There's a saying I've heard repeatedly throughout my life. "God hates a coward." When you sit on a mechanical contraption that you've built with little or no experience in that particular field and then travel on it down stretches of road well past the legal limit, I always refer to that and smile. I doubt that any omnipotent being would care whether I'm a coward or not; but the idea has certainly had it's influence over me for many years.
This evening, wrapped up in Kevlar and other miscellaneous life saving materials, I sat on my bike and drove out into the country. Now, I'm not sure that I could draw a mental picture for you of what I felt and saw this evening, but rest assured, I'll try my damnedest.
My first stop was to the local Starbucks to grab a coffee and sit and stare at this creation my father and I have labored over for almost five years. They don't call them Cafe racers for nothing. I drank my coffee in a hurry as I was more interested in getting on it and driving than sitting and looking at it. Once finished, I drove down main street and then headed out west.
The combination of the harmony from the twin cylinders rattling and shaking beneath me, the royal blue sky with a golden sunset hovering over the still snow capped Rocky Mountains, and the fields of bright yellow canola surrounding me was simply amazing. I was alone. No vehicles in either direction. I opened it up.
The whine of the engine was thrilling as I pushed it into top gear. The cool country air filled my helmet and pushed against my body as I lack any form of fairing on the bike. All the better in my opinion. Getting to this point shouldn't be easy or comfortable. In my mind comfortable lends itself to mistakes as your mind tends to drift. Now please bear in mind, this bike isn't built for speed. The engine displacement is around 450 cc. so I won't be breaking the sound barrier. You may want to turn the table 180 degrees and follow that with the statement, "I built this".
God hates a coward.
This will most likely be my last entry till I return from Bonneville next month. Please feel free to follow my twitter feed at @Canuck_Plumber. I'll be posting as I go via my phone and when I return, I'll be spending a month or so stitching the video together for the Bums to Bonneville documentary. Wish me luck.
A special thanks to my wife who is a huge help in making that possible.
You know, I bet half of you read the title and thought. Ok, what has he done now. It's not what I've done, it's about what I'm going to do
ReplyDelete*evil grin*