Why am I wet?

Riding to the front of my housing complex, I shift from 2nd to 3rd. Light on the throttle, the engine struggles choking from lack of fuel. Just a little bit longer till I don't have to be considerate of my neighbors because of my bikes volume and can really "Open her up". Now in neutral rolling up to the stop sign in front of the complex office, looking down the last 100 yards to the right of me before the main road. Ease my way into the right turn and just relax along approaching the last stop sign before freedom.
Now here it is. The moment I've been looking forward to. One more car to wait for from the left then it is clear. I lightly twist the throttle, just enough to feel the preloading tension against my brake. The back bumper of the car clears in front of me and I start my way into the left turn onto the main road. Leaned in, I clear the incoming lane and use the centrifugal force to straighten myself out and I'm golden. It's been all winter that this moment has been on my mind. The weather has been questionable for a while. But now I have a clear shot at the mile ride to the gas station just inside the city limits and then after filling up another quarter mile to the interstate where I can finally get my speed fix.
I lay into the throttle, and the bike pulls with a force I'd for too long forgotten. The wind blows my hair back and I lean into the bike slightly. A quick wrist flick forward while my left foot kicks the bike into second gear. Back on the throttle and there is that pull again, this time lifting some but not all of the weight from my front suspension. My heart starts jumping as the landscape passes. This speed, this drug we call wind therapy! Now reaching the red line, I again flick my wrist forward and shift into third.
Wait... what was that. I notice a few drops have formed on my riding glasses. "There must be a little water left on the road from last night's cooler weather" I tell myself. Again into the throttle and leaning into the bike. Now really starting to relax I twist more to feel the power of this little racing engine. As the red line again approaches I again flick the wrist forward and shift into third.
There it is again. More moisture coming up on my face and chest. Noticing the roads are completely dry as well as the bike was when I left the house, I roll off the throttle slightly. Just as my weight balances out from the engine now not pulling the smell hits. Immediately I reach up and throw my cigarette as far from me as possible while rolling to a stop...
Now for a little back story. A year and a half earlier I had purchased my Magna and put the Ninja in the shed as my back up bike. Sadly, there it sat untouched and neglected. It wasn't until my Magna began to knock when I first fired it up this riding season that caused me to start getting the Ninja back in running condition. The carbs were removed and cleaned, the fuel tank drained and new fuel replenished, new fluids throughout the entire engine. And it was as I removed the plastics from the bike once it was back at the house that I realized where things went wrong.
I had reinstalled my carbs and my roommate had placed the fuel tank back in place, however he had not hooked up the fuel return line from the carbs to the tank. So as I would lay into the throttle the fuel would be pulled faster to the carbs. As I would let off the throttle that surplus of fuel meant for the carbs would shoot out the return line. With the airflow around me, most of that fuel would fly up under the tank to the front of the bike under the windshield, over the bars, and into my face. It was only by luck that the engine was still cool enough that the fuel didn't ignite as well as not enough fuel made it up on me for my cigarette to ignite it.

Originally blogged: July 2019

So again, here the bike sits. With most of the plastics off, looking "Naked" as can be, the thought of rebuilding and redesigning the look of the bike became too tempting to ignore.