One Hundred Miles

One Hundred Miles / One Hundred and Sixty Kilometers..........

That would be the sum total of miles ridden on the bikes on Saturday.  This time of year in Oregon we expect rain, rain, and still more rain.  Luckily this year hasn't been too bad.

We woke up at about 6:30 am Saturday morning and the temperature was 31˚ F (-0.5˚C).  By 8:45 when we left for coffee the temperature had risen to 37˚F (2.77˚C) and the sun was shining.  We had no real plan for the day other than ride to coffee and ride somewhere after.

We knew we wanted to stay on the valley floor so that the temperatures would be warmer and we could soak up any sunshine.  The forecast was for cloudy skies moving in by noon.

Two other folks also rode to coffee, Andy (aka PolarBear) was there on his orange Triumph Tiger and Aarron was there on his Yamaha Stryker.

A plan was hatched to ride north to Independence and possibly have lunch.  With Troubadour in the lead, me second, Aaron, then Andy tail gunning, we set off.

The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day for a ride.  There was still a chill in the air, but it wasn't cold dressed in thermal long underwear and all the liners in our riding gear. I am sure heated grips helped a little too.

We parked in Independence and I managed a few pictures.  While three of us did a u-turn and parked together Aarron opted to park across the street so he didn't make it into the pictures.

(Troubadour's Triumph Tiger 955 and my Kawasaki Versys 300x)

I had to snap a picture of our two bikes before the picture of the Versys sandwich.......

(One of these things is not like the other)

Aarron suggested a diner across the street for lunch.  Troubadour and I have gotten pretty good at finding plant based options to eat at just about any type of restaurant.  Heck, even BBQ joints have baked potatoes.  Well, at this diner we had the option of a very overpriced salad, no thank you, or french fries/tater tots/onion rings.  So we ordered one side-order of tater tots and one side-order of onion rings to share between the two of us.

Now, while they were house made, they were the greasiest tater tots and onion rings you could ever imagine and I am pretty sure that because they were house made, they weren't vegan.  But we were hungry, so we ate them.  It was hard getting them down because of the grease but we did it.

While eating we tried to figure out our next destination.  We wanted to get across the valley to the east and over I-5.  This would keep us in the valley and would have some interesting back roads.

With PolarBear in the lead we set off.  We eventually made our way to Power Motorsports in Sublimity. This is the motorcycle dealer where I purchased the Versys 300x last April (wow almost a year already).  I thank PolarBear for leading us there since we were thinking of it anyway. I still needed to order a new spring for the center stand and I also wanted to scheduled the bike in for the tail light assembly recall.

Aarron snapped a picture of our four bikes in the parking lot.

(Blatantly stolen from Aarron's facebook page)

We wandered around for well over an hour - maybe two.  I ordered the spring for the center stand for $10 and service department ordered the recall/replacement tail light assembly.  They will call when in so we can schedule a date to get things fixed.  Wonder if they'd install the center stand spring as part of that?

As we were strolling through the dealership, Polar Bear decided to try on a Can Am Spyder for size.  Troubadour then hopped on the back to give him an idea of what it would be like with a passenger.  And in true buddy fashion he couldn't help but ham it up for my camera.

(PolarBear and Troubadour - best buddies)

The sun came and went as we were looking at bikes.  By the time we were ready to leave just after 3:00 pm, the sun was shining brightly and the temperature had climbed to 64˚F (17.7˚C). Layers were shed and we set a course for home with PolarBear in the lead.

We arrived home safely just before 5 pm with 100 miles (160 km) on the trip meter.  It was a great day to be out on two wheels.

I was happy that there were no incidents on the ride and nothing came off my bike.  The last time I'd ridden the Versys I lost the spring on the center stand, and the last time I rode the TW200 the chain came off.  Saturday was a good day.

I apologize for the lack of photos.  We only made two stops on Saturday - once for lunch and once at the motorcycle shop.  Not a lot of photo opportunities.  Maybe one day soon we'll take a photo ride since the trees are starting to bloom.  Spring color is just beginning.

- Au Revoir

" You can always tell when two people are best friends because they are having more fun than it makes sense for them to be having." - Author Unknown

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