Monday, May 28, 2012

Oh! I forgot!!!

In the process of recounting all of the "oh my god, we're being chased by the storm of all storms, we have to get home!" drama last night, I forgot two important elements from yesterday's ride!



My new pegs! You may remember from our West Virginia trip earlier this month that at one point we'd swapped passenger pegs with our friend Jeff so I could get some relief in my left foot (thank you, plantar fasciitis). Well, once I'd had a taste of the relief I could experience with lowered passenger pegs, Chris coordinated with Jerry soon after we returned from West Virginia.


Chris had new Concours "rider" pegs shipped directly to Jerry's house. (Concours rider pegs are large and have nice, spongy, rubber tops; Concours passenger pegs are smaller and all metal. There is a tremendous amount of vibration that comes through the metal pegs.) Jerry then took the pegs to his brother-in-law who manufactured the lowering "arms." This past Friday, Chris spent the day riding with Jerry and David and came home with the new lowered pegs on the bike. 


Yesterday's ride to Kane and the Kinzua Bridge was my first ride on the new pegs and they were WONDERFUL!!! Eight hours on and off the bike, 289 miles, and not an ounce of pain. Well, maybe an ounce. I noticed two nice bruises on my left calf this morning. Apparently I need to work on my dismount technique now that I have these new pegs. Like I said, they are bigger, lower, and stick out a bit farther than the old ones. But honestly? I'll take two little bruises over the "fire foot" I was experiencing with the old pegs ANY DAY!!!





Thanks to Chris, Jerry, and Kevin for getting me set up in comfort!!!



Turtle Karma.
Turtle karma is a powerful thing! It's good juju to see a turtle while you're riding; it's even better juju if you stop and rescue it from the center of the road. As I mentioned yesterday, we were confident the snapping turtle we saw would make it across the road before, so we only collected a little bit of turtle karma yesterday. But, it paid off later in the day! 


You see, as we were making our way into Penfield along PA 153, this hoser from Maryland in a gray Toyota went flying past us. It was clear his intent was to pass the entire line of traffic, only we don't think he realized the entire line of traffic was being held up by a tanker truck chugging up the mountain. By the time he got past us, there was oncoming traffic and he was running out of passing zone so he fell in line in front of us. 


I laughed and Chris asked, "How did that work out for ya?!?" It was obvious this doofus was in a hurry because as soon as we'd crested the mountain and hit a passing zone, off he went again passing with reckless abandon. When we arrived at the gas station in Penfield, the speed demon was filling up his car. It was then that I noticed he was wearing a Ravens' hat. (Enough said.) Just as we were finishing filling up the Concours, the guy whipped out of the gas station like a maniac and was gone!


Or so we thought...


About 30 minutes later as we passed through Philipsburg, we saw Turtle Karma in action. A state trooper had pulled over our "friend" from Maryland. Oh, how Chris and I laughed!!! In fact, I actually laughed and pointed as we rode by! Sure, it's kinda mean, but this guy was asking for it the way he was driving. And boy did he look pissed as the trooper was talking to him. Thanks, snapping turtle!!!

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