The Beast has narcolepsy. That's the only explanation I've got for what happened today. Four of the Flagstaff 6 went for a ride. Mostly to ride, but we said it was to get out of the cold. Just a short jaunt down I17 to Camp Verde, Cottonwood, Sedona and then up Oak Creek Canyon with the obligatory stop at the Dairy Queen. The ride started off inauspiciously but wasn't without problems. Really just the one, but that one was enough. After a pleasant but quick trip on the interstate to Camp Verde we went through Cottonwood to Sedona where we made our planned stop at Kaiser's for lunch. Good food and good conversation. Post lunch we took a couple of side roads away from Sedona out into the Red Rock country. Really pretty and some fun twisties to play in. I was feeling pretty confident about my riding abilities and was having no trouble keeping up with Phil and Angela. Then when it was time to head home we stopped in Sedona, fueled up and headed up the canyon.
The Dairy Queen parking lot is large and covered in hard packed gravel. When we approached the lot, I twisted the throttle and got a little ahead of Phil. As I pulled off into the lot I noticed that the others were not following me and were pulling off onto the right side of the road. As I turned to see where they were going, The Beast decided there was a good place to nap, so it laid over on it's left side and turned itself off. As it began it's nap I stepped off. I didn't want to disturb it, after all it can't be easy hauling me all over the place. I figure if it needs a rest I should let it have one. I'm sure the people buying Indian jewelery from the stands there in the parking lot thought that I was a doofus and laid it down because I don't know how to ride. They don't understand about an obscure disease like narcolepsis motorcyclus. I hadn't heard much about it myself until The Beast contracted the disease.
After a little while I asked Angela and Jeff to help me wake the machine up. They came and assisted. It took the three of us but after much grinding of teeth we got it up on the kickstand. Life was good again. An ice cream cone ended all my worries. All in all a good day. The worst day riding is better than the best day at work.
