It is Sunday, feels like Sunday, spent the morning/afternoon in a parking lot on a Honda 250 Nighthawk with a jumpy throttle workin' on my S curve. Yeah...
This weekend was lots of fun, even through a mist of sleep deprivation that affords a soft fuzziness to everything. I took the first of three Beginner Training Course classes in Chillicothe Friday night, the classroom portion that wasn't half as much of a drag as I thought it might be. The lectures are supplemented with a video featuring total babes (really!) talking about how much fun is to ride a motorcycle and the seriousness of the safety side of riding, but not in a fire and brimstone kind of way. We talked about the controls of the bike, the best way to deal with problems you might encounter i.e. tight curves, debris in the road and the actual road laws.
After the class I drove home on route 50 back to Athens saying more than one prayer just to get home alright, considering the saab has been acting a little funny and the eight leaping deer warnings posted beside the road. I got back just a little late to work at the Union for eighties Dance or Die night, bartending was easy and there were a lot of friendly people there. Home at 4:30 AM, awake again at 6:15 AM to drive back to Chillicothe for the second BTC class that began at 8 AM. Upon arrival I saw twelve bikes lined up in the parking lot, a few suzuki cruisers, suz dirtbikes, Honda Rebels and a few Nighthawks, all in the 200-250cc range. We picked our bike, hopped on, found neutral and listened to a long and totally necessary talk about the "friction zone" and covering the clutch until we were used to the bikes. The rest of the day dealt with maneuverability and control issues, cone weaves, leaning on curves, etc. It was fun, kinda fun, kind of like school and to be honest although I know that I've learned a lot about controlling the bike I can't help but think that the road will be a completely different animal.
I drove home on route 50 again, this time in daylight and it is an absolutely beautiful way to travel to that part of Ohio. I would go as far as to say that it is the most beautiful road I've ever traveled on. Maybe the time of year added to the appeal, but really, it was hard to put into words. Very much southern Ohio, but apparently it is a route that will take you all the way to California.

Anyway, not to bore you with details but I got home after tha class and passed out for two hours and then back to work for the Dead Sea show, which was a lot of fun and AJ and I had a successful work night. I tried to get home early but didn't get to sleep until 4AM again, waking up (late!) at 6:45 and RAN out of the house making it to my final BTC class at 8:05. They were nice about it.

Ahhh, this story ends well as I passed the test and now have my Motorcycle operator endorsement! That, along with my new plates and newly changed title, leaves room for the last few steps, namely figuring out why the hell gas keeps overflowing out of one side of the carburetors, a new set of tires and a fresh insurance policy. It will feel good to be totally legitimate about the whole thing.