Changes....

Today my wife and I set out on a leisurely Sunday ride, on our 2005 Goldwing...... ten miles out of town, on a country lane, at about 55-60 mph, we had a catastrophic loss of air pressure in our rear Dunlop Elite III with about 8500 miles on it..... The tire had plenty of tread, and while beginning to square, looked like it had some miles to go, although I was planning to replace it within a week or so..... We experienced a wild, yawing, bucking ride until I got it safely to the shoulder, and we both thought we were going down hard..... Damn. The Summer before last we rode on a Pirelli Centaur car tire, from Washington State to North Carolina and back mostly on Highway 50 , two up, pulling a trailer.... we rode the Dragon two or three times, rode over the Lassen Volcano National Monument, Monarch Pass, and Togatee Pass to Jackson's Hole coming home.... no problems, none, for 10, 899 miles and the tire was used when it was given to us along with a spare rear wheel. No problems, none. Tomorrow, I'm going to Walmart with our spare wheel and have another Pirelli run-flat put on. As long as I'm a Goldwinger, I'll be a Darkside Goldwinger, without hesitation or apology. Nothing but a C/T run-flat on the back from now on....nothing. I don't care what anybody says, we won't have a "death ride stop" like that again. Never.

Also,  we may be done as a long-distance motorcycling couple.... While we've only had one accident in well over a quarter million miles (a deer strike in Michigan nearly a decade ago), my wife suffered the most pain and disabling injury then. I was also seriously injured, but not as much as she was. Yesterday, as I fought the handlebars to keep us up during a rapid rear tire deflation, all I could "see" in my mind was, "don't hurt her again, don't hurt her again." My wife is everything to me; she's given up a lot just to be with me; and I could not bear psychologically or emotionally the thought of causing her serious injury again, or perhaps, even her death. I simply cannot bear the thought. I'm too old and too battle scarred to worry much about my own death anymore, and for me alone I'd probably just grin and keep on twisting the damn throttle -- and I shall. Here's what we're gonna do: back after our accident, when she wasn't sure about riding again, we bought her a Miata MX5 sports car. The half-formed plan was for me to ride the Wing, and her to drive the Miata.... And now that half-formed plan is evolving into reality. I put a trailer hitch on the little car right after we bought it, and it pulls the motorcycle camping trailer quite nicely. And she loves to drive that car. So we will still make long trips, but with two vehicles not one -- she driving her beloved Miata, and me on the Wing. When we reach our destination, we might do small day trips on the bike together, or in the car depending upon the situation. It will be more gas burned of course, but we apologize to no one on that issue... for twenty six years we traveled by bike, and slept in a backpack tent. We've earned the extra gas.... I say a lot that love is simply "caring more about another's welfare than your own." And I love my wife. The Good Lord may forgive me for taking chances with my own life, but not hers.... she means too much to too many people.