How to not start your day

[WalterE]

So I'm here in DC and normally take the reliable Metro to work.  Well this being March, my line is undergoing serious repair so I had to look for an alternative to get in to town.  And for the first time in 32 years I decided I'd motorcycle in to work.  There's meter parking within a block of my office and it's $.25, yeah a quarter, per hour.  So I saddle up this morning and head out at 5:15AM.  It was just finishing raining so the pavement was wet.  And it's pretty dark in my neighborhood.  Well, as I'm going 20MPH on my street, I come across a downed telephone line.  Of course it's a small black line that I don't see until I'm at it.  And since the road is wet I don't want to lock up the brakes.  And before I can get the bike stopped, the phone line got caught in the front fender and cracked that.  Ugh.  I pulled to the side of the road and this is a section that doesn't have curbs.  Did I mention that this section of road is really dark?  Well, I thought I was still on the pavement, put the side stand down and started to get off the bike and she just slowly rolled on to the left side.  Yep, broke that front foot peg mount.  What a way to start the day.  So I turned around, stuck it in first gear and drove the 2 blocks back home and put my poor Connie in the garage.  I had the new front fender and foot peg mount ordered by 6:15AM.

[Sport Rider]

That's some first post!   

sorry for your experience, but welcome to COG!

[WalterE]

Thanks Sport.  I've stalked this site for nearly 20 years but decided I needed to become a member to share my embarrassment.  Did I mention that my wife was nervous at my riding the bike in rush hour traffic in the dark on wet roads?  And I've this bike since I bought it new in June 1997 but had not used it as a commuter bike.  But that will change once I get the foot peg mount.

[smithr1]

I just took a trip up there over winter to take my dad to something.  I think in the first hour I decided it was NOT a bike trip destination.   If I come back to do more touring it will be Metro and Tour bus only.

Sorry for the tip over. 

I went off roading on a C10 once.   I had so much rock and mud in my front fender once I got back on road that smoke came out when I drove.  I had to stop and try and clear the fender but could not make any progress.   A guy stopped and offered his house and hose a 1/2 mile away.  It still took another hour to clear it.  Not an off road bike period.

[Diz]

Sorry about the tip over. Hearing about the downed line reminded me of the old contractor joke- one can jump out of an airplane with an extension cord as a parachute cause its bound to catch on something. Thanks for sharing