18
When Not to Ride
Filed Under (Bikeography) by Anthony StClair on 18-07-2008
We’ve got a camping trip planned with some friends this weekend… but we’re not taking the Ural.
The reason is simple. It’s not mechanical. It’s not summer heat, or packing, or anything like that.
It’s conversation.
Over the next few weeks, Jodie’s going to be really busy. In addition to her teaching schedule, she has a lot of violin gigs, including some musicals. When she’s not teaching, she’s going to be in rehearsal or at an event, so we’re not going to see each other as much as usual.
So this weekend, with a couple hours drive each way, I’d rather we be able to have easy conversation in the car. We can talk, we can enjoy the drive and each other’s company in chat or silence, but mainly, we just have time to be a little closer. We don’t have intercoms for Svetlana yet, so we can’t really talk on the Ural, and besides, on the bike my main focus is on getting us where we’re going in one piece.
Much as I love Svetlana, I love time with my sweetie more. So this weekend, I’m not going to ride. I’m just going to enjoy time with my woman.
There’ll be plenty of time to ride next week. A man’s still gotta have his saddle time, after all.
Heh, some of the vids I’ve seen of folks riding their Urals and they’ve got an intercom, usually have somewhere in there, “I turned it off because he just kept yakking in my ear! I ride because I don’t want to have to talk all the time.” Or it broke along the way and getting it fixed was a very low priority (see above for reason). It’s something I’m giving some thought before I get my bike.
I’ve heard some of that too. Ultimately though, Jodie and I talked it over and we do want a system. We’re good about knowing when we want/can talk, and it would also be easier to communicate when we need to stop or when it’s time to grab a bite, or when there’s some awesome scenery, that sort of thing.