Christina Millington
Omineca Express
The toys of summer are always exciting to dust off and reacquaint yourself with.
Especially when under all that dust is the opportunity to head out of town, and fast.
I’ve always had this fascination with street bikes. I’m not sure if it stemmed from countless adventures to the racetrack back home, or that I had friends that were racing competitively for BMW Motorrad.
We’ll decide that another day. Nonetheless, I love to go fast. I know saying that may very well get the local RCMP detachment looking for a white Honda racing about town, however, I’ve let off the gas pedal over the years – speeding tickets got far too expensive.
I have fond memories going out riding on the back of a GSX R 1000 through the mountains, laying rubber down on the open roads that were shaded by a beautiful array of trees and shrubbery.
It’s always nice to find that one activity that you can look forward to when days seem long or uneventful.
Having friends that are committed to the sport, or for leisurely purposes, made adapting to the hobby an easy one – and trust me, no one is twisting my arm to hop onto a bike that reach an unrealistic speed.
Seeing as I’m on the subject, there was this one summer back in 2010 at Mosport Racetrack just outside of Peterborough, Ontario where I was living at the time.
My friend and I decided to take a little adventure on a golf cart, which were to be used to tour around the track; however, we saw them as an off-roading adventure.
Her nephew decided to tag along. Not thinking anything of his age and his childish ways we obliged to his request.
He grabbed the “reigns” and off we went around the paddock.
It was smooth riding up until my friends nephew thought to take a sharp right hand turn that had me barrel rolling out of the side.
I couldn’t gain ground and I fell backwards driving my head full force into the pavement.
It took a second to catch my breath and understand what exactly just happened.
I’ll never forget that moment, as an older lady came running frantically down the hill yelling “I heard your head hit, are you ok?”
I thought I must have split my head open – there was no way I could bounce my head off pavement that hard and walk away without blood drawn and/or concussed.
I survived, arrived home a little groggy so I went straight to bed, and under supervision of course for friends were concerned that I could be concussed with no evident signs.
Well, it would appear I got slightly off track with the “toys of summer.”
As I was saying, having that one summer activity to look forward to after a long day at the office or during your down time makes up for the long winters its tucked away collecting dust.
If you find yourself out off-roading on a golf cart this summer, be sure to wear a helmet or a trusty harness.