I was feeling pretty pleased with myself because I was so
clever to combine a “daddy-do” item and sneaking in a fun ride – I should have
seen the whole thing coming right then and humbled myself because, in retrospect,
the proverb “Pride cometh before a fall” was in full swing. Fortunately it was
not an actual fall.
The day started out pretty good, I was going to meeting my
daughter in Beverly Hills at The Grove in order to return her digital camera;
she was coming in from Santa Barbara to have a girls’ day out with my granddaughter and friends at the
American Girl Place. I had recently upgraded my phone from the ancient iPhone
3Gs to the 5Gs and hadn’t updated my Ram Ball mount so I went old school and
Googled the directions from La Crescenta so that I could write the pertinent turns
in large letters and slide the sheet into my River Road tank map holder. No
worries.
It was a beautiful day for riding with a late morning
kick stand up at 66 degrees and only warming up to the low 70s; ideal. I wove
my way down the twisties from home and hit the 2 freeway south. Google took me
to Glendale Blvd. north to Baxter, on to Rockford, and then to Silver Lake that
turned into Beverly Blvd that took me to The Grove. From Glendale to Silver
Lake were unfamiliar roads and I found Baxter to be an extreme uphill run with
a stop sign that had just enough leveling out to make it an easy stop for a
novice rider. No worries. From the stop you look up the hill to an open sky,
nothing in the backdrop. I went on up and crested the hill to find a steeper
down slope then the approach was up – I was reminded of my first ride on
Goliath at Magic Mountain. If I had come up the hill at speed without caring
what greeted me on the other side I would have gotten air even on my heavy
Victory Cross Country and then I would have careened downhill and into the low
wall to be propelled over the handle bars, over the chain-link fence, and into
the Silver Lake Reservoir. I’m a cautious rider so none of that happened. When
I checked the route this morning my Waze app would have given me a much more
direct route and I would have missed my Goliath adventure if I would have had
the GPS going.
The rest of the ride to The Grove was a leisurely course
along the lake to Beverly Hills where nearly all the beautiful people live,
after all, my riding friends are all beautiful and none of them live in Beverly
Hills and I’ve been missing them big time. The timing was just right and I
pulled out of the parking structure without having to pay after getting some
huge hugs from daughter, granddaughter, and friends, and handing over the
camera.
In the parking lot I flipped over the route sheet to find
my way from there out to Buckles and Belts in Calimesa. I made it to the 10
freeway using dead reckoning and headed east. All I had on the flip-side of my
instructions was the address thinking that the Calimesa off ramp would get me
there. That was error number 2 – error
number 1 being my feeling clever with myself. The ride out to Calimesa was
uneventful and even though freeway riding is not my favorite, the Saturday
morning traffic was light enough to allow me to enjoy the ride for what it was,
a trip out to get a rider’s vest and have my Greater Los Angeles Victory Riders
patch sewn on.
The Calimesa off ramp only got me off the freeway and onto
the side roads and I got turned around pretty fast. I pulled over, twisted
around and opened my saddle bag where, for some stupid reason, I had my iPhone.
I got the route I needed in my head, put my phone into my zippered jacket
pocket where I usually keep it, and made my way to Buckles and Belts, a
destination store for solo and group rides. When I pulled into the lot there
were three Harley riders getting back on their bikes. They complimented me on
the VCC and then told me that the saddle bag was open. Embarrassed, I looked
over and found that the not-so-cheap patch had blown out. I was so flustered
that I could barely muster a decent thank you and return the compliments; they
had a nice set of bikes and deserved more appreciation than I could give them
right then. My planned leisurely shopping and patch sewing excursion was
crushed. I ran in, found the vest and made a cursory lap around a store that
had patches for every taste, jackets, vests, belts, and a wonderful group of
family owners. I recommend the place and a visit to their website to read the owner’s
story: http://www.buckle-belts.net/
. I plan on going back once Mission Arizona ’14, retirement from AT&T, and
my son’s wedding are all behind me in April.
My ride home after retracing my steps and not finding the
patch was glum at best and tedious to boot. Needless to say there is a lesson
to be learned here, stay vigilant on the ride. When something unexpected happens
and gets you out of your normal riding habits, take a step back and take
inventory of your bike, your attitude, and where you are heading. Do this and
it will help you keep the iron side up.
 |
| My new Ram Mount and iPhone 5s; yes, I can still learn. |
