Reunited With My X

Until the past couple weekends, it had been an awful long time since I got to spend any quality time with my X. After a few months of price shopping for the rear tire I wanted, I finally found a deal and bought one. Since I don't mount and balance my own tires, I generally pop the wheel off the bike and take it and the new tire up to Rosenau to have them do that for me.

After a little improvisation to get my X on the bike jack, the frame sits a little lower than the jack will go, I started to take the rear wheel off....until I ran into a space problem. I had the correct size socket for my rear axle, but the socket won't fit between the pipes and the wheel, so I needed a wrench. Drove to Murray's. Nope. Looked online at other places, nope. Found some on Sears website, $60 was the cheapest one I saw....gave up. Long story short, I put some air in the old back tire and just rode it up to Rosenau and paid the extra money to have it all done.

This was the Friday before last, and at the end of my ride on Sunday I had put over 700 miles on my new tire....in just ten days. And four of those days I was unable to ride because of weather or work, so I averaged more than 100 miles for each day I rode the X.

The day I get her back on the road, the Friday before last, was the same day we lost game Seven to Pittsburgh. After that debacle, I took her out for a night ride. Not too far, but I got to spend some quality time with my favorite girl, so that's always nice.

The next day called for rain most of the day, but the rain never came. I finally took her out for another night ride when I went out to Novi to meet up with everyone at Mbargo for Pam's 30th.

Sunday I took a ride out to Hell, MI with Cory & Tish and a bunch of other Harley riders. Even with a little joking about my metric cruiser from Cory as we started the ride at Cheli's, my X fit in nicely, and even out performed Cory's "bulletproof" Harley a few times when we all hit the gas. It was funny to see his head whip over to me as I pulled away from him when he had his throttle all the way open. :-)

I had a blast on the ride out there, and took pics of some cool bikes while we were at the rally, but hanging out with a bunch of cops only reminded me of the poor shape I am in, and how far I have to go in such little time. I guess it's good to have more motivation, but it was an unwelcome reminder that afternoon.

Jumping ahead to this past weekend, Friday night was a washout with all the rain and flooding we got in the area, but Saturday was gorgeous and most of the roads were dry in time for me to ride all the way to Coldwater, MI to check out their Strawberry festival. Honestly, I didn't see all that many strawberries out there, but had a great strawberry/banana smoothie and checked out some cool booths in the festival area.

I should have saved the ride to Coldwater for Sunday, but I wasn't sure how long I'd be in Howell with my dad for Father's Day. Spending approximately 7 hours on my bike before riding to Kelley and Justin's house for their party. I was already tired when I got there, and wasn't quite my outgoing self throughout the night. Although, I am sure Michelle would beg to differ.

Sunday was Father's day, another day of riding, and another small city festival. I met my parents in downtown Howell where they were waiting for me since my ride was about twice as long as normal because of construction. They weren't upset at all though, since my father won $150 on Keno while they waited.

After walking around the festival we went back to their house. They were about to leave for up north so I chatted with them while they packed, and with Jen for a little while when she stopped by with her girls to say hi. After my short visit, I took the long way home and explored a few unfamiliar roads along the way. I finally made my way to the video store, to see if I could get my hands on something I really want. Mmm, rawr! (smirk)

I went into Video Exclusive to see if they had the second season of Mad Men on DVD yet, but was disappointed to see only season one on the shelf. I turned to walk out of the store, and when I did I saw that the first season of True Blood was on the shelf. I had heard a few good things about it, so I decided to give it a try. So far so good, but I am only a couple episodes into it. I am sure I will talk about it here later.

I had also planned to post my morning playlist from today, but I think I've said enough already....I mean, if I am getting bored with writing this post, I can just imagine what it must be like reading it.