Maiden Voyage

ample parking

Today was the maiden voyage. My first commute to work on my 2007 Triumph Bonneville. After replacing the obscenely loud exhaust that the previous owner had installed (I know "BLASPHEMY!!!! LOAD PIPES SAVE LIVES DUDE!!!!.), and waiting for all of the recent thunderstorms to pass, I was finally ready.

I must say, everything went relatively smoothly. Despite installing the quieter stock pipes (which I did all by myself - thank you very much), I rolled my bike out of the backyard and near the sidewalk so I wouldn't disturb my neighbors. A quick jaunt to the local gas station to check my tire pressure, and I was off! I decided to take the long way to work, following a similar route to my old bicycle commute, through Griffith Park on Crystal Springs Road. As I anticipated, the drive through the park was excellent. I was able to take a few easy curves at higher speeds without having to worry about a lot of traffic. The surroundings are of course beautiful, and I tried hard not to let them distract me.

I was sure there would be at least one embarrassing moment, and I was right - although it was a personal one. I've been constantly reminding myself to keep my head and eyes up (VERY IMPORTANT), but since I'm still getting a feel for what different speeds feel like without looking at the speedometer, I did quickly glance down to see how fast I was going a few times. I was taking it very slow and riding very conservatively the whole time. I was sure that I was doing 35-40 mph a couple of times, but my speedometer always seemed to hover around 30 most of the time. It wasn't until after Griffith Park that I realized that I had been looking at my TACHOMETER THE WHOLE TIME!!!!!!!

Yikes.

I'm a little nervous about the ride home, as it will be my first time riding at night. Here goes nothing...