Splish Splash
[ Thursday - February 27, 2014 ]
Be it good, bad, or otherwise, one of the best traits of living in
the west coast is you get sunshine pretty much all year round.
Of late, due to the lack of precipitation, it's pretty much been
just that. However a large storm front is anticipated for
Friday's commute. It's the type of storm that makes cats and
dogs feel like a drizzle. There's anticipation of thunder
storms, mud flows, and who knows what else mother nature can throw
into the mix. Water spouts and tornadoes maybe? As for myself,
I enjoy a nice heavy rain ride. It's a way to practice and
keep up the skills. Who know when I'll be caught in a down
pour while on a tour. Plus it's an opportunity to be 6 years
old again (e.g. running through puddles and streams).
[ Friday - February 28, 2014 ]
Sure enough, this time the weather man is correct. It's coming
down. Hard! It's on and off with heavy rain, but it
never stops all together. The streets are getting
flooded. Cars are splashing water everywhere. Yes!
My turn.
It occurred to me while I'm showing the below video to some of my
friends.. A question goes flying though my head, "Am I skilled or am
I just insane?" To the average person, it looks like I'm
completely out of my freakin' mind, and reckless as a 2 year old
playing with a loaded hair trigger shotgun. However, as I
assess my situation, there is a level of skill, but I can't help but
notice that which is also the BMW GS. The bike makes one feel
that one can take on the world (what the motorcycle was built to
do). Inspired confidence.
On this day I tripped the traction control twice. Once was due
to the bike skipping over a large bump on the road causing the rear
to come off the tarmac (not my fault). The second time was me
making a mistake with acceleration from a red light. I should
have known better and should have let the rear pass the paint stripe
before accelerating. You can chalk this up to the first
serious rain ride in a long while. Still, the safety net that
is the 2013 R1200GS has me covered and even instills a little more
confidence. Surprisingly, this time around I'm not fighting
rain mode as much. Maybe I'm getting use to the machine.
Puddle crossing after puddle crossing, the bike does its job without
so much as a single little whimper. It's just so much fun to
splash water all over the place.
Written on: March 2, 2014
Last modified: March 2, 2014
