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8 August 2007
A Morning With My Inner Child

Once again I have been led astray by my inner child. That kid can drive me nuts at times and he seems to enjoy distracting me from my adult responsibilities, especially when he is ignored for long periods of time. But, what can you expect when there's a 16 year old living inside of you that just wants to play.

On Sunday morning (29 July) I had decided to make a pass through some of my favorite back roads prior to heading over to the radio station.

Some mornings are different than others and last Sunday morning was one of those; the earth lined up perfectly with all of the planets in the solar system making traction perfect in every corner.

Phil age 16

These are the conditions that riders dream of, ride bending time and space without cops or traffic or boring interstates. Just roads, twisted and bent and leading to no place in particular. With the intensity of the ride and the once in a blue moon conditions; I let the inner child to do all of the thinking. There were more times that morning, that the irresponsible devil may care kid caused me to doubt my sanity for turning him loose on such a fine day on such a powerful machine.

By the time we reached Ivor; we had traveled some 80 miles and most of that was fueled by pure adrenaline mixed with more endorphins than any 59 year old can handle. Stopping at Kitchens market on 460 for water and a quick cleaning of my faceshield removing one of the states largest dead bug collection. When I checked the time it would be impossible for me to make Norfolk by 10.

Still determined to arrive at our destination we began to make our way toward Norfolk and adult responsibilities. Only for the mistake of letting that kid have the helm, he took a road which neither of us have had the pleasure of bending space and time on before. He kept reasuring me that all the roads in the area always come out on a road we know and we'll just make some time up.

This road was absolutely awesome with lots of seat pucker corners. Some of them so blind you couldn't tell the corner existed until it was way too late to correctly set it up for safe high speed navigation.

Ivor along 460

The kid impressed me, his skills and timing was spot on. Each time panic would well up in the old guy the kid performed flawlessly renewing my faith in the soft science of motorcycling. He bent corner after corner on this new road with precision and skill.

You can get gas anytime in Ivor except Sundays

Phil's inner child ready to ride....

I've never heard of Sexton Brothers Dog Food, but you can get it in Ivor...

This new road surprisingly intersected with a road we both knew; one of our favorites and it connected with another. We wheelied over each crest drove hard out each corner and finally made our way from one back road to another arriving at Owen's Market in Chuckatuk on Evertts Road. Yes we were headed in the correct direction and traveling at warp speeds that only Captain Kirk could comprehend. The old man being overcome now by desire for nicotine forced the pair to take refuge at this little country store.

The little market was closed, and the kid and I argued over going to Norfolk as planned or continuing on enjoying the day. He made a good argument over the waste of the tire rubber, and indeed the tires where flat spotting in center and showed little wear on the edges.

His argument was convincing enough and I had to concede to him that it was a waste of perfectly good tires to wear them out in such a disrespectful way. Pulling out of the market he turned our front wheel in the opposite direction from Norfolk and responsibilities and began to raise the intensity of our riding. Now even more determined to wear out the tires' edges.

Now you know why I wasn't there, I was baby sitting my inner child; that nasty little bastard…