Two's Up

Home via Andover

Ka fought her new riding gear over her fleece and six other layers while looking keenly interested in the torrade of useful advice on pillion from our Niece, AJ. The other kids added their own flavours too, such as how to beat off a crocodile should one start to chase us and what have you. It was a relief to get outside into the mid-morning chill.

Shadowfax was quickly checked over and warmed up while Ka made her good-byes to the crowd. It's a sobering thought that if I was to make an arse of riding Shadowfax on such a frosty day we could leave our kids in a right pickle. I shared the thought with Ka who shrugged and assured me I'd ride safely.

I was a little irritated, I recall, as I know it's not how safely I ride but how safely we negotiate the millions of other safe drivers and riders out on the roads. If I'm honest I was quite nervous at taking only my fourth pillion ride and only first over 10-miles. We were looking to dropping down to Andover for lunch via the back roads (presumed safer for me to get used to wobbling down) and then crossing over to Fareham via Bishop's Walthom.

Ka mounted and, true to my promise, we wobbled off to an unsteady start across the first junction just 20m from where I had dropped Shadowfax on his side on Day 4 of our partnership.

Once rolling all settled just fine. We navigated our way to the local filling station and then onto the A338 toward Wantage. Little pockets of white frosting began to appear on the verges and the road deteriorated from a second-rate "A" road into a barley passable "B" road while somehow maintaining it's trunk road status.

My biker chick

The going was slow; partly due to other traffic but also due to the twisties all along the road. We'd been recommended the route to keep me off the A34 while settling in to pillion riding and told it was a great biker route. Sure, on Shadowfax as a solo it'd have had great potential to cause a flutter of the bicuspid but with pillion (and some trepidation over ice) the route became a hard grind.

I pulled over after passing Hungerford to get bearings and for Ka to stretch out her fingers that had gone numb with their effort to grip onto the passenger sissy-bars. She said she was enjoying the trip but I was worried when seeing our shadow that she'd only buried her helmet into my shoulders and closed her eyes in fear - or boredom. Again, she reassured me she was fine and that there wasn't a problem. On we plodded.

It seemed an eternity to get through Ludgershall and on into the nitty gritty of north Andover. I have to admit I was pretty pissed off with myself for making Ka suffer almost 1 3/4hrs on the saddle where the A34 could have had us there in a third of that time, but that being said we'd certainly shared an adventure and I was excited to have shared some time on Shadowfax with Ka.

Once brewed up with a KFC (I'm such a romantic) and warmed through some we chatted about Ka's comfort on the bike. Her fingers were sore, we guessed, through her cack-handed grip on the bars causing pressure on her smallest pinkies and her neck was a little chilled as she had only a thin buff on. AJ refuses to wear hers on the back of Nikki's GPz and neither of us could understand why when our necks are the first to suffer from the cold. Ka complained that her thighs were sore, too. She said she felt she had to support herself from falling forward? Perhaps that's the angle of the seat doing that? I know I took great care to change gear smoothly and not to decelerate too quickly but remembered her helmet clanking on mine a couple of occasions while actually accelerating up through the gears when speed was necessary to exit busy junctions, etc. Maybe it was this adjustment that strained her muscles?

So, the matter of the top box arose. Ka wouldn't need to grip so awkwardly if we had the Hondaline top box with the pillion pad fitted - maybe even the ancillary "arm rests", too so she could lean back off her thighs. Certainly most of the pillion threads I read on the forums all mention fellas (for most ST riders seem to be blokes) fitting a top box expressly for the wife to lean against when pillion.

Hondaline boxes are not cheap. Second hand Ebay ones seem to be quite a premium, too, with or without fittings, damage, etc. Our problem is that to buy any will still need the added expense of re-spraying white if we want it colour coded to Shadowfax. Mind you, I'm thinking the dark anthracite grey or candy red might look good on him in any case?

Intercoms were discussed. I have to admit that although it was nice to sit together in some peace (ouch!) there were times I really needed reassurance she was okay, or to point out something I'd seen as we'd passed through some stunning scenery. I just can't be done with stringy wires dangling all over the place though so again the option is not cheap: Bluetooth.

I usually wear hearing protection for long trips and my commute but with Ka on the back I seldom broke 70mph and the wind was of a manageable volume at that speed and below. That opens up to a fitted speaker system inside the helmet for pillion rides. Cool. (I'm sure there's a Bluetooth quirk to allow for selective deafness once on the road with your wife?)

(Ouch!)

The last leg of the journey had me wondering if we'd bitten off more than we could chew turning an 80-mile trip into a 100-mile one cross country. We had to nip a short distance down the M3 at Winchester and the difference in the wind from the trucks and speeding cars unsettled us both after the rather pleasant touring plodding completed earlier In the day. It was getting dark, too, so there was a n urgency to get home before the warmth was fully sucked out of us by the biting wind.

Before long I was on familiar roads from Wickham and I treated Ka to a taste of filtering through the rush-hour traffic into Fareham, which was only marginally more difficult with pillion than to complete solo. Once home we fought over premier position in front of the fire!

Two days and then the journey back for New Year. Plenty of time to clean Shadowfax again as I was not fully recovered from my sickness and the cold trip had sapped all but my most residual energy that would negate fitting the bathroom but allow for some Wii action while Ka was at work. (Snigger).