learning to dance with a 900 lb. hippo

The idea for a Very Long ride has been in the back of my mind for awhile.  Four years ago I took a 4,000 mile solo ride on my Yamaha FJR1300, & hated to see the trip come to an end.  But then in ’09 I hit a deer while riding the FJR thru the mountains north of Durango, Co – totaled my bike & gimped up my left shoulder. I’m not sure how the deer fared –by the time I got up off the double yellow lines, he’d slipped over the embankment.  Anyway, I went from the FJR to a VStrom –great bike but the clutch hurt my shoulder.  In January of 2011 I bought myself a 900 lb hippo, aka the Honda Goldwing GL1800.  If the Wing falls over, I plan to stand around looking like a helpless female until a couple of men come along to help.  If it hits a gravity pocket some where in the outback and goes down, I could probably/maybe/hopefully pick it up using my legs for leverage.

Part of the fascination of learning to dance with this 900 lb. hippo is that not only can the Wing dance, she dances very well.   The Wing has the great suspension that attracts so many of us “mature” riders, but it’s also very well balanced & nimble with incredible power.   It took awhile to get use to balancing that much weight while stopping, but I guess the hardest part has been learning to keep the speed down – it’s so heavy and smooth, I’m flying without realizing it.  The FJR was a rocket; the Wing is more like a space shuttle.   This Spring I took both the Experienced Riders Course and Advanced Riders Course thru the MSF –  it’s much easier to drag the foot pegs on the Wing than on the FJR 😉