Spent the afternoon outside in this miserable and ridiculously oppressive heat. Changing oil on this, fixing that, maintaining this..... bla bla bla.
This time of year, in these parts, one has to take a break often and drink water. You need a towel and a stool. The air is heavy and it sits on you like a wet heated blanket. I retreat to my shop with a cold bottle and sit down on the stool. The fan is blowing in my direction, but not overly so. At my age, if I catch a chill, I'll start sneezing and before you know it, I'll have bigger problems. I wipe my brow off and put my glasses back on. And right there, right then, my attention focuses on the FJR.
Intuitively, a smile comes upon me.
She's sitting on the center stand. Immaculately clean and shining beautifully under the florescent light. She looks like she is running 75 mph just sitting there. I study the fairings closely and try to think about what Yamaha was thinking when they designed the bike. How could they come up with a package that is so perfect? It's really the best of all worlds. She's made for mileage, but not at the compromise of performance.
From my low angle perception, I can see the motor. It's a compact and gorgeous package that is all about business. There is NOTHING there without a purpose. I think about where this package has taken me over the past 8 months and 12,000 miles. And I think about the ones before her, identical in design and performance. Collectively, these motors have hauled my fat ass and all my shit all over the country. I've run them up to high speeds at times. Low speeds at others, and still in between most of the time. She doesn't care what I ask of her. Fast, slow - it doesn't matter to her. She's just glad to be out of the shop and part of the adventure. She does it with a confidence that is representative of her lineage, and rightfully so. She's not a squid machine. She's not a bar hopper. No - my baby is a REAL ride. She's ready to go wherever I want to, any time, any day.
What did I do to my FJR today? I spent 5 minutes of quality time with her, day dreaming about adventures past and future.
Stay thirsty, my friends.....