Been riding the bike to work this week. Getting better everyday. Like I said before, I am on overtime this week. That means I don't get finished til midnight. Last night, I never saw another vehicle the whole way home. It was kinda eerie, but awesome at the same time.

Tonight on the way home, I decided to try out the freeway for the very first time. I got on near my work, and just went north until the next exit. It was prolly only like 5 miles or so, but I did it! Wasn't real fond of it though.....will definately need more practice at that. Now at least I know I can do it if I ever need to. After that little excursion I zigzagged on my own side of town. I went back and forth around blocks practicing my take-offs, turns, stops, yields....you know residential driving.

It has been in the 90's here and pretty humid too....it is awful at work...I get pretty sweaty and grimy. I have to admit, I haven't worn a jacket, not even my mesh this week. I do however wear my gloves and helmet.

Okay, enough for now, time to get some sleep, gotta work again tomorrow.

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SilveradoGirl--

**Your ride doesn't matter.... the fact that you DO ride is what's important!**

Last year Bill told me to ride to work everyday, it would help me get the little things....I told him he was nuts, how was riding 7 miles a day one way going to help me improve, by the time I get going its time to stop. Once again, he was right, and I was wrong. The past two weeks I think I have mastered more stuff, and gained more confidence than all of my riding put together thus far!

Monday night on the way home from work, I finally nailed the "yeild"!! I have two yields I deal with everyday, one on the way too work, and one on the way home. More or less they are one road merging to another with right turn, no stop. I have had problems with them from day one. It seems I always downshift too much too fast. It's like I am almost stopped too far back in the turn. Also, I have been far from smooth in execution of the yeild period.

Last night however, it all came together. I held a constant speed, (slow enough to look for traffic and react) and cornered through it perfect! It was kinda funny cuz after I did it, I threw my fist in the air and hollered. It was funny, if anyone had been behind me they would have thought I was crazy for sure! Guess they wouldn't have been too far off really

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SilveradoGirl--

**Your ride doesn't matter.... the fact that you DO ride is what's important!**

I almost forgot to tell you guys. I have been doing some shopping! With all the overtime I have been working, I have a few extra bucks, so I did a little accesory shopping for the Silverado. This past weekend I ordered a leather studded tank panel. It should match my seat and bags pretty well. I also ordered engine guards, and a star conche emblem for my backrest. I'm gonna try to make the ol Silverado a little prettier.

Once everything gets here, and I get them all installed, I'll take new pics and post them, if I remember how!

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SilveradoGirl--

**Your ride doesn't matter.... the fact that you DO ride is what's important!**

That's awesome! glad to see your getting the chance to ride to work...


How's the shopping going, any pics of the new goodies?

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2006 VTX 1300 R


Life looks alot better through a set of handlebars!!

Awesome Blog!

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1979 XS650F -- "Hi, My name's Nick, and I'm a Motorcyclist. I've been dry for four years." (Everybody: "Hi, Nick.")

okay, here goes nothing.....first time since I started this blog that I posted pics....

Like was said before, I ordered some make pretty parts, not go fast parts for the Silverado. With all the overtime at work, I finally had a chance to install them all. Nothing hard, but still takes a little time out of the day, couple minutes anyways.

First off, I got a conche star emblem for the backrest......it just looked too plain for my taste with nothing back there.





then I got a leather tank panel/studded...



and last, I installed some small engine guards...mostly so I have a place to mount my next investment...hwy pegs.





and here is a shot of the whole thing



Felt good to install the stuff myself...and to finally make my bike start to feel like my own, not like every other one out on the road. I got my J&P catalog the other day, and it was like a little kid getting a toy catalog at Christmas time. I already have a ton of things picked out to do to this ride. Now, I just gotta work more overtime so I can afford to do it!

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SilveradoGirl--

**Your ride doesn't matter.... the fact that you DO ride is what's important!**

HI there everyone! I know it has been a while, but I gotta tell you; the more I ride, the less I want to take time to write about it. I just wanna ride more!!

I have been taking the bike to work, and that of course, as stated in earlier posts has taught me a TON of new riding skills I never knew about. (okay, and once again, "you told me so honey" ) I did get the chance to practice my emergency, lock up the brakes, and skid technique earlier this week. I was on my way to work, you know, just tooling along, 35 m.p.h. in town. Up ahead I see a car begin to back out of a driveway. Knowing the idiots I am surrounded by in this town, I instinctively covered both my brakes but proceeded on cautiously. Sure enough, as suspected the dumb lady never even thought of stopping at the end of the driveway to look for traffic, just backed right out into the street. Just so happens I was on that same street....mere feet behind her.

I grabbed a handfull of brakes and stomped the foot brake too. (emergency braking technique from msf class.....priceless) I came to a stop inches behind the woman. She looks in her rear view mirror and must have saw nothing but me, and my mirrored visor......guess it scared her cuz the 'ol bat hammered the accelerator and in seconds was doing 50mph in a 35mph zone. Of course about a block after she hit 50mph was a red light (one of 3 stop lights in my town). So I came up behind her again. Me being me, I stared her down through the mirror....you know. Anyways, light turns green and she takes off...I am going the same way as her through town, and I think it made her nervous to know I was still behind her. She kept looking in her mirror, and at one time, while going around a corner/yield of one road into another.....she actually drove up and over the curb with all 4 wheels!! The woman was crazy. I guess what they taught us in drivers ed was true....best to stay behind crazy drivers...you can always react to them.....not too sure I would have wanted her on my rear while I was on my motorcycle.....at any rate she turns into the gas station on the next street, and I proceeded to work after I waved bye-bye to her in my own special way

It was definately a learning experience....I also realized in the past few weeks, that the tar patch strips on many of the roads around here get pretty squishy/slippery when its 90+ degrees outside....and one last parting word of wisdom.....squished chipmunks are slippery too

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SilveradoGirl--

**Your ride doesn't matter.... the fact that you DO ride is what's important!**

Heh heh heh..isnt it great when some one who has cut you off or something along those lines, just happens to be going in the same direction you are for a while after they have seen what they did....I had the opportunity to follow someone for a few klicks..the eyes in the rear veiw are priceless....

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2006 Kawasaki Vulcan 500 LTD
CMC 049

Stay safe out there!
Love your MC.
Found a great deal on an 06 Classic 650 ($4900, prep/Dest include- tax/title not addded yet), but i need to sell my 650 Honda nIghthawk first.
Looking forward to sharing stories on our Star's soon

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"Born to Lose and Destined to Fail"

Awesome accessories! And, I know what you mean about riding more and writing less... lol.

Stay Safe Out There!

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Motorcycle Safety Foundation - USA
Patriot Guard Riders
My Blog
Fire and Iron MC
Fire&Iron Station 281