Friday, July 9, 2010

And I shall call him, Bucephalus!



So as my last post indicated, I did not make it to Ireland. Alas, it was not meant to be. Instead, I got this!!!

My last bike was named Angelina, but this bike is not a girl bike, its a boy bike. I was having a hard time finding a name when my latest boy toy, (thank you Christian!) made an inspired suggestion, Bucephalus! Bucephalus was Alexander the Great's horse and one of the most famous actual horses of antiquity. A massive creature with a massive head, Bucephalus is described as having a black coat with a large white star on his brow. It seemed fitting.

Bucephalus is a Honda ST1300, no, for those of you who are wondering, that is too much bike for little ol' me. :) It is crazy what common peception is out there about what kind of bike a woman should and shouldn't ride. Yesterday, I actually had a man roll down his window and say, "I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, but you don't look like you belong on this bike." I think he meant it as a compliment, so I tried not to tell to go walk the bear. Instead, I replied, "It sounds like we need to change your expectation of who you think should ride this bike." But I have a feeling that is going to be a common tune I sing for the next little while.

So far I have had him for three whole days and put over 200 miles on him. Oh yeah! I forgot. So over the July 4th weekend, my father and I went on a 1,200 mile ride up through the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone to the Bear Tooth Pass on our motorcycles. I was still riding Angelina at the time, I didn't have Bucephalus yet. The ride was absolutely incredible. We didn't ride on freeways and such. We stuck to back routes through canyons and lake sides and the like. It was an absolutely gorgeous ride.


View Grand Tetons,Yellowstone, Bear Tooth Pass, 2010 in a larger map