Commuter Chronicles, Volume I, No. 3

[Toecutter]

My reaction to the level of fear is to build my safety cushion and not let anyone or anything get close to me.

Be Afraid! Be Very Afraid!!!

I will also "evaluate" my risk tolerance as I continue to age and will hopefully "adjust" my riding style accordingly.. Alas, someday I will probably hang up the motorcycle entirely...Then again as long as it's a quick ending......

Hopefully, we all have that attitude, prior to receiving an adjustment.

Well .......................... I agree with Hans......................... but also with Bob.

I saw :****: in a dream and he asked me to put a word in for him. Only part of that was me. The nice part....

 

[CG2]

Good post! I love thoughtful, analytical posts, or conversations, like this.
You are searching for the differences and maybe you have found one in ES. I'm a range guy....ranges of ES, ranges of risk, etc. I think for me there is also a range of adrennelin junkiness, need for speed, etc. I like the adrennelin rush that riding a motorcycle provides. I don't necessarily mean the rush of taking extreme chances, either. There is a low end (on the range) rush just by entering traffic. For me anyhow. Others have ridden so long I'm sure to get any small blip on the rush-o-meter they need to do more than get going into rush (pun not exactly intended but not unwelcomed) hour traffic. No judgement here.

Point is, I believe many riders need more speed and may take more chances than I need to just to get that old feeling back. There is definitely a deminishing return with this rush. The rush is satisfying, fun, gives that feeling of power when we do emerge at the end "victorious." Maybe this is also one of the differrences between you and the unfortunate rider.

Stuff is going to happen to some regardless of how much control they keep on their own rush pursuit. For me, it is nice to have a bit of it to enjoy the ride and to remind myself that I'm alive. Same reason I hit the backcountry or climb a peak in the Rockies. I'm sure others have reached the point that they may need to hit the track to satisfy the rush.

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on this.

Lee

You hit the nail on the head about the adrenaline rush. When younger, I particiapted in all sorts of sports and activies that were exhilarating...snow skiing, water skiing, dirt and quad riding, team sports, tennis, you name it, I plaed it. Gradually, as I got older, Istopped playing or participating and experienced fewer and fewer moments of exhilaration. Then, two age-inappropriate experiences made me realize I needed to get involved in something exhilarating.

The first experience was slick track racing with my 4-year old granddaughter. The second was tubing. I probably hold the record as the oldest tuber on the Delta, but it produced a rush that lasted for days. I realized I missed the exhilaration that comes from physical challenge and danger. I consciusly began to explore what I could do to introduce more exhilaration into my life.

After a 20 year hiatus from motorsports, my brother and sister-in-law took up riding street bikes. My husband, MG, an old dirt bike rider, decided he wanted to ride too. He soon bought a Road King. I was hesitant at age 58 to get back into motorcycles--having not ridden at all since 1993, and with having been mainly a dirt bike rider at that. I am not the passenger type so MG was anxious for me to do something that got me excited about riding.

I agreed to take the MSF course to see if I could even ride anymore. About 20 minutes into the first day of class, I knew I was going to be getting a bike.

My mother worries constantly about all of us senior citizens riding. She recently asked me for the umpteenth time, "Why?" I explained it's the exhilaration factor. There is such an inherent risk factor built into motorcycling, that just riding out of the driveway provides a rush. It's hard for physical non-risktakers like my mother to relate.

I recently went to a seminar that addressed what it took to "feel alive"--one of the necessary components is exhilaration. Everyone needs exhilaration, some people like my mother get it by keeping continual emotional turmoil into their lives, others like me get it from physical risk. Who is to say which is more or less dangerous?

 

[rogdeb]

Well .......................... I agree with Hans......................... but also with Bob.

I saw :****: in a dream and he asked me to put a word in for him. Only part of that was me. The nice part....

Thanks Bob. I'll take it - teeth 'n' all :lol:

 

[FJR-RemingtonRider]

Well posted insight!

We all can take something from this chain of postings.

Many riders in accidents even w/o lane sharing will tell you most times; that when they went down it was due to 'drifting focus'.

Many times riders just find themselves in a drifting focus state; and have to snap out of it by talking themselves into being more alert and making better decisions. Thing is; each time we read about an accident or send post for prayers for a fellow rider, we re-tune that focus sharply; but for how long?

This event because it paralleled your own daily riding brought you to that mental reckoning; which you expressed very well, which has caused a chain reaction of post that makes us all tighten our focus.

Thanks for sharing; I am sure someone who read this thread has avoided already or will avoid some unwanted event because their focus has re-aligned.

 

[FJRGuy]

I have been a little bit jealous of you Cali types for this privilege that you enjoy. Every time I get stuck in traffic, I think "if I was in California, I'd be past this mess!" That being said, I do think there should be speed limit associated with this. Bob has the right attitude IMO. Hell, I'd be happy with crawling past stopped traffic to be first off the line. But to do this at highway speeds just seems stupid.

Friends and family often comment on the risk I'm taking riding a motorcycle. I agree with them but comment that the important thing is how the risk is managed. Risk is a function of Probability of an incident and the Consequences of an incident occurring with the latter being what drive up the risk for us. I mitigate the risk by trying to ride with habits that reduce the Probability of an incident (even more so than driving my car.) I do try to reduce the Consequences by wearing the appropriate gear but this doesn't, IMO, have a significant impact on the risk of severe incidents.

Just my $0.02

 

[Toecutter]

This morning a lady in a parking lot complimented my bike and mentioned that she was too scared to ride a motorcycle. She asked me if I was ever scared. I told her I get scared as soon as I hit the starter button, and stay scared until I shut it off. Riding scared has served me well for the 4-1/2 years since I bought the FJR, and it's been a great ride so far....

 

[James Burleigh]

This morning a lady in a parking lot complimented my bike and mentioned that she was too scared to ride a motorcycle. She asked me if I was ever scared. I told her I get scared as soon as I hit the starter button, and stay scared until I shut it off. Riding scared has served me well for the 4-1/2 years since I bought the FJR, and it's been a great ride so far....

True dat. I read somewhere that if you ever stop being scared of your motorcycle it's time to walk away. When I commute I feel a combination of fear, anxiety, and trepidation. There's a constant tightness in my chest from, I suppose, elevated adrenalin. How must someone be feeling when he's crossing over Niagara Falls on a high wire? Since that's the feeling I usually associate with motorcycle riding, sometimes it's hard to want to get on the bike on weekends "for fun."--I don't want to go to that fearful place. "Hey, Hans! You wanna cross Niagara on a high wire? It'll be fun!" "Uh, no thanks."

Shame.

 

[madmike2]

This morning a lady in a parking lot complimented my bike and mentioned that she was too scared to ride a motorcycle. She asked me if I was ever scared. I told her I get scared as soon as I hit the starter button, and stay scared until I shut it off. Riding scared has served me well for the 4-1/2 years since I bought the FJR, and it's been a great ride so far....

True dat. I read somewhere that if you ever stop being scared of your motorcycle it's time to walk away. When I commute I feel a combination of fear, anxiety, and trepidation. There's a constant tightness in my chest from, I suppose, elevated adrenalin. How must someone be feeling when he's crossing over Niagara Falls on a high wire? Since that's the feeling I usually associate with motorcycle riding, sometimes it's hard to want to get on the bike on weekends "for fun."--I don't want to go to that fearful place. "Hey, Hans! You wanna cross Niagara on a high wire? It'll be fun!" "Uh, no thanks."

Shame.

Welllllll.....there is the mental tactic of using the fearful possibilities to heighten one's level of being mentally alert and physically prepared to respond to any given situation. I assume that's what Bob and Hans are saying. Be ever aware and vigilant when it comes to riding.

OTH, when my mind is overwhelmed (depression, emotional distress, headache or simply not "sharp") or if my body is resistant....that's when I make the decision to not ride that day.

 

[James Burleigh]

True dat. I read somewhere that if you ever stop being scared of your motorcycle it's time to walk away. When I commute I feel a combination of fear, anxiety, and trepidation. There's a constant tightness in my chest from, I suppose, elevated adrenalin. How must someone be feeling when he's crossing over Niagara Falls on a high wire? Since that's the feeling I usually associate with motorcycle riding, sometimes it's hard to want to get on the bike on weekends "for fun."--I don't want to go to that fearful place. "Hey, Hans! You wanna cross Niagara on a high wire? It'll be fun!" "Uh, no thanks."

Shame.

Welllllll.....there is the mental tactic of using the fearful possibilities to heighten one's level of being mentally alert and physically prepared to respond to any given situation. I assume that's what Bob and Hans are saying. Be ever aware and vigilant when it comes to riding.

OTH, when my mind is overwhelmed (depression, emotional distress, headache or simply not "sharp") or if my body is resistant....that's when I make the decision to not ride that day.

I failed to mention exhilaration. And fun. It's all in there mixed together, but it's a net good. :yahoo: But it can be an overwhelming emotional cocktail [bring it on :glare: ], and I'm not always up for it on weekends. There's also the fact I've already ridden every day of the week and don't feel the need to get back on the bike. But agree with everything you say, MM2. Feeling mad at Fang or work, or surly, affects my decision making, my risk tolerance. At night on the return commute, being mentally fatigued, I play it way cool and behave kinda like a car.

 

[SnowAviation]

James, you should submit that to American Motorcyclist or some other

motorcycle magazines for two reasons.

1. I guarantee one or maybe all of them will publish it, and

2. Lots of people need to read it.

Well done.

Ed

 

[JasonB]

Here's what we think we know about this accident: The rider was going 70 MPH up between cars in the nos. 1 and 2 lanes that were going about 50 MPH. He dove in between a box delivery truck on his right and a Volvo wagon on his left. One of the bags on his Beemer hit the truck, which destabilized him. He hit the Volvo, and then went down.

I can fully appreciate the “philosophical search for the meaning of life”, or the ride as the case may be here. But the solution is far simpler; remove your side cases if you are splitting lanes...