Candid in Canby

Troubadour did a write up about our ride to Canby for the Triumph Demo days so I will try not to be too repetitive.

I was hoping to snap some pictures of the bikes and riders at our meet up location in Lebanon, but with the early hour and cool air I completely forgot to get the camera out of the bag. Good thing we didn't forget it at home.

The ride up was cool with a mixture of clouds and sun. I do appreciate those heated grips. I had fun riding the TU there and back. There was one spot on the way there that was an uphill with a 15 mph right hand corner near the top that I had to shift down into third gear. I felt bad for the rider (Josh) behind me as the bike didn't have quite the momentum I was looking for and I am sure I was holding him back. For 250 cc's it is a great learning bike, but it has some areas that it isn't the smoothest.

We all arrived in Canby without incident and the clouds were clinging overhead not wanting to give way to the sun.

Five of our riders signed up to ride the bikes but I was not comfortable enough to ride an unfamiliar bike. The only one I would have ridden was the Bonneville SE. I'd taken one out at Rod's shop several months ago in Eugene so I figured on this day I'd leave it for someone else to ride.

We didn't get a lot of photos but here are a few candid shots that we snapped......

The staging area:

We did a lot of standing around waiting:

And when that got too much we opted for sitting on the curb:

People rolled in on all makes and models of bikes in varying colors. The painted tank on this one caught my eye:

By noon the sun had come out and we were all getting a little toasty. Layers of gear came off and skin started to get pink. Sunscreen? Who thought of that when it was cloudy? And we didn't think to put any on as we were sitting there roasting in the brilliant sunshine for a few hours while the guys took their test rides. Four days later my shoulders finally have stopped hurting.

Troubadour took a ride on the Thunderbird. He may not have been that impressed with it but he did have a big smile on his face when he got back:

Two Canby patrol cars showed up. We aren't sure why, but while the Officers were ogling the bikes Rick (being the good sport that he is) showed us proper procedure:

All in all it was a great day. Great ride with great people. We did take a detour on the way back and saw some Vespa races and had lunch at.... you guessed it... Sushi Kyo in Salem.

Coming up this Sunday is an all day ride with kickstands up at 8 am. Think we'll go two up on the Triumph that day. Should be between 250 to 300 miles round trip. The Canby ride was my longest day trip at 170 miles round trip. Not quite up to 300 yet, but I'm getting there.

I've thought about some more training but I am not sure what is appropriate. I took my Basic Rider Training in the fall of 2002 and only have about 1500 miles under my belt (1000 of them in the last few months on the TU). I know a few friends are taking the ART class in the next few weeks, but me thinks that is a little too advanced for me at this stage. I'm hoping maybe Irondad will have an opinion from the peanut gallery on an appropriate venue to advance my skills and learning?

At any rate, with me riding pillion this coming up weekend we should get some good action shots. We'll see.

On a side note..... this afternoon I received a call from Cascade Moto Classics, sponsor of the Demo Days and apparently I won the $100 gift certificate prize. Looks like a trip to Beaverton is in order, but what to buy? Hmmmmm.

-Au Revoir

"The best alarm clock is sunshine on chrome." ~ Author Unknown

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