The Thought Crossed My Mind...

[Surly]

Hi Howie,

If you must, give up riding to work if only for a while. Keep the weekends for fun and adventure of all kinds. At 61 soon every day will be a weekend, so hang in there.

Best regards

Surly

 

[SkooterG]

Freaking grow a set ya big baby. Time to put your Big Boy pants on and quit whining like a Gen II mamby-pamby wuss. For crying out loud.

You best be careful, much more of this pathetic drivel and I am going to disown your *** of being my ******* Step-Pappy. Or worse, maybe I'll move in to straighten your *** out!

Happy Freaking Friday you miserable old cuss.

:tease:

 

[LKLD]

My neon yellow vest has saved me more than once. Last minute, hard braking by cagers, once they notice the alien looking guy has worked so far. Most of my "incidents" have been on I-75, but still get some idiots locally. I tend to get aggressive once I sense that the situation doesn't feel right. I ride the same roads as Howie, and it's scary at times, but haven't had 3 in one commute.

Glad to hear that your skills served you well Howie!

 

[TomInPA]

And the Oscar for Post Most Resembling James Burleigh, goes to Radiohowie!

 

[dcarver]

**** 'em Howie.

Challenging ************ about a serious issue of your personal safety ain't right.

We all need to, at various times, evaluate the risk versus happy ratio.

Having said all this,

Get on your Bad Moto Skooter and Ride.

We all have only so many hours in the saddle.

John Ryan had his last moment in the saddle.

I hope to be as lucky as John.. Lord knows I don't want to go like OrangevaleFJR or Twowheelnut, RIP.

Get my drift?

 

[Tyler]

Howie, make your choices based on your experiences... you will know what's right for you... no matter what the peanut gallery here says.

 

[garyahouse]

Now that ya heard all the baloney, the "Time to count the cost" posts, and the insults, contact Clearwater CLICKY HERE and get yourself a set of Kristas if you want to blast your problems away, or a set of Ericas if you wanna put them in the ditch while yer doing it. Pricey, but they WILL cure a large percentage of the problem. If you'd already had them on Frankenbike, this thread might have never happened?? I know you've been on this forum forever, and you're no stranger to anything I've said here. You probably coulda told ME everything I've already said. But I'm sure a believer since I got 'em.

Tell ya what: you get em, and I'll come down to the house and put em on for ya.

Think about it?

Gary

 

[Tyler]

get yourself a set

In more than one way...

 

[escapefjrtist]

Commuting sucks. You have to be on high alert at all times in a sea of crazies. I tried it when I was working and ultimately took the cage to work every day. Prefer to ride on my time and on the back roads......... Howie, you ain't gonna give up riding....... it's in your blood.

This^^^^

I would love to start my day commuting on the bike, but the combination of living in the sticks with lots of critters and THEN dealing with brain dead drivers kills it for me. Like Ray, I use mine to hit the back roads, enjoy the ride and use the time to relax.

--G

 

[Bugnatr]

You have people in cars and I have deer. Who's got it worse Howie, you or me?

 

[Goodman4]

I think we all get there at various points, Howie. I hope you're just venting and using this as therapy, cause I'd hate to see you give up commuting if you really enjoy it. I guess that's the point though. If the idiots take the fun out of it, then the frustration is not worth the ride.

I suppose in FL there may not be many alternate routes to your job? I commute 90% of the time on my bike and I have a pretty safe 15 min path except for about three intersections where they occasionally try to kill me. To avoid this and make it a lot more fun I have a back road twisty path that takes 30 mins and is my stress relief. I usually never see a car for 95% of that ride. I know the curves really well and practice pretty aggressively on this path. I've had tractors and deer try to kill me on that path, though, so there is danger everywhere.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts. And maybe think about taking Gary's advice on more lights? I think about adding them from time to time and if I was in more cities, I'd have already done it.

 

[kenporider]

You can can light your bike up like a Christmas Holiday tree, add straight pipes, wear hi viz that glows like the sun and if they're not going to see you, they're still not going to see you. We've created a society where people have become trained to be highly focused on everything they do and the more focused we are, the less aware we are. I wear hi viz these days but I realize that the best I can hope for is to get the attention of the marginally unaware by creating something that looks out of place.

There's a book called "The Invisible Gorilla" that highlights just how unaware we really are. I read read it and thought "How stupid are people? How could they not notice these things?" Sure as ****, a few months ago I was watching a program that ran the same tests and I missed about 70% of what was going on. We're talking about some pretty obvious stuff too. It really made me change my approach to how I ride around other people.

 

[Old Guy]

You saw them with yer own eyes.

I know they're not cheap, but NOBODY has pulled in front of me since the day I put them on. Period. End of story.

They are seriously bright and it seems that they've cured the TBone problem for me. If I wasn't so cheap, I'd buy you a set. If you weren't so cheap... uhhh, well, never mind. I know they're pricey, Steve, but give it some thought OK? We'd like to keep ya around for awhile.

Gary

darksider #44

Those blue, clear wind deflectors made me think "police bike" as soon as I saw them. Maybe that helps

 

[Greg 03]

I'm still dazzled at the fact you have an FJR and a ZRX... add a Bandit and you'll be a god amongst us mere mortals!

 

[beemerdons]

RadioHowie as your Best Friend (next to HotRodZilla, of course!) I have given your dilemma a lot of thought and have come up with a solution.

You need to ride without a helmet and with no shirt on, trust me this will protect you! Anyone that spies that sight will veer off, RH on the right!

 

[Old Guy]

We can't control other drivers. No amount of complaining, yelling, gesturing, or door kicking will make them less than the self-important pricks that some of them tend to be. All we can do is concentrate on what we're doing when we're on the bike. Work on visibility, lane positioning, and other strategies to get their attention. Work on strategies to stay away from them where possible.

Mr. Howie, I'm not pokin' at you or trying to diss you in any way, but if you're having that much trouble, I'd strongly suggest you you consider what you could have done differently in each incident. It appears that in each incident you mentioned, they didn't know you were there, and you were positioned right where they could nail ya. Could you have fixed that in any of them?

 

[HotRodZilla]

Yeah Howie...It's your fault. WTF are you doing driving on their roads? ******!

 

[Fly Bye]

Perhaps we take for granted all of the times we ride and do not have a negative experience with cagers, forest rats or whatever.

Most of us have enough experience to take the defensive measures needed for urban and country riding, however when we get in the saddle we bought the ticket and take the chance. That is what we do.

Granted three close calls in one day is more than enough to rattle one's sensibilities and IMHO riding in city increases our vulnerability to the ***** cagers.

Life is full of choices, make the one that best suites you.

So It's my guess that means we will see you on the road.

 

[LKLD]

RadioHowie as your Best Friend (next to HotRodZilla, of course!) I have given your dilemma a lot of thought and have come up with a solution.
You need to ride without a helmet and with no shirt on, trust me this will protect you! Anyone that spies that sight will veer off, RH on the right!

[img=[URL="https://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq180/fljab4430/FJR%20pics/CFL2.jpg%5D"]https://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq180/fljab4430/FJR%20pics/CFL2.jpg][/URL]

Just so people know, Howie isn't showing disrespect in the photo. His left arm has been stuck like this since his one, and only, jump-off many years ago. This might also explain why the locals are trying to kamikaze his ***!

On a side note, to watch Howie work a clutch, well, you have to see it to believe it!

 

[Old Guy]

Yeah Howie...It's your fault. WTF are you doing driving on their roads? ******!

If you're referring to my post, that's not what I said. All I suggested is that he consider what he may have done differently. There's nothing we can do about the Oscar Gropes of the world other than avoid them. I know that when I have a close call I can usually figure out a way to avoid the situation in the future. I've done this for 48 years and learning from my own mistakes has been key to staying alive and unhurt. Well, OK -- hurt a few times but still alive