The tires are ordered and I ride through my first Tornado Watch

Temps from high 40s in the morning to low 60s in the afternoon. Overcast, with occasional rain showers. Tornado watch issued in the afternoon just before I left work to go to the indie mechanic.

Although there was a tornado watch for the counties I was in today during my riding, the skies were pretty clear though cloudy with occasional patches of sun. Heck I had to remove my jacket liner for the ride home from the indie mechanic!

I ordered another set of Metzeler 880 Marathon tires, am very pleased with the performance I got from the set that came with Maria when I bought her back in October. I estimating around 9000 miles from the front tire and perhaps 11,500 from the rear tire. I will know the final figures in about a week when the tires are in and the guy replaces them while I wait.

The indie mechanic runs Bavarian Motorcycles West, a small (and I do mean small) shop located to the rear of his home in a neighborhood zoned for both residential and commercial buildings. The place had two semi-large bays and I saw about 5 to six bikes inside being worked on. Pete Homan is his name and he came highly recommended by a couple of fellow club members so I am giving him a try for the job of mechanic to Maria. His working companion was a friendly dog by the name of Harley.

Had issues finding his place, let's just say mapquest was lacking a bit. Or perhaps it was my old eyes that did not notice the key street I was seeking, Delaware St., went UNDER Evans Street, not junctioning with it. Oh well, now I can find the place easily enough. Just take Arapahoe Road to where it T's with Broadway, North on Broadway to Illiff and West on Illiff till it hits Delaware. Took Broadway home via the E470 superslab, no incidents and much better a ride than taking I-25 up from the DTC over to Evans and then heading west towards Santa Fe Road! That ride kind of sucked due to the traffic conditions and had me questioning whether to even try this mechanic out.

A few drops of rain was all I saw of the "tornado watch". The skies to the East though looked pretty grim as I rode on the E-470 superslab, glad I did not live as far east as they were.