MY FIRST RIDE

Thrills

Hopping on my new bike for the first time was a thrilling feeling.  It sounded amazing and felt so smooth.  Adam had kindly put the bike in rain mode to keep everything a little slower and, he thought, safer for me.  I rode it out into the street and when the light turned green, I opened the throttle and… crushing disappointment! It was so slow to go! Then I remembered Adam saying rain mode was the easiest to start out in to get familiar with the bike.  Rain mode, for those of you that don’t know, keeps the bike steadier by making the response slower and more soft.  This is great for rain, but it was dry and I was excited and we had a long drive ahead of us. I changed road mode and off I went!

Me with the new bike!

So many features!

This machine was amazing! I quickly sped away from my BFG and the Prius before slowing down to let him catch up. Woohoo this was FUN. We hit Interstate 5 south and took off. I tested out the shift assist pro, it was easy and smooth, though it did take some getting used to. After a lifetime of riding and shifting by rolling off the gas and pulling in the clutch, it was an adjustment to keep the gas open and shift.  Once I got the hang of it though, it was a game changer for me. The windshield is adjustable and goes from its low position, which is out of my line of sight while driving, to up over my head!  I played with it for a bit to find the perfect position.  I rolled back the throttle and felt the bike leap smoothly down the road. It felt wonderful to have that sixth gear and not cruise at 75 mph with the bike at 5,000 rpm. I played with speed to see how it felt at different speeds. I set the cruise control to see how that worked. It felt weird to drive down the road with my right hand free! I even waved to my BFG with my right hand and a huge smile on my face. The display on the R1250RT is adjustable, with a variety of information available for display. So, naturally, I changed it to show something different every mile or so to determine what I liked best.  I settled on tire pressure, but still played with it occasionally throughout the trip.

Riding near Mount Shasta

Most of all, I just enjoyed the feel of the ride. We got gas, then rode for a couple of hours before stopping to take off some of the extra clothes I had on and we were back to it. It was chilly in Eugene, but by the time we got to Wolf Creek, it was warm. We stopped for a late lunch in Weed, CA. It was warm and comfortable, the bike was a dream to drive.  Even though I’d ridden about 250 miles, I was not tired or even close to done. We ate our sandwiches and hit the road again.

This is so AWESOME!!!

So hot but still so much fun!

I knew than once we came down the mountain towards Redding, it was going to get hot. And boy, did it! After a pleasant day of riding the temperature crept up and up, settling at about 100 degrees in Redding. I ride with my full gear, motorcycle pants, jacket, boots, and gloves almost every time I ride and when it is 100 degrees, it gets really hot in all that gear. Also, by this time we’d gone almost 350 miles and I was starting to feel less than euphoric and a little tired. Still happy and excited, but ready to be done. We filled up with gas and I learned first hand of a feature I’d read about on the bike, hill start control. This is a fantastic feature, particularly for shorter riders. When the bike senses it’s on a hill and the brake is fully activated, it holds the bike in place without holding in the brake until the rider drives off. It does take a bit more effort on the clutch and gas but it holds the bike nicely. Bonus feature! This thing just kept getting better and better.

The 99 through Red Bluff and Chico was fun and before I knew it, we were in Oroville, almost home! We rolled into the driveway about 830pm, too late to help feed all the animals. My BFB came out and admired the new ride. She couldn’t wait to go for a spin on this lux machine! At least that was MY impression. We let it cool off a bit and rolled her into the garage. Putting her away was kind of sad. My butt was sore from the uncomfortable stock seat, but I wasn’t ready to stop riding.

Tomorrow was another day and there are a whole lot of roads waiting for us.