Perspective

So I got my ass handed to me in our monthly poker game on Friday (this is strictly nickel-dime-quarter type stuff). A month prior the cards loved me and I cleaned house, so it was somewhat statistically probable that the cards would turn on me this time, and oh boy did they ever. Generally I set a $10 limit for myself and whenever that runs out, I’m done. The only time I broke that rule was Thanksgiving week ’05 when I lost $17 – that’s why I decided not to throw good money after bad any more.

On Saturday I was still smarting a bit from the loss, but feeling better as I was looking forward to my first bike ride in weeks. I knew snow was coming (and it did last night) so this could be my last ride of the year. I headed out Montana Ave and turned left on Lincoln Road. I figured I’d just do a simple Silver City-Birdseye loop. Probably only about 20 miles total.

Approximately 1 mile from Silver City, my throttle cable broke. Riding season was officially over. I could get a replacement in a few weeks and maybe squeeze in a few more rides if we have a mild winter, but I decided against it (see below). I cranked up the idle to the 3000rpm maximum and limped the bike back to Tom’s house, a few miles back towards Helena, where I stashed it overnight. The Fenskes helped me trailer it home on Sunday, which was a whole other ordeal.

So losing $10 in poker was suddenly quite trivial.

The Rest of the Story

Gene has been bugging me off and on about repainting the bike. So I guess that’s what we’re going to do this winter. When I replace the throttle cable I’m going stainless steel braided, and replacing the clutch cable at the same time. I have a number of other mods planned, it all depends on how the money holds out. In the next few weekends I’ll start dismantling the bike and I’ll take the tank and rear fender to the strip shop.