Blaugust 3 - Motorcycle
I used to ride! The idea of riding had intrigued me for a while. I was in my early 40s when I decided to take a class. I went through a rider course, looked for a bike and ended up with a 2009 Kawasaki Ninja 250r. The owner was sad to see her go but he had a small child, another on the way and his wife said his riding days were over. The Ninja was a good little bike and we went on a lot of adventures. She was balky on cold mornings but so am I!
Mostly I rode alone, sometimes with another, very occasionally with a very small group. I joined a ladies riding group and went on 3 group rides with them. They were a lovely bunch but that was enough for me to learn that I didn't particularly care for large group rides.
Twisty section of Hwy 60 in Salt River Canyon
You'd think riding a sportsbike I would be tearing through the twisties but I hated sharp turns! I loved just gliding into big, wide sweeping turns.
I never rode out of state. There was plenty of great riding within the state. One of the places I post about in the Off the Beaten Path section of my website, Coolidge Dam, was a motorcycle adventure. I rode up to Payson, through the small mining towns in the southeast (Superior, Kearny, Hayden, Winkleman, Globe), down to Ajo which is near the Mexican border. There was so much to see and Arizona is just full of beautiful scenery.
Sweeping curve between Payson and Phoenix, courtesy of Google Street View
The Ninja ended up having a sudden, terminal engine issue and was replaced by a Honda CBR250. I rode for a little while longer after that but I ended up riding less and less until I finally decided my riding days were behind me.
I don't think I'll ever take up riding again but I had fun while I was doing it and I have a lot of neat memories.
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