Still alive

I've taken a little break from blogging, nothing too serious.  All is well in the riding world and otherwise.

The saddle bags are fixed and look as good as new.  The place that fixed the gouges also fixed up the "extra" holes that we drilled into them.  You wouldn't know they ever existed.  I'm not completely pleased with the job, but it's much better then having several glaring scratches on the side.  I also picked up a wrench that fits the bolts for the bags and they are now quite snug with very little vibration.  All I had originally was a very small thumb wrench that I couldn't fit in between the bags and the fender.

The pipes are once again spotless.

Cleaning done with the help of my good friend Autosol.

The shifter is also, dare I say, bent into a better position.  Before the spill I couldn't fit the toe of my boot under the shifter to push up.  Now I can do it with ease.  The only thing remaining is the fender, but that will have to hold off for a bit until we get some extra money.  For some reason you can't just order the front piece.  You have to buy the set of two, with one for the front and one for the back.  Just plain silly and expensive.  Double the price to cover up one scratch.

I also seem to have really messed up my wrist.  On a ride back from my parents house the other weekend, we encountered some inclement weather.  It was cold, raining occasionally and very very windy.  Without a windshield, I'm literally hanging onto the bike for dear life.  For some reason I wasn't using my throttle lock as much as I should have and now I'm suffering for it.  I can't even pick up a cup of tea without getting agonizing pain in my wrist.  Actually typing this hurts.  So it looks like I'm going to have to be a lefty for a while and give my wrist a bit of a break.  It's not going to stop me from riding, of course...  ;)

I still haven't gone out to practice my turns, but then again time hasn't exactly been on my side...or the weather for that matter.  My last three days off were a mess of thunder storms.  Very entertaining to watch, but not so entertaining to ride in.  Won't get much of a chance on my next few days either.  A CMC member will be in town to visit, so we're hoping for a good few days of riding weather.  Here's hoping Mother Nature agrees with us.

I thank all of you for the support.  It's good to have people that understand what it's like to drop a piece of machinery that is "almost" a part of the family.  And to Allen; I hope Autumn gets back to new soon and it's good to know that only the your pride took the real beating.  Best wishes to you.

And with that update, I leave you with a nice HDR shot of Selene and Joey.