This morning I went for a ride. Just me and my ACE. It was a nice quiet cloudy Sunday morning with little traffic. I’m lucky to be so close to many low traffic back roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today was different though, a little more than just a relaxing ride, this morning the odometer would make that special roll, as the the little Honda that just keeps going and going first hit that 99,999 number and then 100,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’m sure the number of motorcycles that make 100,000 miles is a small percentage, and if you take away the large touring bikes, it’s smaller still. I’m proud to be a part of this special group, that ride and keep riding. I’m proud of my bike that’s taken me so many miles. All trouble-free with never a single mechanical breakdown, only normal maintenance items. Chains & sprockets, brakes, so many tires and probably thirty plus oil changes. I shouldn’t talk much the maintenance that was ignored LOL, valve checks: none; flushing of fluids: none; plugs and air cleaners: once. Luckily, it’s a Honda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember that first ride home from the dealer, how I felt so happy, It took weeks for the smile to wear off. I remember that very hot day, in the first month of ownership that I stopped under some shade trees to escape the sun for a moment and get a drink of water and my helmet slipping out my sweaty hands and hitting and putting a dent in the gas tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember so many rides with friends. To the Ozarks, to the Smoky Mountains, Big Bend and the Hill Country. The bike was great, the experiences memorable but the friendships priceless. I think back about joining the SCRC Conroe riding club, and how that changed my life as much as the bike itself. The friends I’ve made, the good times we’ve shared. The trips to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the kids, the money we raised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember so many rides alone as well, just me and my ACE. Mile after mile, the wind, the sky, this beautiful country. I often pushed it too hard, too many miles in a single day, which probably lead to back surgery number three. I remember staying behind for another extra day in West Texas, and spending part of it on Pinto Canyon road, which was recently featured in Ride Texas as a great off-road ride for enduro bikes. I had no business there on a cruiser, but I did not know better and loved every minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember making a right turn and hitting some fresh-spilled diesel on going down and sliding 30 feet on the pavement. This reinforced my belief in wearing proper gear. And getting hit from behind at a stop light and getting my rear fender dented. I certainly recall doing my bucking-bull riding impression when attempting a panic stop on the freeway at 70+ going to Memphis – losing the rear, then the front, but somehow managing to stay upright. I hardly remember all the near misses that are just a part of daily riding. I enjoyed the Safety class I took prior to buying the ACE and the several refresher advanced courses I’ve taken since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think about feeling sad recently when I see the ACE parked too much in the garage collecting dust and cobwebs. The Honda ST100 bike that I bought last year gets the majority of the riding time now. But the ACE will always be here, never to be parted with – waiting patiently to be fired up and ridden, for another ride, working towards that next 100,000 miles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This morning I went for a ride. Just me and my ACE. It was a nice quiet cloudy Sunday morning with little traffic. I’m lucky to be so close to many low traffic back roads. Today was different though, a little more than just a relaxing ride, this morning the odometer would make that special roll, as the the little...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motorcycling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/texasace.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/texasace.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/texasace.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texasace.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texasace.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/texasace.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":790,"href":"https:\/\/texasace.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions\/790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texasace.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/texasace.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texasace.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/texasace.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}