Riding vs Flying -- How many here ride?

"Philip S." wrote

I've had a number of friends who rode, I've been a passenger a few times,
and generally enjoyed the experience.

Yep, and riding is also a skill, also.

I was riding passenger with a friend, while in college. We would go out in
the late night, and just start driving on back roads, no map, and not paying
too much attention to where we were going; toss a coin to decide which way
to turn at an intersection. The goal was to get lost, and then try to
figure out how to get back home.

One night while driving serenely along on a country road, not going
particularly fast, when we went up over a small rise, and before we knew it,
the road disappeared. When it quickly re-appeared, it had taken a pretty
sharp left hand turn. Oh SH^T!!!

There was no time to get slowed enough to make the turn, and we both knew
it. There was no ditch, and a nice smooth looking yard, (with plenty of
dew) so we straightened up, and went out through the yard. I knew that if
we had a chance of not taking a spill, I had better not squirm around and
upset the balance. I sat still like a rock (I was holding on grab bars, and
not onto the driver) and out across the yard we went, slowing as fast as was
possible, until we were slow enough to get back onto the road.

We knew where we were by then (pretty much) so we continued back home,
neither of us saying a word, but knowing what bullet we had both dodged.
Once we got home, and shut off the engine and dismounted., the driver said,
"Jim, I want to thank you for being the perfect rider. If you would have
panicked back there, I would not have been able to control the bike, and we
would be in the hospital, right now."

"Thanks," I said. "I knew what I had to do, even though I thought we were
going down, for sure."

Another lesson or two learned. One, brief your riders on the importance of
being a "still" rider, and two, if you can not see the direction of the
road, slow down before you get to where the road disappears. g
--
Jim in NC