1st week

One week and only 322 miles.

The little time I got on the bike was fun. It rained a lot and I'm recovering from a car accident seeing chiropractor 3x/week so my back is not the best.

Impressions: The 919 is a nice bike. It has the pick up for a fun around town bike and can travel at highway speeds without rattling you to death. I do miss a wind blocker at those speeds and she is not as smooth as I would wish, but she is the ultimate trade off motorcycle. She can do all things well. This I find, is exactly what was written about her.

My real complaints are not about the 9er, but about my helmet. I have a HJC passenger helmet (i.e. I bought it for riding a passenger) I'm using because my Arai got banged up in the wreck that lost my Busa. I've been so fed up with it I put on my Arai a few times because it's so darned comfy and I'm getting sick of the HJC. Stupid, I know, but better than riding without a helmet. So I spent the week helmet shopping and nothing fits me. I'm going to have to special order another Arai, and I really don't want to order one sight unseen because my Quantum/f is no longer available. The Quantum 2 is supposed to be the same, but..... call me jaded... I believe only half what I see anymore and hardly anything I'm told... especially by advertisers.

None of the stores have any lids over 200... which takes away all Arai and Shoei. They say, until KY passes a helmet law it just doesn't make since. They sell one or two a year, if that. This makes me sick. I can't understand how someone can spend 10-20k on a bike... plus mods... and most over 1k per year on insurance, but won't lay out 500$ on a helmet that can and most probably will save your life!!!!

Rant over

I have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and I'm going through a very, very, very hard time right now. Riding is the absolute best medicine/therapy for me. The pharmaceuticals they like to throw at me do nothing to fix the problem and really do very little to help. I am in therapy multiple times a week and this is the long-term solution. But being on a bike is pure meditation. The bike, the road, and you... it all melts away and all you become one with the bike and the world around you. I hate to get off even with my arse and back aching.

I really mis California. I loved riding along Big Sur. KY is pretty, but just doesn't compare to some of the places I've lived and traveled too. If Cali wasn't so messed up as a state I would love to move back, but even more I want to move to Hawaii. Just sitting by the beach, and driving my bike almost make life worth living again. The bike lets you exorcise those deamons that say it's time to run/fight, and the ocean lets you drown away your sorrows with infinite horizons as the surf sings a siren song of love.

But for now, I live here for family.