Riding vs Flying -- How many here ride?

"Jay Honeck" wrote in news:1151757324.076849.205190
@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com:

Snipola
do you currently ride a motorcycle?
Snipola

I've been riding for almost 20 years, but haven't got my
wings yet.

However, I want to address all the naysayers and negative
attitude towards safety on a bike.

Yes, it does come with more risks, which I like to sum up
as, "there's no such things as a fender bender on a bike".

Now, of those 20 years of riding, 19 have been in Orange
and LA counties. It's dangerous, and I nearly gave it up
when I was having more close calls than I could deal with.
I was on the verge of going postal on somebody, and some
did lose their mirrors or get dented doors.

But I then thought hard about it and realized, either I
give up the bike, or change the way I ride. I could not
continue with the way things were.

I chose to change the way I ride.

I now take active, positive, and if necessary, aggressive
control of my driving situation. If I sense even the
slightest hint of danger (the list of hints is huge),
then I do something to remove that danger from my presense.
I now have the attitude on the road that I *DO* own it
and to hell with everybody else and to hell with the
laws. I liken it to combat at zero AGL where everyone else
is out to kill you kamikaze style, and you have no weapons
to defend yourself. But that's an extreme. I don't always
have to be hell bent for leather. pardon the pun

I could probably write a book on what I've learned and why
I think it works, and I'm sure I could get into some mighty
flame wars over it if I were to discuss it here. All I know
is that what I'm doing now DOES work, and every time I try
to change it, I have more problems.

I guess my point is, because hardly anyone drives properly
anymore, you can't just sit back and expect things to be
hunkey dory. Too many people get behind the wheel and just
'zone' from point A to point B. Helmets, leathers, and all
that are just icing on the cake. They do nothing to protect
you from getting into a situation to begin with. For that,
you have to use your number one weapon, and that's the grey
stuff between your ears.

Riding a motorcycle isn't for everybody, just like flying.
Some people can do it better than others. Some are really
bad at it, and it's better that they don't.

BTW, I have an '86 Harley Sportster 883.

ps. I have had one minor accident on the bike, not my fault,
uninjured. But I learned a lot that day.

Brian
--
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