I need to get back into yoga ...

 

I went on my first real warm up ride yesterday. Harriet (my trusty steed) had been on the fritz since last fall, working some days but stalling in neutral and idling unevenly on others. After trying about 12 different things and replacing 3-4 parts over the past 8 months, I finally decided to throw in the towel and take her into the shop last week. When I called the shop though, they recommended one more thing I could try on my own and now she's suddenly back up and running like nothing ever happened. As Harriet had been more or less out of commission since September, I hadn't taken a ride longer than 15-20 miles since then. 

With yesterday afternoon being one of few days of true spring weather we've gotten this year in north east Ohio, I decided to go out for a solid ride to get my sea legs back... and within the first 5 miles, I realized just how tight my hips have gotten without doing yoga the past few months. Note to self, I'm going to need to stick to a daily stretching routine if I'm going to make it through this trip.

On the ride, I went about 60 miles in total, mostly along Hawthorne Rd, Chagrin River Rd, and Old Mill Rd. These country roads hug the curves and dips of the Chagrin River for 20+ miles, creating a series rolling and twisting S-turns and helixes that are a motorcyclist's paradise. The speed limits aren't very high on these roads, but they're not the type of roads you want to blast through anyways; the scenery is terrific, with untouched forests, river vistas, small bridges, sprawling country estates, orchards, quaint towns, and even a castle. The pictures above don't quite do it justice (I was having too much fun riding to stop at most of the best picture vistas, but forced myself to stop at a few on the way back so as to not subject you all to another post without pictures). In the exploratory spirit of my upcoming peregrination, I went down some backroads I had never been on and even tried to stop at a local art show in the small town of Gates Mills (though I was immediately asked to leave as it was apparently a "private event"). 

The route I took brought back some memories. Down on the south end of the route, near Hawthorne Rd, I think I ended up on the some of the first roads I ever drove Harriet on. Before my test ride on Harriet, close to 3 years ago, I had never ridden a motorcycle outside of a parking lot. The dealership I bought her at was about 35 highway miles from where I was living at the time. Having never topped 45 miles an hour on a bike, I tried to avoid major roads on the way home and ended up spending about 2 hours on a number of winding backroads through Cleveland metro parks. Back then this trip felt like an almost impossible pipe dream; the reality of it still hasn't fully set in.