On Saturday afternoon, we picked up Jodie’s silver, size small, HJC CL-15 helmet (just like mine) at Eugene’s Discount Motorcycle Parts.

Since our helmets are identical, we had to find a way to tell them apart. So we found her a wee sticker for the back of her helmet. It says, “Foxy Rider”. Hell yes she is!

More smiles per gallon

The day we got the Ural, Jodie had gotten to sit in the sidecar, but this was the first time that we actually got to ride around together. We’d been looking forward to this for a couple of days, as I finally felt confident enough for her to start going around the neighborhood with me. (We also tried to ride with Ella, but so far she’s not adjusted enough to her doggles or the bike in motion. She’ll be riding around with us soon enough though.)

I did feel a little nervous, since this was my first time driving the sidecar with an actual passenger, instead of some bags of pellets. On the plus side, pellets don’t shift their weight on turns. Jodie did just fine, leaning with me and the bike on turns and curves.

Driving up the Happiness Factor

Driving the Ural already has been an exercise in seeing lots of smiles and waves. At the risk of sounding a bit corny, these crazy Russian sidecar rigs bring a bit of happiness to people.

Riding around with an actual passenger, however, drives that happiness factor up exponentially. The entire time we were out, people were waving. Grinning. Tapping their walking buddy on the arm and pointing. Seeing two people on the bike, not just one, made a big difference. Jodie and I got a big kick out of all the smiles and waves.

Back home, Jodie was all smiles too. “I loved it!” she told me after we took off our helmets.

I knew she was the perfect hack monkey. And such a foxy one, too.