Cleaning my helmet and skin

Let me start by saying that cleaning and polishing my gear is one of the most soothing things on the list of things I do when it comes to living the bikerlife. This of course doesn’t top actually riding, but I thoroughly enjoy doing it none the less.
I digress from the reason I’m writing the post however.
So the other day my wife walks into the garage and asks me what I’m doing while I’m deep in my own mission of meticulously applying the good ‘ol trusted Dubbin to my leathers to hear her.
She gently touches my shoulder leading to me flying up from the chair in shock and asks me the question again.
“Cleaning up my gear my love”, I mumble as I crack back on my task.
“You do know that it’s all going to get dirty during your next ride right?” as she turns, shaking her head to leave me in my own little zone.
This gets me thinking though as too why I’m so hell bent on getting my leather looking and smelling brand new, just to get hammered by bugs, wind and on occasion rain as I sit with a motorcycle rumbling between my legs???
Is it my CDO (in other words, OCD that is so severe that I even have to rearrange the letters alphabetically 🤣), or is there something deeper to this routine I’ve practiced throughout all my years of riding?
As I take a step back to admire my now spotless leather, and gleaming helmet, the beginning of reason begins to smack me in the face about this entire endeavour.
Every time I gear up, I take on my biking identity! No, this isn’t a split personality disorder here before you come to that thought, which I might now have placed into head 😉
My leather becomes my skin. If I’m unfortunate in having to slide down the road, it’s the part of my body that gets ripped to pieces. So obviously it makes sense that I treat it as my own skin. That means keeping in clean and well taken care of to keep as much of my inside intact.
As for my helmet, it’s not merely my head, it’s my face while I’m riding as well. Kind of makes sense why everyone has a habit of choosing a different design, that just tends to match their own personality right? So it makes perfect sense to keep it sparkling clean seeing that your face is the first impression you leave on people you meet along the road of life.

And so my conclusion is set. I know now why I take such intensive care of all my riding gear. Kind of makes a ton a sense when you look at it in that context.
Enjoy the riding guys and gals 😉 till the next blog post!

Wearing black and skulls again?

I’m back with yet another mind provocative thought. This time it’s all about the biker obsession with the colour black and skulls. And I’m not just talking about the guys and gals that ride cruiser style motorcycles. I’ve know many adventure riders and even been a super bike rider myself, yet black clothing and skulls seems to catch our attention.
So let’s think first about the black clothing we all own. Heck, one look at the washing line after the washing machine has done its job, shocked me the other day when I actually realized that all of my clothing is black or so dark in colour that it is bordering black.
Why would we wear black though, considering that we spend our riding time out in the open, being beaten on in the sun. Kind of the worst idea, if I think back to that physics class in high school about how light rays work and that black absorbs light. But then I thought about it further and came to a few reasons that would explain this biker life obsession with black.
For starters, its much easier to keep clean, especially if something happens on the road that turns us into grease monkeys. And secondly, black is the colour of most of the leather that we all wear for protection, because its easier and cheaper dyeing leather black instead of other colours.
Just my points regarding black, despite that it involves you sweating in the slightest bit of shade you do manage to find at the next jol you attend.

Now onto the topic of skulls, we boldly head. Prior to this blog post, I sat and read up on a ton of articles and other blogs on this exact topic. The general consensus on all of these prior articles/posts is surprisingly the same in the long run, but there must be something else surely that draws the attention of motorcycle riders across the spectrum and worldwide.
Yes, I agree that the effects of WW2 had quite a bit to do with the rise of military veterans arriving back from war and purchasing motorcycles at a minimal cost from the army in various countries. Most notably the Harley-Davidson’s of the American Army. This led to veterans creating “gangs” made up of service units, which in turn led to the use of military unit insignia, which tends to have a lot of skulls involved, so as to frighten the enemy.
There is also the ancient approach to it, in that skulls signify immortality, seeing that it is all that remains once all the juicy bits decay into the ground.
However, I myself, as a motorcyclist, don’t feel any particular draw to any of these theories, that still do have some significance to the biker lifestyle, however not so much to me personally.
For me, it is more so a reflection of mortality that attracts me to the skulls that adorn of motorcycles and gear.
And this includes the jewellery that I wear even when I'm not riding.
I tend to side with the mortality that the famous biker skull symbolizes.
Bare with me here now as we delve into the depths and possibly relate together.
Every time I swing my leg over a motorcycle saddle, I embrace the fact of my mortality.
I accept that there is a possibility that I might not make it to my final destination. This doesn’t mean that all the skulls adorning me mean that I am an irresponsible rider in any way though. After all, I could be taken out by the cager at the next intersection that jumps a red light.
However, in the depths of my being, it means that I am embracing the dangers of the life I live as a biker. I live my life as fully as possible, in every way, and the skulls are merely a display and reminder that I am not afraid of death.
I know who I am and what I have accomplished, and that means I know where I believe I’m going if this ride is my last ride.
So thus, I adorn my skulls in all the black attire I wear on a daily basis, showing and sharing my way of life as fully as possible.
Ride safe all you awesome, black clad and skull adorned bikers!