I rode to work. But that's not the good story. The good story is about this past weekend, and has been 2 years in the making.
I bought my 2012 S10 nearly a year ago after about a year of research. I'm 56 years old, and the S10 the first motorcycle I've ever owned. My wife and I dubbed him "Hercule." I bought Hercule so we could begin traveling 2-up. (
Video explaining why we wanted to try this.) I spent last year getting my license and then getting comfortable with what—to me—was a HUGE bike. By last fall I was feeling quite good about being able to handle the bike...I put about 4k or 5k on it. A lot of the miles were very early morning rides all over Chicago (where we live). I loved exploring parts of the city I had never seen before. I'd select somewhere I'd never been before and headed off. Someone on this forum actually told me last year that city riding was the best way to become good at handling a bike—lots of stopping, starting, cornering and "dealing with stuff." He was right. I also did one weekend solo camping trip which was the highlight of my summer.
This spring I felt I was finally "proficient" on the S10. Hercule was feeling less huge and more manageable and comfortable every ride. I was comfortable enough to have my wife finally join me. After buying her riding gear and a com system, we were ready to go.
Last weekend was our first 2-up ride!
It went better then I could have ever dreamed. My wife was a bit nervous having had a very bad experience on the back of a motorcycle in India long ago (a very long story, and no I was not the driver). As soon as we got going, she said that it wasn't bad! We chose a slightly twisty road and in the first few turns she was not comfortable with the required leaning, but that quickly got better and soon it was like we'd been doing this for years. By the end of our short 42 mile ride, we were discussing taking our first camping trip on Hercule.
What blew me away was how little impact she had on the bike. Neither of us are small people and I assumed it was going to take me quite a while to get used to having that additional weight on the back. I did boost the preload on the stock shock before we took off. Within a block of leaving our house, I told her that I couldn't believe how little the handling, acceleration, and braking had changed with her on the bike. I'm now even more convinced that my year of research paid off, and a 2012 S10 was the right choice!
So, I'm feeling like we took a huge step this weekend and am really psyched to be putting more miles on Hercule with my wife on the back.