Monday, March 26, 2012

Am I cautious or just scared...?


Okay... so here's the thing. During the last three weeks or so, I have been busily organizing myself for getting back in the saddle. The accident which took me from riding happened on the 24th of July 2010. This July will mark 2 years since that event. I am fairly steady on my feet and my strength has been returning gradually. I have worked hard at this getting better schtick and now is the time where I hope (if not expect...) to start reapng the benefits of all this hard work.

So I have gone over the bike with a fine toothed comb. I have found a laundry list of shortcomings from the work done on her by Powersports on Laser Drive in Ottawa. I have addressed these with the maintenance manager and we're still working on squaring them off. A horrendous wiring job on the passing lamps and turn signals (which I had to re-do myself), missing and mis-matched fasteners (battery cover and saddle), missing parts which were on the bike when she went in (an irreplaceable jiffy stand and a $80.00 set of KuryAkyn Stiletto axle caps...), oversights such as no DOT 4 brake fluid in the rear master cylinder (pretty essential for STOPPING...), header nuts not torqued to specs, and other assorted niggling points... For as much as this is all frustrating and disappointing, there is a worse side to all this. I used to have supreme confidence in my ride. Mainly because I had always done the work and maintenance on her and I knew without a doubt, that it had been done right and to specs. Now I have to worry about what else might have been overlooked by Powersports. Great... like there isn't already enough to worry about out there on the road...

So I have been checking everything out that I can think of. I have renewed my motorcycle insurance policy (it's costing me more for the same amount of coverage, but after this experience I'm not going to settle for less...), installed a new battery, got my sticker for my plate, bought a new interim helmet and riding glasses... but I'm still not ready to go. I have been saying that I will have to wash her tires down before I take her out. They are muddy and of course that doen't do anything for traction, certainly not when cornering. And judging by the forecast, it won't be warm enough to do that for a little while yet. Still, I could have simply taken her out in the rain the other day and that would have 'washed' them for me... I wonder...

Am I just setting all these pre-conditions up so I can forestall my first ride? Am I really just being cautious or am I actually afraid? I will admit that I am certainly going to be nervous the first time out. My better half is big on me having someone else along with me for the first ride and I can understand that. But I also explained to her that it will be anxiety-producing enough on it's own, without having an audience there as well. That'll just ratchet up the pucker factor. We'll have to see how that goes. I am confident that after the first 20-30 minutes in the saddle, I'll be right back where I left off that July day.

In the shape my shoulders and neck are today, that won't be anytime soon anyway. I was forced to take the day off work today, in order to find some relief from the stiffness and pain. This lack of massage therapy is taking it's toll. I have arranged another 'emergency massage' session at the Montfort Clinic for this afternoon and will hit the hydromassage tub when I return from this. I'm getting tired of feeling like this but then again, I have come leagues since this all started. Roll on summer...