Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The Silver Lining...


I left home this morning and headed out down Innes. At 0638 it was already 24 degrees. It was going to be another warm one. After the light at 10th Line, I began accelerating when I heard a distinct and quite worrisome rattling noise. It seemed to be coming from the bike's top end (under the tank). As I went faster, the noise grew louder. I immediately pulled over to the side of the road, letting the engine idle and listening intently. Nothing. I revved the engine a little bit... Still no noise.

I snicked her into gear and cautiously left the shoulder of the road. Fine... I picked up a little more speed and there it was again. That same rattling noise!

I rode her slowly towards Jeanne D'Arc, a thousand thought racing through my head. Should I try to ride her into the dealership so they could look at her there? Should I turn around and head back home, to take the bus in? Either way I would have to call work to advise them I was going to be late... Holy Crap!! I really didn't need to consider this kind of expense at this point... What was I going to do...??? I turned down Jeanne D'Arc, the rattling sound picking up as I gained momentum. I rolled my eyes skyward as I thought about the unfairness of it all... and that's when I saw it...

I saw the right-hand edge of my snap-on visor vibrating in the breeze, as it had unsnapped from the helmet. As it vibrated, the loose snap produced this rattling noise against my helmet. That's all it had been.

I laughed out loud as I pulled the bike over to the curb. I felt an immense sense of relief wash over me. It even negated the initial "Oh-my-God-how-could-I-be-so-stupid" feeling. I re-fastened the wayward snap and thundered off again. No rattle this time. Life was again good... :)

May all your personal emergencies today, turn out to be just as trivial...


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