One more, again, on the TLr, but this tread has made me realise how much better these rides were because of the time of day,....seriously, there's something to be said for seeing that sun come up, or go down below the horizon on a ride.
Hate to bring it up, but two of the coolest scenes in the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" with Brad Pitt was one, when he's left the love of his life in bed, knows he's leaving for a long while, hopped on a I think a Triumph or BSA 750 and cruises along, admiring the sunrise over the southern US Gulf. And another scene were he's really young, like 19 y.o., and riding some ****box bike in some south asia plain watching a sunset over feilds.
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Ok, the early trips into town continue to be a great source of driving/riding experiences.
At 530am the roads here are mostly empty and the people who are driving then are used to scooting along at full clip,...the traffic thru the under river tunnel is commonly going 110kph,...that never happens any other time. It takes just one confused/scared driver to slow traffic down, and of course closer to the rush hours it just slows with the volume.
On the bike I get to ride right up to the tunnel like the buses tho in the HOV lane,...the bike is good in rush hours.
But those early mornings,....
So yesterday me and this guy in a big black Ram Hemi truck are cruising side by side on the stretch coming up to the cloverleaf to the tunnel,...he "thinks" hez going to force me to either speed up or slow down so we can get behind one or the other in the lane for the 270 degree circle to the right.
Except I am in a lane that goes over the overpass and allows me to take the shortcut to the left, to allow me to scoot around and come up via the HOV lane like the buses. All legal as I'm on a motorcycle.
I brake hard, downshift all the way to 1st for the really tight turn to the left and then roll on the throttle and the bike just rockets up to speed, by the time I'm coming around to join the lanes lined up for the tunnel I'm blowing by cars,...in what normally people would think is the slow lane?!
The guy in the truck is way behind in my mirrors and I'm kinda laughing thinking that he probably thought he had me beat.
THEN a BIG, all black full sized GMC SUV with HUGE flashing red/blue and bright LED lights was RIGHT up on my ass, just before the tunnel,....holy ****,...had he just seen my little full on brake/full on throttle up thru the gears run?,....I kinda turned and gave a "what me"/"where am I supposed to pull over here?" gesture and he changed lanes and blew by ME,...I watched as he went lane to lane passing cars in the tunnel ahead of me,....was he trying to get ahead of me to wait for me on the other side?,.....
Nope,...there was something big happening just off at the exit, lot's of cops there,...he was just trying to get PAST me,....whewwww,....
Today,...same section of road,...this guy in, no kidding, a Smart Car was tail gating me,...trying to prove he can keep up or whatever,...I let him pass me and he, like the truck driver yesterday went around the cloverleaf to the right, I'm thinking he was surely smirking, thinking he had somehow proven to both him and me that his golf cart sized car was worthy.
I had to slow for traffic in front of me on the shortcut route,...Almost stopped, from a rolling start, turn full left then roll on the throttle, This bike gets LOUD when you get way into the throttle. 130Hp rips the morning air apart and I come shooting around the corner to line up for the tunnel, the front tire kinda skipping along, almost airborne with the acceleration. It seems I'm looking right at the side of the Blue/Silver Smart Car as we are converging,....I catch a glimpse of his wide open eyes and mouth as I rocket by him, ten feet away on the inside lane,.......seriously,...hilarious.
Then just cruise, keeping up to the fast traffic, tucked in, 110kph to town/work,...