view of the stream running along the side of the road. But then this one car was going, like 5 mph ---that was a little too slow for me, but I was in high spirits I didn’t pass it. There was a growing train behind me and I could feel the tension growing. The car just in front of me was dodging back and forth and began to honk a little.
About that time the Black Lab that was leading our procession came out and smiled at all the cars it had slowed. He bounced out of the way and we were on our way again. In Chimney Rock, I pulled my GPS out of my pocket to plot the rest of the delivery. Opps I was a little way off mark. But that is for later.
Tags: Dogs Rantings Rides Riding Rain
