It hit me the other day oddly enough, while sitting at a Sunday lunch with my father-in-law and his club members, chatting about rides everybody had been on recently.
Here I am, sitting listening instead of actually talking (which I’ve found too serve me well over the years), too these old guys talking about riding well over the local speed limits.
It’s funny too think that I used to be one of these loose cannons, with a wide open throttle every time a start button brought a motorcycle to life between my legs.
Just like that, it started to dawn on me how funny this whole story is and now I’m wondering if this theory cooking in my mind might have some warrant.
Maybe with some of you reading this could share your view point on it in the comments below and we can either confirm it or just put it too rest as a kak idea🤣
So I noticed that the older guys were all bragging about breaking into the 200km/h mark on roads. It occurred to me that it’s been awhile since I’ve felt the need to do this on my personal riding and it got me thinking that maybe it’s an age factor.
When I was younger and dumber, more specifically my late teens and early 20s, I wasn’t happy riding unless I was pushing the absolute limits of the rev counter. I had no worries and nothing holding me back. There wasn’t the stress of paying bills. There wasn’t a care about whether or not I made it out the other end in one piece or a flaming wreck of leather and rubber.
I notice though, this same type of mentality with the older guys that are fairly new to motorcycles. To clarify this, the “mid life crisis” type riders. I haven’t noticed it much in the real veteran riders, although they are honestly few and far between these days.
Most riders now days are either youngsters or old guys that have finally decided to get onto two wheels after years of debating the safety and risks involved in motorcycling, as well finally being able to afford those big ‘ol Harleys I’ve been eyeballing all these years. I digress however, please do excuse me when the squirrels in my head wonder off in the other direction 😉
The question now though is whether you see the trend of the point I’m trying to make here? If not, here’s a simple breakdown of what I’m getting at:
Young / new riders = balls to the wall, high adrenaline riding all the time
Middle aged / experienced riders = calm and relaxed rides, with minimal risks
Old and/or veteran riders = balls to the wall, high adrenaline riding all the time
With this line of thinking though, it seems that the less “worry” one has when swinging a leg over a motorcycle, the faster and more reckless one becomes with the throttle. Kind of makes sense now why manufacturers are so focused on safety features as well. Just take a look at some of the 2020 models that have been released so far and you’ll notice that they come with almost more features than the smartphone in your pocket now days.
And after all the ranting above, I’m now curious to see if I become one of those veteran riders that goes balls to the wall. Luckily still a few more years to go before I get to that stage in my life, so I’ll just be content with chilling and enjoying the scenery on my private rides, keeping my throttle hand rested up for when I need to straddle the new stuff at launches in “controlled” environments 😉
