“I can’t wait for riding season to get here,” my dad told me the other day, as we spoke on the phone and rain dumped outside. “I’m itching for a ride.”

I was itching for one too. So that’s where I got it.

Hadn’t ridden a single km in nearly a week, since last week’s real ride. Rain and some other tasks had kept the Patrol in the garage. Today, however, today I got home from work, and it wasn’t raining. There were breaks of blue in the thick clouds. It was even a little sunny. Just a quick ride, I thought. I gotta have one.
I popped the enricheners, hit the starter and the bike fired right up. After only about 10 seconds the engine didn’t need the richer mixture, so I popped the enricheners back in and got my riding kit on while the Ural purred.

It was glorious. The sun was out, people were waving, and it just felt so bloody good to be on my bike again. It was a short ride, just a wee tear around the area, but it was enough o also get in a good dose of UDF.

Thrift Store UDF

I thought I’d make the ride at least mildly practical, so on the way home I wheeled into S.A.R.A.’s Treasures Thrift and Gift Store, a great wee thrift store on River Road (near Park Avenue). At the register on the way out, one of the women and I got to talking motorcycles. She had recently gotten her first bike, a wee cruiser from United Motors.
We talked Urals, starter bikes and training classes (such as Team Oregon Motorcycle Training and Adventure Sidecar’s Trike and Sidecar Motorcycle Training.

She called my bike “handsome” too. It was cool.

Back at home, I felt relieved and happy (and wasn’t twitching anymore). It was a quick ride, but I was back on the Ural again, and that was all that mattered.