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March 19, 2012

ON THE ROAD AGAIN


... yes, you're absolutely correct, in the background is a still frozen over minnehonk lake, ice thick enough that just out of the picture to the left there are two ice fishers doing a bit of winter-is-never-long-enough drilling of holes and dropping hooked lines ... welcome to spring in maine ...

... cleaned and polished to looking new last fall, when i took it out yesterday my little motorcycle seemed like a young colt stabled through a long winter, bolting from barn to hillside pasture the moment the door was opened ... i did my first valve lash adjustment, tightened the chain, torqued every bolt and nut i could access, and snugged all the control cables ... three cheers for electronic ignition and fuel injection, nothing needed my attention with those ... the bike started cleanly at the first turn of the key ... a brief spin to test everything, another inspection, then a ride long enough to make me develop at least a reasonable understanding of what a heroin addict must feel like upon getting the first fix after a long abstinence ... common sense, in large part a function of the number of years i've lived, reminded me to keep my first outing brief, so, very reluctantly, after snapping this picture i parked the bike and locked the door ... walking away, from within the shed i could hear it purring in both satisfaction and anticipation ... such a well mannered machine, don't you think ...

NIKON D200-NIKKOR 18-135@70MM@F7-1/100th-ISO400

"A motorcycle functions entirely in accordance with the laws of reason, and a study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself."

 ROBERT M. PIRSIG