Itch has been scratched

I itched the hell out of the scratch, smelled my fingers, and smiled in delight. That pretty much sums up the day I spent with the Nightster. It really did sooth the urge to go out and buy a bike. But it also answered some questions for me. First, this really is the bike I want to get. Everything, from the fit to the balance of the bike, felt perfect for me. It just felt right. I will probably test ride some other bikes throughout the summer just to make sure. The other question that was answered today was 'Why do people have such a hard on for Harley Davidson?'. I now know why... because they're effin bad ass. Let me try to explain what it felt like being in the presence of this bike. Yes, just saying I got wood would sum it up but I want to relive it. That way I can get wood again.

After signing the papers for the rental, the Cowboy Harley employee lead us outside for a walkaround. He also needed to go through the normal stuff like 'here is the rear brake, lights, ignition, etc'. While he was explaining to me how to start a bike, he fired up the Nightster. The second it fired up my heart just skipped and I got this feeling in my stomach. The feeling was the same you get on rollercoasters or driving on a hilly road. It also produced a slight tingle in my mid region...no joke. Moving on. He then asked me to putt the bike up the parking lot and come back. He asking me to do this replaced my tingling feeling with a nervous sick feeling. I got on the bike and kicked it into gear. I did what he asked and made it through with issues. After this little test he tells me to have fun... oh and be careful with all that torque. Alev and I exchanged the normal "be careful... I will" stuff and I set out. As I pull out of the Harley parking lot I still have that nervous feeling in my stomach. As I get on the frontage rode I crack open the throttle, instantly feeling that torque I was warned about. I wasn't quite ready for it and it lurched my body back. As soon as I cracked open the throttle the nervous feeling was gone... hello woodrow. That feeling lasted all day. If I would notice the feeling going away I would just grab a hand full of throttle. Just listening to the sound of that motor did it for me. I have heard a great many of Harleys but there is nothing like the sound of it when your on it's back. No other manufactures can even come close to that sound.

Just to sum all of that up, riding the Nightster gave me funny feelings... down there.

Now you know me, I have to add a negative to all the positive. The one thing that I did not like on the bike was the 5th gear. When I was riding it like the law says I should, the gear was sluggish in the 65-75 range. It felt like I was in too high of a gear. If I was slamming through the gears and hitting 5th gear at about 80 it felt great. I also think it had a lot of room to go. I got the bike up to about 90 mph and it begged me to push it more. But I wasn't about to test out my luck with that. That's about the only negative thing I could say. The trip did have another negative thing about it but I will get to that further down.

I didn't really plan out a ride as I let the excitement take control of everything. I briefly looked at the wall of maps at the dealership, but that was it. From there I set out towards Bastrop on 71, hitting up the Hyatt Lost PInes resort (beautiful ride). From there I took 71 to 21 heading out towards Paige. Just going where ever I went, I cut over on 1441 to 95 which took me to Elgin. From Elgin, I headed out towards Taylor through a variety of farm roads, leading me to 79. I followed 79 to 35 and took that up to 1431. I headed out towards Lime Creek rd. and then decided to head home for a rest.

As I headed home, my arms started burning. Doh!, I forgot to put on sunscreen and I will wearing a short sleeve. I thought I could get home and catch it before it got bad. Unfortunately, I was totally wrong. It must have already been bad at that point. Check out these pictures.




Yeah... it hurts. This was the other negative thing about today. I can't remember the last time I had a burn this bad.

Here are some pictures from today.






Man know I have to get back on that Honda CM400. It may be a little hard after tasting something so big. Whoa, that sounded a little nasty.

I hope you enjoyed it cause I know I did.