Saturday 30 July 2011

Piglet's Big Day Out


In which Betty and Piglet go for a Real Ride

Piglet, all excited at the prospect of a real ride
‘Oh bother,’ said Betty. ‘It’s been such ghastly weather since I picked up Piglet from the Harley shop, I fear we haven’t really bonded yet.’

That was an understatement. Piglet’s very first ride from the showroom in Fyshwick was in horrid rain. Poor Piglet (so named because he/she/it is a baby Hog) sat in Betty’s shed through nearly a week of shitty weather, and Harley ventured out at all until the beginning of school.

‘A commute is to riding as Mcdonalds is to fine dining’, said Betty grumpily. She felt a certain disturbing ambivalence towards Piglet, although riding to school in temperatures of minus 5 and minus 6 was rather bracing. By about Tuesday Betty was feeling quite fond of Piglet, and was also delighted, the following Saturday, to note that she still had all her fingers, despite the freezing weather and the lack of heated grips.

It was important, because Saturday was to be a Very Special Day. 

After Stupidball, Betty and Piglet sallied forth on their first proper ride. It was a little ride by anybody’s standards – only about a hundred kilometres all up – but it covered urban roads, highway and some sort of countryish roads.

What a fabulous ride it was, too. Piglet had plenty of grunt (or should that be ‘squeal’?) Very torquey down low, and Betty was very excited to actually get into top gear for the first time! On the run to school, poor Piglet is lucky to make it into third gear!
Piglet waits patiently in Bungendore while Betty has a hot chocolate

Piglet looks so tiny - but packs a punch!

Piglet waits patiently outside friend Trace's place, back in Canberra after a fab first ride
For the first time, Betty felt truly comfortable on Piglet – the week of commuting had given her a bit of practice with the ride position and the controls, so that today she was far more confident, and actually rode Piglet like a motorcycle should be ridden. It was lovely.

On the on-ramp to Parkes Way from Northbourne Avenue, on the way home, Betty laughed maniacally inside her beautiful new Arai helmet as she twisted Piglet's throttle. Piglet responded beautifully, making Betty shriek her head off with delight, and they went home the very best of friends. 
You can't see the grin inside my fab new helmet, but it goes from ear to ear!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

SOOOOEEEEE.... squeal like a piglet!
Glad you and your hawg have made friends Sue.
Now... about that MotoGP in October....

Sue said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yeebok Shu'in said...

Nice one betty! Nicely written with lots of humor

lemmiwinks said...

Excellent!

The Editor said...

"so named because he/she/it is a baby Hog"

I only just got that... D'oh..

Glad that you're ecstatic.

Enjoyed reading about it.

Velocipete said...

Betty, I have not yet heard you as excited about a new motorcycle as you have been with Piglet (I chose the work motorcycle because all other names eluded me and that was the closest I could get). On the topic of Nomenclature, Piglet is a wonderful name.
Many hours of vertical happiness for you both.
Px

tiger xc1200 exploring said...

have been reading your blog for a while and was wondering if you would be getting back to riding and posting with such a great wit
these posts always bring a smile to me .
glad your back riding and posting
roll on the summer months

Sue said...

@dunc - thanks for your message - yep, now the weather is (hopefully) starting to warm up a bit, there should be a few more Piglet tales coming up. *sigh* I think I'm in lurve...

Geoff James said...

Great to see you out and about but one question - where's the wraparound sunnies and open face matt black helmet???

VStarLady said...

What fun you and 'piglet' will have...can't wait to hear more!