running with the dogs

I was going to tell you about my summer: about the stream of houseguests we've had over last 2 months - father-in-law, mother, nephew, friends, friends' kids - about how our little house has been like the hotel next to Grand Central Station... but I decided not to.

I could bitch & moan about the weather we've had, the flooded roads, the laundry that takes 4 days to dry because of the humidity levels... but I won't.

Instead I'm going to tell you about the really good day I had last Saturday on The Big Dogs Breakfast Run.
We left the house around 9am, Hubby and Cinderella on his Blackbird and me on my pride and joy, the GS500. And let's not forget our neighbours - we've become good mates since The Midnight Incident a few months back, due in no small part to our shared love of motorcycles. By 10am we had been joined by another 4 bikes and were heading off into the mountains just south of Dublin.
(Not mountains like you'd find in Switzerland, mind you; more like large hills - but the Irish get upset if you refer to their mountains as hills.)

I'll spare you the clichéd twisty-mountain-hugging-roads descriptions; suffice it to say the scenery was really pretty during the moments it wasn't obscured by mist or rain and some of the roads were great for biking. Bikers do love bends, after all. Of course, some of the roads were not so great - there was the freshly tarred bit, only it wasn't so much tar as loose gravel that caused the bike's ass to fishtail at will... needless to say I rode rather gingerly and slowly over that, not caring if I caused a traffic jam. Which it turned out I didn't really - the other guys were just as skittish over the loose stuff.
And then there was the really bumpy bit coming down a very steep and very wet road; that was quite hard going and my arms were done for by the time we reached a gentler surface.

But these were only a small part of the 230km ride we did that day^[1]. The rest was HUGE fun! And here's the thing: it was the first time I'd done a breakfast run under my own steam. Previously I've always ridden pillion with Hubby. And may I also add here that the other guys were all on much bigger, faster bikes than mine - I may not have been able to catch them on the motorway but I more than held my own on the smaller mountain roads. I was proud. Hubby was proud. Even our neighbour was proud ;-)
It's kinda funny really - this run was instigated by Hubby and he christened it THE BIG DOGS BREAKFAST RUN in honour of one of his favourite sayings: If you want to run with the big dogs, don't pee like a puppy.
(Yeah, I know, he's real poetic!)

What can I say?

WOOF!

^[1]BTW... when last did you travel 230km for breakfast..?!