It's going to be a long summer

So I got my first taste of summer riding yesterday. Of course, it's only going to get worse. Riding home from work yesterday, heading down the 17, decided to pass the exit to get to the 202 and just continue on to the 10 East. I'm just coming up on the 19th Ave exit and I see it. The line of cars, truck, 18-wheelers. Sitting. Not moving. Of course, I was in the far left lane and couldn't hop off the freeway in time so there I sat. Oh, I'd move about 6 feet every thirty seconds or so but the only other thing I could think to do with my time was stare intently at my temperature reading. It was like learning to count all over again, saying out loud how hot the bike was getting with every change in number.

I decided that it would be best to head to the shoulder and let the bike cool down a bit. This was after it had reached about 30 degrees in excess of normal. I got onto the right shoulder, shut her down and hopped off the bike. It was hot. That 105 degrees felt like 117. There were no bridges, no signs, nothing from which to seek shade. About 5 minutes after I stopped, a trucker driving by handed me a bottle of water out of the cab of his truck. It was so cold, so delicious and definitely a life saver.

Time to re-enter traffic, I suppose. I hopped back on the trusty SV, edged my way back into traffic but the guy behind me didn't like that much and thus felt the need to get right up on my rear wheel with every stop. I had enough. Despite knowing that the shoulder is not to be traveled on, I hopped back over and began cruising at a responsible 10 miles per hour, almost as a way to apologize to the motorists I was passing. I decided that this would be a better option since 1) I didn't want to either break down or get hit, thus causing more traffic issues on the freeway and 2) I figured running the bike at 10mph would at least allow it the chance to cool down a little.

This plan took me about 3/4 of a mile until I saw the moto-cop in front of me, about 50 yards up the shoulder. I figured that would be a good time to migrate back into traffic and luckily, we finally passed the accident and I was on my way.

Lessons Learned:

• Buy a hydrating vest. Now.
• Always bring water no matter where I'm going.
• The shoulder is a viable escape route from tailgating cagers in a stand-still.
• Truckers are awesome.
• Water is awesome.
• Motorcycles overheat quickly when just sitting.
• Cagers hate it when you try to get in front of them, even if they're sitting perfectly still.