Mrs. G has been studying furiously for a medical board exam that was to take place first thing this morning at home. This is a critical exam for her and she's been very nervous about how well she'd do. As the test was to take place at home on her laptop, test rules stipulated that nobody else was allowed to be in the house, and pets had to be removed as well. We locked the cats in a back room, but I had to be out of the house for the four hour duration of the exam. A test proctor had her use her webcam and walk around the house to confirm that nobody else was there.
So, I was out the door around 7:00 am. I have the NC750X largely sorted, and I wanted to simulate the speed and distance that I'd be riding the bike to work to see just how it would do and how comfortable I'd be. Not wanting to actually go to work on a Sunday, I determined that an equivalent distance was Santa Monica. More specifically, Primo Paso Coffee on Montana Ave, purveyors of her favorite cookies.
Usually, we get to Primo Paso in the late afternoon after I'm done at the museum, and by that time, their best cookies are gone for the day. So, I figured if I went early, I'd get the pick of their best, and see how comfortable I am on the NC for a long ride, and how she does at high freeway speeds.
I headed out, and on the way, realized that it had been a while since I had stopped to check out the progress on two new museums in Exposition Park in Downtown L.A., so I made a quick stop to check them out. The Colosseum was looking nice. First stop in the park was the new addition to the California Science Center, which has housed the Space Shuttle Endeavor horizontally in a large temporary building for years. For over a year now, a new building has been under construction to house and display the shuttle in vertical launch position, complete with external fuel tank and booster rockets.
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To get to the back access road to get a good picture of the new building, I had to go past a Douglas DC8 airliner, on display for years. I remember seeing it on school field trips as a child. in the 70s, the United Airlines livery was painted in their period orange and blue colors. Today, it looks like an even older livery than that.
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Also took a good look at the continuing construction of George Lucas' new Interpretive Arts Center, which looks a lot like a Star Wars Mon Calamari Cruiser landed in L.A.
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Then, on to Primo Paso, where two of their best cookies were procured, a small cup of their very nice coffee was consumed, and cookies were secured in the NC's frunk. A reward for Mrs.' hard work!
Something caught my eye as I was waking out of Primo Paso, in the form of a dark blue '67 Rolls Silver Shadow two door parked at the curb. If you know your movie cars, I started looking around for Steve McQueen in a three-piece suit, as this is a good match for the car he drove in Thomas Crown Affair.
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I still needed to kill some time, so I routed myself through Downtown to the Bike Shed, where I chatted with a few fellow riders. I also checked for messages on my FB Marketplace items for sale, and noticed a new listing that was very timely.
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My NC came with aftermarket clutch and front brake levers that work fine, but that I'm not particularly fond of. Looking at OEM replacements, the clutch lever is currently on a lengthy backorder. I had figured on checking in on it periodically. However, someone nearby had just listed a pair of OEM levers he'd just removed from a brand new CB650R. I jumped on Partzilla to confirm that both bikes use the same levers, contacted the owner of the parts, and 30 minutes and $20 later, I had my new levers! Still wondering how I got so lucky.
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Headed home, completing about 120 miles on the NC, and have to say that it's comfortable, cruises effortlessly at 70-80 mph, and the Average MPG reading was showing 60.5, not too bad overall.
Ferret, I get how you can put endless miles on this bike. It is comfortable and smooth. Best of all, when I got home, Mrs. told me in a very relieved yet exhausted voice that she had passed her exam. I congratulated her, presented her with fresh cookies from Primo Paso, and she gets to sew two more letters at the end of the lengthy alphabet soup on her lab coat.
