wfooshee
O, Woe is me!!
Speaking of leaving your temper tantrums for places other than behind the handlebars....... I had an incident this evening where I got a little bit peeved at someone, and it could possibly have very slightly affected my judgment and clear-headedness. Just a tiny bit. Maybe. Believe it or not.
So I was at Walmart after work to get food. I park, every time, as does every other motorcyclist and scooter rider in the Universe since the Dawn of Time, on the cross-hatched painted area at the front of the lot. It's a large enough area for two cars to park (and indeed, sometimes there ARE cars parked there) and there is no purpose served keeping it empty, other than to allow visibility around the corner for drivers trying to exit the parking lane. Bikes don't block that, and they're not blocking anything that the handicapped folks need, space-wise. It's literally 30 feet by 20 feet of empty pavement.
But tonight, after I'd un-helmeted and de-gloved and was starting to walk away, a Lynn Haven cop pulls up and says, "That ain't no parkin' place, ya know." Seriously? it's been bike parking for decades, but tonight he's gonna be a jerk??? I made some remark to that effect (without the "jerk" part) and he said if I left it he'd ticket me, and I was lucky he came up and told me instead of just watching me walk away and THEN writing the ticket. So I grab the gloves and lid and placed them back upon my person as he drives off. I know better than to think he won't circle right back around, so I head for an empty space that's actually even with where I already am. I'm a little juiced, so I gun it and stop hard in the space.
There would have been no drama at all if it had been ordinary pavement somewhere, but parking spaces are full of OIL!!!! Well, crap! The front locks and goes sideways, I modulate, the bike kicks back up, and we repeat that cycle 3 or 4 times. It bucked enough that my feet came off the pegs, and I banged my shin pretty hard on the back of the fairing there where it's supposed to be well in front of your leg. No shin guards in street gear..... maybe think about some soccer equipment under there!
And yes, I was seen doing it. Guy in the adjacent facing space was getting out of his car and remarked on the save, asked me how long I'd been riding. I haven't quite figured out if that meant, "Good thing you knew how to catch that," or if it was, "stupid newb...."
But the bike did get parked, it didn't go through the space and hit a car, and it didn't try to crush my ankle or make me buy a new helmet again. It was the closest I've come to a crash without crashing, though!
And it (hopefully) reinforced the concept of leaving your temper out of your riding.
Worst part of this? When I came out of the store there was an unoccupied Jeep parked exactly where I'd first stopped the bike, right in the middle of the cross-hatched area. Where's that damn cop NOW??!?!?!
So I was at Walmart after work to get food. I park, every time, as does every other motorcyclist and scooter rider in the Universe since the Dawn of Time, on the cross-hatched painted area at the front of the lot. It's a large enough area for two cars to park (and indeed, sometimes there ARE cars parked there) and there is no purpose served keeping it empty, other than to allow visibility around the corner for drivers trying to exit the parking lane. Bikes don't block that, and they're not blocking anything that the handicapped folks need, space-wise. It's literally 30 feet by 20 feet of empty pavement.
But tonight, after I'd un-helmeted and de-gloved and was starting to walk away, a Lynn Haven cop pulls up and says, "That ain't no parkin' place, ya know." Seriously? it's been bike parking for decades, but tonight he's gonna be a jerk??? I made some remark to that effect (without the "jerk" part) and he said if I left it he'd ticket me, and I was lucky he came up and told me instead of just watching me walk away and THEN writing the ticket. So I grab the gloves and lid and placed them back upon my person as he drives off. I know better than to think he won't circle right back around, so I head for an empty space that's actually even with where I already am. I'm a little juiced, so I gun it and stop hard in the space.
There would have been no drama at all if it had been ordinary pavement somewhere, but parking spaces are full of OIL!!!! Well, crap! The front locks and goes sideways, I modulate, the bike kicks back up, and we repeat that cycle 3 or 4 times. It bucked enough that my feet came off the pegs, and I banged my shin pretty hard on the back of the fairing there where it's supposed to be well in front of your leg. No shin guards in street gear..... maybe think about some soccer equipment under there!
And yes, I was seen doing it. Guy in the adjacent facing space was getting out of his car and remarked on the save, asked me how long I'd been riding. I haven't quite figured out if that meant, "Good thing you knew how to catch that," or if it was, "stupid newb...."
But the bike did get parked, it didn't go through the space and hit a car, and it didn't try to crush my ankle or make me buy a new helmet again. It was the closest I've come to a crash without crashing, though!
And it (hopefully) reinforced the concept of leaving your temper out of your riding.
Worst part of this? When I came out of the store there was an unoccupied Jeep parked exactly where I'd first stopped the bike, right in the middle of the cross-hatched area. Where's that damn cop NOW??!?!?!
