My Triumph is finally rolling; this is a good thing.

I hadn't planned to mothball it for a year. I think I'd had some minor issue . Maybe it was that broken turn signal, or maybe it was the flaky headlight; or maybe it was insurance and registration. Whatever it was, somewhere last spring I rolled it into my garage and thought, later, I'll fix that later.

Later managed to drag on. I bought a new truck somewhere in there, and liked the novelty of music and air conditioning. And with my garage no longer being used to mark a four-wheeled vehicle (that damn truck won't fit in my tiny garage), I started storing things that used to be in my house, out in the garage. Eventually, as these this will, the stuff became a slow-motion tsunami that swamped my motorcycle and left it like a large green piece of wrack in this midst of many.

At some point I just stopped seeing it, as with any long-ignored problem.

A couple weeks ago, though, I looked out at my garage with thoughts of spring cleaning (and with thoughts of avoiding doing my taxes), and decided I needed to un-earth the remains and see what was left.

The weather was perfect, and surprisingly, my motorcycle started right up (thank you batter tender). And I started to think happy thoughts about riding, at least, until I looked at the registration tags, which read April 07.

It took me a full week to deal with that; the Department of Moter Vehicles cares not for my busy schedule, and online registration works only when all is well. My week included two trips to wait in line, and many calls to my insurance company to figure out whose VIN they had on my insurance policy, since it certainly wasn't that of any vehicle I own.

The day I resolved all that, of course, it began to rain. Now, I spent years riding in foul weather. I didn't even own a car for many years. But I gave that up for a reason. Riding turns into work when it's pissing rain. So I rolled my bike into the garage and put it away for another week.

Finally, the sun came out a week ago, and I started up my bike and hit the road.

It's funny; this is the longest break I've had since the day I bought my first motorcycle, nearly twenty years ago. Even when I totaled my Honda Shadow, I was back on two wheels within a month or so, as soon as insurance forked out for the damage. So it felt really weird getting back on. I felt, before I started to ride, like I was completely rusty, like I'd need to re-learn all my skills.

Yet, when I twisted the throttle carefully and pulled out of my driveway, it felt like I'd never stopped. The skills were right where I left them; in fact, I had to concentrate to not immediately go balls-out. My body remembered everything, but somehow I knew I didn't quite have the reaction sleep and control one develops with daily riding.

When I brought it home a couple hours later, the engine was running rough, and when I climbed off, I realized there was a significant fuel leak from one of the four carbs.

So back to the shop it went, to finally get the flaky headlight repaired, and for some surgery in fuel lines and carburetors.

Day before yesterday, I collected my bike, while drooling over new Rockets and Bonnevilles, Daytona and Triples, Sprints and most of all, the Thruxton. I started up my Trophy, and it grumbled happily.

LIke is better on two wheels, they say. It's true. What took me so long? THough I could still use a new jacket.