Fast – slow – fast

I couldn’t help but find something amusing while riding the other day. So amusing in fact that here I am ranting on yet another blog post about it 🤣
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 😉

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!