Misadventures of a Shadow VT500 - Scarlet's 'little' owie

Broken hearted.......I don't think epoxy will fix this.

Scarlet has an owie.  Tuesday night was a gorgeous night for a ride and I decided to go to watch supermoto out at Western Speedway, but then got distracted by the thought of doing a nice twisty road.  On the way out I was happily zooming down the highway into the wind and the right side cover came off and bounced down the highway.  Two dudes in a pick-up honked at me and pulled up really close and it made me a little nervous so I didn't pay too much attention.  I wish I had, they were trying to tell me that the side cover had come off.  I finished my long beautiful ride and when I was putting the bike away noticed the side cover was missing, much to my shock and horror.  I went into the house to tell Motorcycle Man and he said, "How could you not notice it fly off?" Very valid question, but I don't know about the rest of you, but when I am riding I am not looking down at my thigh, my eyes are on the road generally.  Then his next question was, "Where did it come off?" Another valid question and I looked like a stunned deer in headlights when he asked me this and my response was, "I dunno."  So then he asked me where I had been rambling and I told him, "Oh about 83 kilometers of rambling."  I seriously don't do little rambles, ask the Ride To Eat Scooter Crew, I could ride forever it seems without needing to stop.

Off I go to retrace my steps, problem is during my little sortie I kind of got lost on some of the back roads out in Langford.  So how do you find where you got lost too?  I have no sense of direction and definitely need to start using GPS.  Honestly if you asked me what direction I was traveling I would probably say 'somewhere'.  Off I go down the highway scanning the road which is hard when you are supposed to be doing 90k down a very busy 3 lane highway.  I spotted some red bits on the side of the road pulled over and to my disappointment it turned out to be bits of an old broom.  I did the entire loop out to Langford then back up to McKenzie out through Victoria University, down Beach Drive, by the waterfront, through downtown and then to home.   83kms give or take.  When I made it home I was feeling sad and dejected, I have to say it has been a bit of hard go with Scarlet and her little foibles.  I did find a pair of sunglasses on the beach where I stopped and put an ad on Found Victoria to help return them to their owner.  Wednesday night I went and searched the highway again and nothing, zilch, zippo, no side cover.

Tonight I went to look at a mesh jacket that was advertised on Used Victoria and was riding down the Island Highway with Motorcycle Man and guess what we found?! The side cover, smashed to smithereens, but back in my possession.  I wasn't really expecting to find it or find it whole in any event.

Tuesday night after I got home from my misadventure I did an ebay search and found a used side cover and purchased it. I think I am going to add some velcro tabs to it to make sure this doesn't happen again.  I need to go out and have a little heart to heart with Scarlet and let her know that losing her bits is not acceptable.