Well, today was supposed to be a great day. The weather had been perfect for the past few days and the TVSC had big plans for the Memorial Day weekend. To show our wives/girlfriends the route we guys ride every sunday, we decided to make today our "Spring Pillion Ride". The plan was to take our wives/girlfriends for a ride, take it real easy, show the ladies a good time, and hopefully spark some interest with our significant other.

To prepare for the special day, I spent a solid hour yesterday washing and polishing the bike. I also went ahead and adjusted the suspension to make the ride more comfortable. When I left the garage yesterday, it was 70F and sunny. All I could think was, "wow, tomorrow is going to be awesome!"

Woke up this morning to HEAVY cloud cover. My wife and I flip on the local news; weather man says there is only a 30% chance of rain. After looking at the report and looking at the sky, the wife and I decide that we should be ok. We gear up and head out. I start the bike and notice a few sprinkles on the gas tank. "Oh surely it isn't going to rain," I thought to myself. However, this horrible feeling came over me that something bad was going to happen today. But, I brush this negative gut-feeling off and head to the meeting spot. M and I decide if there is a nice crowd, then maybe we will go. If it is like two other bikes, we will come home. M (short for my wife) decide this is a good plan.

We get to the meeting spot and there are TONS of people. At least ten couples there for the "pillion ride". Wow! Turnout is AMAZING! I start introducing my wife to the fellow riders. After socializing for about thirty minutes, the group decides it is time to ride. Again, it starts to sprinkle just a touch; however we all as a group agree it isn't going to rain. After all, the weather man says there is only a 30% chance. Normally, we don't worry about rain until the weather man says 75% or higher. It's not going rain and off we go.

It's fifteen to twenty miles to reach the twisties from the meeting spot. As normal, things are alittle crazy in the front of the group as some riders prove they are "fast". M and I hang out in the back of the group and get a feel for the other riders. Things settle quickly and everyone seems to fall into a nice pace about five to ten mph above the speed limit. Things are going pretty good.

After twenty minutes, we reach the twisty section. M and I pull-over to let the "fast guys" go first while the two-up riders hang out for a second to "pull up the rear". Unfortunately, the first few riders go Wide Open Throttle and are out of site within a matter of seconds. Personally, I will run a decent clip through there when I'm by myself. But holy snikes did they take off! No way am I even going to attempt to keep them in sight with M on the back!

This is when the day goes from questionable to bad. We no sooner get another ten miles up the road to find those front jockeys pulled off on the side of the road. I knew immediately what this meant -- rider down :( Sure enough, one of the front runners entered a blind corner at about 60mph when he should have only been going about 30mph. He low slided to the right in a right-hand corner. The bike slid across the double-yellow and slammed head-on into a tree and rock wall. The rider managed to stop in the road without hitting the rock wall (I think?).

By the time M and I get the bike parked and walk to the accident spot, the rider is up and walking around. Only shown injuries are some light scratches on his arm. Other than being alittle shaken-up, he seemed ok. Since the rider appeared to be ok without missing a beat about the date, his name, etc., we assume he is ok and his riding friends agree to help him get he and his bike home. The bike is, unfortunately, totalled. There is nothing else M nor I can do and I definately don't want M having to see a motorcycle accident more than she needs to. So we remount the YZF and head-on up the road.

We get to the mid-point of our ride and pull into the Skyline gas station. There, the group talks about the wreck and everyone comes to the conclusion that the rider had pushed way beyond his own limits. Heck, even the "fast guys" said he was going way too fast! By now, the clouds are getting darker and it is getting colder outside. If we hope to make it home dry, we should probably get a move-on. Since we are at the midpoint, we have to make a choice. Do we continue north and make a big loop or do we turn around and go back the way we came (through the south). I decide that I don't really want to ride back the identical way we came and we should push on with the planned route.

M and I cross the AL/TN border and the sky opens up! M is on the back slapping me because her number one request of the day was to not get wet. Well, it's raining really hard and it's kinda too far to turn back now. Besides, I thought it would surely stop raining once we come off the top of the plateau. Off we go...

Hahahaha, wrong again! It just started raining harder. The best thing to do, at this point, is to bee-line it straight back to Huntsville. Unfortunately, we are roughly 50 miles away from Huntsville line-of-sight. Oh I'm going to be in the doghouse for a long time--especially if it rains the entire way back!

Almost back into Huntsville, we see the unthinkable -- "Detour this way". Then, we see "Road closed ahead -- through traffic only". My first thought was, "oh they are probably just repaving". We decide to push on and ignore the detour signs. Once again, I'm wrong. Bastards were replacing a bridge! Ugh! Take the "last minute detour", back track some five miles, follow the detour signs, and ten miles later, we are back on the main road to Huntsville. Yay, an extra fifteen minutes added in the rain!

We finally get close to Huntsville and one of the couple's motorcycle is almost out of gas. We pull into a gas station and unmount the iron horse. Melissa's pants are soaked. Another rider, Natalie, is so soaked that we couldn't even tell her pants were wet--if one ignored the water dripping off the bottom of the pants. At this point, the group of ten couples is down to Steve and his girlfriend Lenzie, Scott and his wife Natalie, and M and I. Just as Scott finishes filling the gas tank on his brand-spanking new Kawa Z1000 (nice way to break-in a spankin' new bike), it stops raining and little bits of blue sky start to show. How did I know this was going happen?

Ok, so lunch is out of the question and main priority is to get the wife home and dry. We all jump back on our bikes and head our seperate directions. Just as I pass into Huntsville city limits, the street becomes dry and the blue sky is becoming more pronounced. Just our luck!

M and I get home, put the bike in the garage, get inside and start peeling off our wet clothes. That's when M decides to demonstrate just how wet she really was by wringing out her underwear *LOL*. Meanwhile, I put our gloves in a basket in the kitchen sink. Water is dripping off all the finger tips. Yah, I would have to say we were soaked!

So, here we (TVSC) thought we were doing the right thing by attempting to show our girlfriends/wives a fun-filled Sunday on the motorcycles. With plans to show them just how fun motorcycling can be, it all goes wrong. Instead of showing them a great Sunday ride, we show them a motorcycle wreck and three hours of rain! Ugh! It couldn't have gone worse if we tried.

Oh that's not the end of it. Just now, I got an update that the crashed rider was later rushed to Huntsville hospital with a BROKEN NECK! That's right! Some fifteen minutes after M and I left him, the ambulance arrived to check him out. They discovered he had a broken neck and took him to the NICU! The man is VERY lucky that he didn't paralyze himself from the chest down. As best I know, he will be ok and will be back on his feet in a few short weeks. Wow!

With the clouds and rain, I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I thought I would. Thankfully, Charlie (man holding camera), sent me a few of his pictures too. Pictures from today can be found HERE .

On the plus side, M has agreed to at least try another "Pillion Ride" another day. I can't express how much I love my wife! I show her the absolute worst motorcycle ride that I have ever seen and she is still open to go again. I wonder how many other "Pillion riders" will be returning on the next ride? And for the record, I don't plan on mentioning another "Pillion Ride" for a LONG time.