My first motorcycle

I recently bought a used Royal Enfield Himalayan (2017 model with 7000km). The bike weighs 180kg which is light compared to other motorcycles.The low weight makes it easy to handle in rest and when maneuvering around at intersections. The bike rides very smoothly until 70km/h or 80km/h. Higher speeds are possible, but it feels a bit like it toleartes them but does not really want to go faster.

Yesterday I took it to work the first time. The sun was out and the air felt surprisingly warm, it must have been around 7°. I left the farm a bit late and took the Autobahn A3, which is the fastest route from the farm to the office. The manual advises to not go faster then 110km/h, so I tried that out but then mostly sticked to riding a more comfortable 100km/h. While riding the Autobahn was rather monotonous, I enjoyed to notice the way my focus worked during the ride. When I noticed my thoughts drifted somewhere, I reminded myself of the importance of staying focused on the ride. I had moments where I noticed I was tensed up and experimented with relaxing into the presence. When I arrived at the office I simply parked the bike – no need to look for a parking spot like with the car – cool!  

I left the office after sunset. The streets were a little bit wet but it had stopped raining in the afternoon. Because I don't have a navigation system for the bike, I had a rough idea in my mind where I had to go before I took of. It worked surprisingely well. When I ride with a navigation system in a car – so basically in all cases but the standard drives in Großostheim – I usually drive on auto-pilot and don't pay much attention to road signs that announce cities. However, with the motorcycle I intently focused on street conditions (with a bike small changes in the road surface like gravel, or oil can cause bad accidents) and widening this focus to include road signs was rather easy. I did not miss relevant road signs and passed through Sachsenhausen and Dietzenbach before I looked up whever Rödermark oder Rodgau would offer the better way to Babenhausen.

I am thinking about a vacation on the bike. Since Johanna is not riding herself, she would ride pillon (sozius) which we have not tried, so we will have to see if that is something that will work. So far I'm pretty happy with the bike and look forward to riding it more often.