Sunday, July 01, 2007

These things happen

Let's say you are on your way home from a get together for PEL visual arts students and staff in Saint Petersburg. In hopes of staying dry, you are skirting a Summer thunderstorm that looks as if it is on the verge of dumping a significant amount of water onto everything in your immediate vicinity. Maybe you lose track of which street you're riding on, but notice that signs for the interstate are pointing straight ahead. You follow said street to its terminus, in this case an interstate on-ramp. Perhaps this on-ramp is your desired destination, or mayhap it is the final access to a stretch of concrete leading you on a one way journey across 9 miles of bridge whose other end is the last place you intended to go on this particular outing.

So I'm riding over the Howard Frankland on an unplanned field trip to Tampa, cursing loudly into my helmet, and thinking of the middle-aged sport bike rider who left his soul on the Frankland's pavement a couple of weekends ago. It was a typical sport bike accident: high rate of speed+car=afterlife. Statistically, interstates and bridges are two of the safest places to ride, since there are typically multiple lanes of traffic, all headed in the same direction, with no intersections. But the Frankland, the Gandy, and the Courtney Campbell aren't just bridges providing convenient links between South Pinellas County and downtown Tampa, they are race tracks to those who are inclined to open the throttle and tempt the Fates.

There have been a number of sport bike accidents and fatalities on local bridges lately. On the one hand, it is a tragedy, because the people involved are typically young, though middle-aged men seem to be having their share of high speed physics lessons as well in recent weeks. On the other, it is difficult to feel sympathy for someone who was rushing along at a healthy 120mph+ in traffic on the back of a motorcycle. It becomes a "just because you can, does not mean that you should" situation, which can have catastrophic results.

Thankfully, I had no incidents going across. Along the way, I decided that the best plan was to take a trip back to Clearwater via the Courtney Campbell Causeway, so I hit Tampa, effectively turned right the feck around, and came back. Luckily, this one way ticket almost made the trip worth it, as the sun was about an hour and an half away from setting when I started out, so there was a golden sheen over the Bay waters, which looked almost azure through my sunglasses. The breeze was steady, everything had the smell of fresh rain, but the roads were dry, the temperatures were tolerable, and traffic was sane. I ended up riding over 20 miles East/West, and covering about 8 North/South. Not the most efficient way to get home, but these things happen.

I'm more convinced than ever that my seat needs a total rebuild. If I were 5'8" and stocky, it would be perfect, but I'm nearly 6'3" and long-limbed, which makes anything more than an hour in the saddle exponentially more uncomfortable, the further I ride. The seat goes for a custom rebuild and cover this coming weekend, so the bike will probably be down for a full week or so, but it will be worth it once all is said and done. My ass and lower back can't wait!

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Posted by Erik @ 7/01/2007 11:37:00 PM