Rough Night, Explained

(sub-title: Buying That Bike)

I alluded to having a rough night last night in today’s placeholder post. It was only rough in the sense I just could not get to sleep; there weren’t any physical maladies or anything. Just “simple” insomnia, something I’m rarely, if ever, troubled by. One of the…um…skills I learned in the Air Force is the ability to grab forty winks whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself. I’m adept at sleeping on chairs, desktops, couches, in cars, or barroom floors (but not airplanes) and at anytime, seemingly. But sleep just wouldn’t come last night. I laid myself down around 2230 hrs or so and tossed and turned until 0100 this morning, when I gave it up…and got up. I stayed up until Washington Journal came on at 0500, and then hit the hay. Successfully.

It’s only minutes past noon as I type and I just poured my second cup. I feel for all the world like I have a hangover (minus the headache)…out of sorts, off-balance, and viewing the world through a fuzzy felt screen. Today will not be productive in any way, shape, or form.

SN2 and I had a fairly long conversation last evening about…you guessed it…bikes. I waited until about five minutes into the conversation before I told him about the V-Strom (a supremely odd name for a bike, nu?). Sam was in transit from Maine back to Offutt AFB, having gone home for the holidays. As he was in travel mode he hadn’t had a chance to read the blog and had no idea I’d suffered a bout of temporary insanity. He was surprised, even after all the lobbying he did to get me off the dime and buy another scoot. So, we talked, mostly about the how’s and why’s of yesterday’s purchase. I’ll recap the conversation, for the (blog) record.

Sam suggested the Suzuki to me last week, having read about it in a Motorcycle Buyers Guide he bought recently. I googled the V-Strom at his suggestion. I spent at least four to six hours reading everything I could find about the bike, and was impressed with the fact there were few, and I mean VERY few, negative comments from both the pros (the guys who write for the moto-mags) and people who own the bike. Secondly, the V-Strom is what one would call a mature design…it’s been around for three model years now, and most of the kinks have been worked out. I began thinking “Hey! This bike fits…it would be perfect for all the things I’d want to do, should I get back in the saddle.”

The next thing that happened was I read Lou’s post about Toby buying his bike. I looked at the pic Lou posted and thought “Man! Toby sure looks happy!” And that was the tipping point. I had already read up on alternatives to the V-Strom (and Toby’s Kwacker was one) and had systematically eliminated each of the other bikes I considered.

So the die was cast. I knew I was gonna buy the bike before I even left for The Big(ger) City^TM yesterday. I called my broker after I got out of the shower and initiated the process of transferring money between my 401k and my “working” account to buy the bike. Then I got dressed, put my checkbook in my back pocket, and headed out.

Buying the bike was easy. I’m sure the sales manager at the bike shop thought I was nuts, as the purchase, from beginning to end, took about 30 minutes. She didn’t have to sell me on anything, and I didn’t want her to try. The only fly in the ointment was I failed to get exactly what I wanted. The V-Strom comes in two versions, with and without anti-lock brakes. I wanted the ABS version. Of course, there wasn’t one in stock at the Clovis Suzuki store. As a matter of fact, there’s exactly one new V-Strom with ABS in all of New Mexico, and that bike is in Albuquerque, and that bike had a deposit on it. No problem, says the helpful sales manager… “we’ll check Texas.” Same story, different state. She found one ABS-equipped V-Strom in Midland, made the phone call and got the same story: it’s sold. When I asked why she had no ABS-equipped bikes, she replied she thought they wouldn’t be any demand for them. Same story with the other dealers, she said. I’ll bet she orders bikes with ABS next year…

Somehow I feel last night’s bout of insomnia is related to buying the bike. I’m not suffering from buyer’s remorse… not consciously, anyway. Sub-consciously, perhaps, but I really doubt it. No…I think it’s because there’s a lot to be done in the few short days before I take delivery. Not the least of which is finding a way to get over to Clovis to pick up the bike. I think I have a line on the solution to that problem, but there’s more. I need to buy a few things to get well and truly ready to ride again: rain gear, a set of leathers (Aieee! Sticker shock! And these are cheap inexpensive), a bike cover, a new lock, perhaps a tank bag, and various other things that haven’t occurred to me. Yet. I kept my old helmet, but I might replace it with something “spiffier.” But I might not. In the meantime there’s lots of ‘net surfing on-line shopping to be done.

I’d best get to it.