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23 Apr 2007, 8:29 am / Satisfied
on sunday, april 22nd, 2007 tanker and i went out for a little ride in cambridge, as i'd been tied up doing office work all day and needed to get out into the gorgeous sunshine and 25 degree weather. it was the first time we'd had the weather for me to try out my new leather gauntlets which match my knee chaps, so i threw on my leather shorts, knee chaps, red leather halter, vest, and gauntlets - what i call my "superhero costume"  little did i know i'd end up feeling like a hero as well! we had 2 places to go - shoppers drug mart to pick up some sunblock, as what we had was expired and had probably been frozen while sitting in our garage all winter. as a result, we'd both neglected to use it the day before, and both got burnt (see "spring kickoff ride 2007")! we also wanted to stop at dairy queen and pick up some ice cream to cool us down  since tanker is still riding the cb400 (his shadow is still in the shop), we ordinarily wouldn't take the 401 to get to hespeler road from our place, preferring surface routes instead. the 400 gets a speed wobble over 115kph, so we like to keep it off the superslab. but as we headed out from home, i felt the need for speed, so indicated to tanker to head for the highway. we ripped across the slab at about 110kph, so tanker wouldn't be left behind or get into a tank slapper, and as we approached our exit (only 1 down from where we got on), we saw a poor soul pushing a sportbike along the side of the road. i immediately turned my signal on and looked back over my shoulder at tanker, who's very good at reading my mind  we pulled over onto the shoulder to see what the problem was. nick, the gent with the sportbike (a fireblade - slick machine!), had run out of gas, and even when he switched to reserve the bike wouldn't fire up. there is a gas station only a block away from the exit, but that's one heck of a long way (close to 1km) to push the bike! so, i jumped on my bully (being the one with saddlebags), and ripped off to the esso to see if they had a jerry can that i could bring out to him. got to the station, left the mandatory $10 deposit for the can (which fortunately was the perfect size for my saddlebag), and got $3 of gas. i was told i'd get $8 back when i brought the jerry can back, as they charge a $2 "rental" fee. so, i've spent $5. no big deal - i'm sure nick will appreciate it, and even if he doesn't pay me back (which i doubt), $5 is a small price to do someone in trouble a favour. back on my bike, and i have to backtrack to king street to get back on the 401 eastbound to get to tanker and nick at the hespeler road exit. as i approach, i see flashing lights, and as i near them i see a police car with its cherries lit up sitting just behind the 2 other bikes. i threw my 4-ways on, and pulled over behind the cruiser. tanker came and grabbed the jerry can, and as he got it set up nick gave me a $20 bill, and thanked us profusely! apparently while i'd been gone, the officer pulled over to see what was the matter and if he could be of assistance. when tanker and nick told officer decker (what a name to pull over for a couple of bikes!) that i'd already gone for fuel, he ran the registration and insurance for both nick and tanker's bikes, just to be sure, and checked their helmets. he was waiting in the car when i arrived. nick got the fuel into his tank, and after a false start (he still had the bike on reserve), it fired right up. he didn't have anywhere to put the jerry can, so i offered to take it back to the gas station for him in my saddlebag. since it was on our way to the shopper's drug mart anyway, it was no trouble at all. i was getting a little nervous, as my insurance paperwork, while valid, might not be entirely to the officer's liking, so i jumped on my bike and left tanker and nick to get geared up and running. as i was waiting to pull out, officer decker came walking over, and i figured "this is it - i'm screwed!". fortunately, all he had to say was thank you for stopping to help, but i'm NUTS to be riding in shorts! *lol* he bade me ride safe, and off i went, breathing a deep sigh of relief when we got to the gas station and i returned the jerry can for the $8 deposit return, i tried to give it to nick, who refused me flatly. he said money was no object for him, but he was short on time, and he was so appreciative of our stopping and saving him an hour of pushing his bike to the station that he wouldn't dream of taking the deposit! he had rode in from london to meet a girl who was coming in from aurora, and since he hopes she'll be his new girlfriend, he didn't want to be late! so nick went on his way, and we both wished him luck with the girl tanker and i saddled up, now $15 richer than we were when we set out, and stopped at the shoppers drug mart. we bought the same sunblock we used last year, and the total price turned out to be....$14.81! so our good deed paid for our purchase, and our ice cream tasted all the sweeter knowing that we'd done a good deed and made a new friend
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