Today the alley won. I concede to the smarter riders that maybe I was too ambitious in my efforts to ride early and often.

The temperature was nice and warm today, easily topping 40F degrees; even now the weather channel reports upper 30s. This is a wonderful thing for the enjoyment of ambient temperatures, and fantastic in our passive efforts to melt the accumulated snow and ice in preparation for green days.

As I mentioned yesterday, the glacier in our alley is slushy on top of slick ice, with channels of deep still waters where vehicle wheels tend. Today as I carefully cruised my alley at about 1MPH, the slush and melt affected me and eventually my tires ended up in the slush.

Undaunted, but a little miffed at the combination of the weather-affected alley and my apparent lack of coordination or skill at keeping my behemoth out of the trenches, I slogged forward, bouncing and lurching with the lumps in the ruts. As I cleared what I thought was the worst of it, I started looking for opportunities to press forward back onto the center, where the ice is still, well, ice. Of course, everything was a one-try pass, 'cause the top of the ruts are ice, and I knew I wouldn't get enough footing to pull the bike back up the gentle slope against the friction in the ruts.

Just before I got to our garage, I got the front tire up, but the back resisted. I tried, very carefully, of course, to get the bike up and over and into the garage. With care and persistence, I finally managed to get the front onto the concrete, and the back tire was just at the last resistance of the ice, when it started tipping.

I was standing quite still. My feet had been on the ground for just about the whole trip through the alley. Unfortunately, while the front tire was on the cement, my feet were still on the ice. I slowly lost my footing, and the bike slowly fell to the ground.

This happened the very first day I rode the Valkyrie to work. Then, though, it was a sunny June day. I was likewise standing still and carefully lay it down. Three big differences, though, this time the bike tipped onto its left (as you sit on it) side, it is December instead of June, and I had just come from the gas station, so it was topped off with brand new 92 octane.

The cap on the gas tank isn't sealed well, it seems, and the gas above the seal decided to dribble out and down the tank and onto the ice. This caused a few problems, the least of which was that the ice caused it to pool right under the bike. This led to some difficulty with both footing and desire to hug the tank to lift.

The Honda Valkyrie weighs about 900 pounds. Then add almost six gallons of gas. The gas is on the top, so that nearly fifty pounds monkeys with the center of gravity a lot more than I wanted it to. And, of course, my hands, arm and legs were pressed into the gas every once in a while. After a couple gallons dribbled out, the weight got balanced enough and I was finally able to lift the bike enough to kick down the stand. A quick breather and I wiped it down a little to reduce the spill, started it up, and finished motoring it into the garage.

I'm torn, even after this adventure, between waiting until the alley is more clear, which will probably be around my original March 10 projection. The week is supposed to be filled with 40-degree days, which should do a good job at loosening the alley. Or, should I manage to get the bike back out of the alley (since it's frozen in the morning), perhaps I just leave it on the street, where it's already clear.

I'm sure there's something to be said about fools and foolishness, and how I'm one of them.