Author Topic: Motorcycle Quote of the Day  (Read 419109 times)

Online ruSTynutz

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2975 on: June 02, 2020, 09:25:23 PM »


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Offline Biggles

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2976 on: September 23, 2022, 10:50:18 AM »
It's been a long time.  I bailed out of this Thread when it descended into memes.  But I've scanned excerpts from another book and so am invigorated to resume my posts.  For those into trivia, I now have 2444 of these, of which 2368 are already in this thread.
====================================

What makes a good rider?
The qualities of a safe and competent rider are:

• critical and honest self-awareness and understanding of your personal characteristics, attitudes and behaviour that are necessary for safe riding

• taking action to keep identified risks to a minimum

• awareness of your own limitations and those of the machine and the road

• awareness of the risks inherent in particular road and traffic situations

• concentration and good observation

• continuously matching the machine's direction and speed to the changing conditions

• skilful use of machine controls.

Motorcycle Roadcraft  Penny Mares et al  p3
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Offline Biggles

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2977 on: September 24, 2022, 06:50:11 PM »
Because as a rider you have no protective shell in a collision, you are more likely to suffer serious or fatal injuries of the head and neck, or of vital
organs in the thorax and abdomen.
Most riders think they are both safer and more skilful than the average rider- but we can't all be right. In around 2 out of 3 collisions, human error is the principal cause. Riders are most vulnerable to the actions of other road users, as drivers are to blame in half of all motorcycle crashes.
This is why understanding your vulnerability and learning to reduce your risks, especially the risks from the errors of other road users, is so vital.
Riding safety is not an add-on extra - it must be built into the way you ride. Those who ride in poor weather, all year round, have an increased risk of collision, even after other exposure and experience have been taken into account.
Experienced riders who stop riding and take it up again in middle age have a higher than average risk of crashing, possibly because they ride more powerful bikes than they did when younger. Formal training can help to refresh or maintain rusty skills and reduce the risk.
Motorcycle Roadcraft  Penny Mares et al  p6
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2978 on: September 25, 2022, 01:10:01 PM »
Decision-making
Your brain compares [its visual input] with situations from your experience, identifies what actions you took in the past and chooses a plan of action for the current situation. Your brain assesses the suitability of the proposed plan of action by comparing it with actions that you have carried out safely in similar circumstances before. You use several types of judgement:
• anticipating how events are likely to unfold
• assessing the proposed plan for risk, noting hazards and grading them based on previous experience
• assessing your space, position, speed and gear.

Output
Take action - make an appropriate response.

Feedback
As you put your plan into action, your brain takes in new information and continuously checks it so that you can modify your actions at any time. Developing this ability to a high standard takes experience, practice, alertness and full concentration. The ability to judge a situation, grade risks and anticipate how things are likely to unfold is essential to safe riding, especially at high speeds.
Motorcycle Roadcraft  Penny Mares et al  p45
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2979 on: September 26, 2022, 11:29:11 AM »
Look where you want to go.
A bike tends to go where the rider is looking, so when you become aware of a specific hazard, it's vital to keep your head and eyes up and continue scanning the whole scene. If you focus on the pothole or the patch of mud that you want to avoid, your bike is likely to head straight for it. This is known as 'target fixation'.
Keep your eyes on the furthest point to which you want to go. Your vision will take in the hazard as well as everything else, and this will allow you to negotiate it safely without being drawn towards it.
You go where you look, so remember to look where you want to go.
Don't focus on the hazard that you want to avoid.
Motorcycle Roadcraft  Penny Mares et al  p56
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2980 on: September 26, 2022, 03:28:36 PM »
Thanks Biggles  :-[
I don’t know the amount of pot holes I have hit when I have already spotted them
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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2981 on: September 26, 2022, 07:43:16 PM »
This one is along the lines of 'Don't watch the approaching headlights, look a little to the left of them.'

It applies to four wheels as well as two, or eighteen.
THERE ARE OLD RIDERS, AND THERE ARE BOLD RIDERS, BUT THERE ARE DAMN FEW OLD AND BOLD RIDERS.

Keep the dirty side down.

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2982 on: September 27, 2022, 12:28:45 PM »
How speed affects observation and anticipation
The faster you go, the further ahead you need to look. This is because as you ride faster, the nearest point at which you can accurately focus moves away from you. Foreground detail becomes blurred and observation becomes more difficult because you have to process a lot more information in less time. The only way to cope with this is to scan further ahead, beyond the point where your eyes naturally come to rest, to give yourself more time to assess, plan and react.
At higher speeds, you will travel further before you can react to what you have seen and you need to build this into your safe stopping distance.
Remember the safe stopping distance rule:
Always ride so you can stop safely within the distance you can see to be clear on your own side of the road.
Motorcycle Roadcraft  Penny Mares et al  p63
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2983 on: September 28, 2022, 12:26:52 PM »
Riding through water
Slow down as you approach a flooded area as water may conceal a hazard such as an object or deep hole. When you have to ride through water, slow to a walking pace and ride through the shallowest part but look out for hidden obstacles or subsidence.
If the road is entirely submerged, stop the machine in a safe place and cautiously find out how deep the water is. The depth of water that you can safely ride through depends on how high your machine stands off the ground and where the electrical components are positioned.
If you decide to ride on, follow the steps below:
• Engage first gear and keep the engine running fast by slipping the clutch. This prevents water entering the exhaust pipe. Use the rear brake to control the road speed, especially when riding downhill into a ford.
• Ride through the water at a slow even speed - a slow walking pace. Keep the bike upright.
• When you leave the water, continue riding slowly and apply the brakes lightly until they grip. Repeat this again after a short while until you're confident that both brakes are working normally. This also applies if you have pushed your machine through the water.
Motorcycle Roadcraft  Penny Mares et al  p88
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2984 on: September 29, 2022, 02:26:34 PM »
Forces that help stability
Because of the steering design on a motorcycle, a bike is stable when travelling in a straight line, and the front wheel has a self-straightening tendency when steered left or right. The forces involved will tend to pull the front wheel back in line if you release pressure on the handlebars. The gyroscopic effect also tends to keep a motorcycle stable. Think of a spinning top. When you spin a top fast enough, it becomes stable around its spinning axis. The same applies to the wheels of a motorcycle once they're rotating fast enough.
These forces also help the front wheel to straighten if it's temporarily knocked off line, for example by hitting a bump in the carriageway. This is why your position on the bike is important - with your body and arms in the correct position you get the most benefit from this self-correcting tendency.

Steering
When you turn the handlebars, the tyre contact patch on the ground moves away from the machine's centre line. The centre of gravity is no longer above the centre line, so the machine will begin to lean. When this happens, cornering forces combine to help you to lean into the turn.
Motorcycle Roadcraft  Penny Mares et al  pp133-4
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2985 on: September 30, 2022, 11:40:57 AM »
Following position
In a stream of traffic, always keep a safe distance behind the vehicle in front. Follow the two-second rule. Leave a gap of at least two seconds between you and the vehicle in front, depending on conditions.
Keeping your distance increases your safety because:
• you have a good view, and can increase it along both sides by slight changes of position - this enables you to be fully aware of what is happening on the road ahead
• you can stop your bike safely if the driver in front brakes firmly without warning
• you can extend your braking distance so that the driver behind has more time to react, especially if they are driving too close
• you can see when it's safe to move into the overtaking position
• in wet weather, you get less spray from the vehicle in front.
You should generally position your machine to the rear offside of the vehicle you're following. From this position you are:
• visible through the inside and offside door mirrors of the driver in front
• able to move into an overtaking position by reducing the following distance (i.e. without needing to change position as well)
• able to escape to either side should an emergency arise.
Motorcycle Roadcraft  Penny Mares et al  p182
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2986 on: October 01, 2022, 12:28:33 PM »
Developing your competence at overtaking safely
The height, manoeuvrability and rapid acceleration of motorcycles are great advantages for overtaking. These features, together with their need for less road space than vehicles on four wheels, should make motorcycles the safest of all vehicles on which to overtake. The fact that they're not is because riders fail to appreciate all the hazards involved.
Overtaking is hazardous because it may bring you into the path of other vehicles, including the vehicle you are overtaking. It's a complex manoeuvre in which you need to consider the primary hazard of the vehicle(s) you want to overtake, as well as a number of secondary hazards as the primary hazard moves amongst them. It requires you to negotiate dynamic hazards (moving vehicles) as well as fixed ones (such as road layout).
Motorcycle Roadcraft  Penny Mares et al  p190
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Online Kev Murphy

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2987 on: October 01, 2022, 12:34:45 PM »
Recently I saw a guy overlook the fact that it was a double-B, not a normal semi that he was overtaking.
Luckily for the rider, an oncoming car ran off the road to avoid converting the rider into windscreen jam.
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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2988 on: October 01, 2022, 01:17:45 PM »
That situation is when its great to have a UHF set to ch 40. costs nothing to call up the truck to request clearance..
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Offline Biggles

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2989 on: October 02, 2022, 02:11:59 PM »
Memories stirred as I watched a father and his young son dismounting their motorcycle in the parking lot of the nearby restaurant. As the boy removed his helmet, the grin I knew would surely be there shone brightly for the entire world to see.
As the father removed his own helmet, I could see what I expected there too. We traded nods as he listened to his son excitedly explain some aspect of their ride. His face was an interesting combination of emotions. Satisfaction for a well executed ride, pleasure at his son's obvious enjoyment, and a little anxiety that he was so responsible for something so precious to himself. Wanting to protect his son but knowing he must expose the boy to the world in order for him to someday become a man. This is a look I know well from my childhood. I saw it many times on my Dad, but never really understood completely until long after I had become an adult.
Life Is A Road  Daniel Meyer  pxv
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Offline Biggles

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2990 on: October 04, 2022, 10:49:13 AM »
Normally on a road trip if you want to make your bike look good sometime along the way, you have to carry some cleaning supplies. Chrome polish, wax, and Armor-all are usually in my arsenal. I also carry a can of Lemon Pledge for my helmet. This is an old biker's trick, the Lemon Pledge cleans bugs and stuff of your faceplate like nothing else, and has the added benefit of making water bead up and blow off if you are in the rain. It also reduces the crazing you can usually see in the plastic face shield when riding into the sun. The problem is that space is limited, and all these products take up valuable and needed space.
Here comes a product endorsement: "Can Do" replaces all of those products, hands down. After washing the bikes in the car wash, mine was still a mess. The high-pressure spray, on soap, directed at my pipes from less than an inch away would not cut the baked-on gook. Also the water there was extremely "hard" and left a bad film on both bikes.
Out came the "Can Do" and a couple of rags.
I sprayed this stuff on a section of my pipes and let it sit for about 30 seconds. The gook wiped right off, leaving shiny chrome underneath. No problem. Easy. I was stunned.
"Hey James, check this out." I did it again to another section. James stunned. We had been talking about buying oven-cleaner for this task.
We then proceeded to wipe every part of both bikes down. In no time we had two clean, shiny, and remarkable machines. You would never guess they had just travelled hundreds of miles, much less the mess mine had been earlier. This stuff works, and works well. It is all I will ever carry for this task in the future.
Life Is A Road  Daniel Meyer  p42
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Offline Biggles

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2991 on: October 05, 2022, 11:05:22 AM »
We crested a small hill and looked forward to at least 15 miles of road, slightly uphill, with both sides of the road clearly visible the entire way. There was no traffic in sight and had been none since we passed the truck some miles back. At that moment a particularly rollicking tune started on my mp3 player.
"Well Oiled Machine" chose that moment to get frisky.
"Come on. Let's go." she clearly said.
"Can't, I'm following James." I responded. "Got to go. Got to go now. Got to. Got to. Got to. Go faster. Must go faster!" she insisted. I'll have to watch that super unleaded gas... I think it has caffeine in it.
"Ok." I am a pushover for a beautiful woman.
I tweaked the throttle and shot past James. He would have no problem knowing what I was up to. The road in front of us was self-explanatory.
I never hit full throttle. Within seconds she was at 135 mph and the tachometer was redlined at 8500 rpm. She was still accelerating and showed no signs of running out of power, but I let off, as I did not want to go over the redline.
"Well Oiled Machine" was smooth and stable, with no unusual vibration or shimmy. I held the speed for a few moments, but was soon cresting the hill. I let off it and gradually slowed back down to 75 mph or so. She is an incredible machine. The torque and power available are nothing short of amazing. [1980 Suzuki 1100XS]
Life Is A Road  Daniel Meyer  pp51-2
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Offline Biggles

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2992 on: October 06, 2022, 01:38:24 PM »
This is the classic left turn motorcycle killer, except there was absolutely no obstruction to anyone's vision. These morons are the reason the law requires us to have a headlight on all the time. Fat lot of good that does... people gotta look up every once in a while.
I pulled an extreme braking/evasive trick and ended up stopped in the intersection- kind of right in the middle. "The Dragon" is graceful and responsive under pressure. I am a big and strong guy, and the Valkyrie and I mesh together well. Barely missed the errant car, and the driver was looking at me wide-eyed as she passed by.
Sheesh. Bad enough, but the car following her was blissfully unaware that he should also yield to oncoming traffic that has the green. Oh crap! says the little voice again. I am stopped in the exact center of the entire intersection... the place that no car ever occupies if everyone is doing everything right, so I am no longer a factor. There are other cars behind me however... The oncoming turner is apparently fixated on the preceding car and is not paying attention. He barely clears me (I do not think he ever saw me) and creams the car that was passing by me in the center lane through the intersection. Pretty much a head-on. I get heavily sprayed with flying glass and gasoline, and got a very good close up view of the ass end of his car as it "whooshes" by me in an arc spewing gas, but fortunately get missed by all the heavier bits randomly travelling about the intersection. Brrrrr... I can still read you his license number... it is etched into my brain.
Life Is A Road  Daniel Meyer  pp93-4
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2993 on: October 06, 2022, 06:20:34 PM »
Wow.  The stuff of recurring nightmares.
A man rides on his STeed, says “Why am I short of attention? Got a short little span of attention”.

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2994 on: October 07, 2022, 10:42:40 AM »
Arizona's finest were out fleecing the tourists, so we pegged the speed at 75-80, set the cruise, and left it. We spotted 12 cruisers within about 30 miles; a rough calculation and we figure they are bringing in about $8000 per hour. This is more officers than we saw in the entire rest of the trip. If crime is so low in Arizona that you can put 20 guys on a 30-mile stretch of road, then here is a hint: fire the cops and put a couple more cents tax on the gas. I'll take my chances with the speeders, rather than with the cop cars and tourists parked all over the Interstate, not to mention the police cruisers turning around in the median and scattering dust, gravel, and unwary travellers that happen to be in their path.
Life Is A Road  Daniel Meyer  p128
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2995 on: October 08, 2022, 01:07:17 PM »
Friday morning I slept in a bit (normally I have to get up around 4:00am for work), finished loading "The Dragon", took my wife for a leisurely breakfast, and much to the amusement of the restaurant patrons there, passionately kissed her goodbye. We got sporadic applause.
I pulled out of Dallas around 9:00am. Once again I chose my route with avoiding the super-slabs in mind. Due to constant construction, massive truck traffic, bleak scenery, and dazed cage drivers, Interstate-35 is boring and marginally unsafe for motorcycles.
I caught US67 out of Dallas, headed for US281 at Hico. US67 is a pain, it has been under construction for years, and they are apparently not getting anywhere. When I stopped for gas at Glen Rose, I nearly dumped "The Dragon", as they have constructed concrete curbs and edgings along the street, but paved the street with blacktop which is for some reason about 3" below the level of the concrete edgings. I did not see the edge till I hit it in a mild turn into the parking lot. Guess I should have been watching closer, even though it is a brand new street.
Life Is A Road  Daniel Meyer  p160
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Offline Biggles

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2996 on: October 09, 2022, 03:24:22 PM »
I entered a really odd fog just north of Interstate-10 and stayed in it for miles. It was almost surreal, the sun was up and the fog was only at ground level. Visibility was only about 1/4 of a mile, but within that circle it was was sunny and the visibility was crisp.
This gave the very strong illusion that I was not moving at all, rather that I was stationary, and things were moving into and out of being. I have ridden many thousands of miles, and this is the first time I have ridden in conditions quite like this. From my perspective, the world did not exist outside my sphere of influence, and all things (like many, many deer) were simply created in front of me, moved silently behind me, and then were destroyed as they vanished.
Eventually a Harley rider was created in front of me, and as he slowly slid backwards toward me, he moved over to share his lane with waved me by. As I paralleled him for a moment I looked over at him, to find him looking at me. I am sure I was wearing the same ecstatic grin on my face that he had on his. A mutual thumbs up, and I pulled away in front. It was almost with regret that I let him vanish in the mists behind me.
Life Is A Road  Daniel Meyer  p171
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Offline Biggles

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2997 on: October 10, 2022, 11:30:44 AM »
My situation is more extreme but it is a myth to suggest that all you have to do is ride very fast to get around the world in 19 days. In theory, all you have to do is ride at 50 mph for 20 or so hours a day and rest when the bike is being shipped. I didn't know it then, but riding fast, 24 hours a day for days at a time without sleep and only the slimmest of margins to fuel, lubricate, feed, water and empty the bike and the body was still not the whole truth. Getting around a thousand corners quickly whilst simultaneously watching a selection of surfaces all of which if misinterpreted could kill you, is but another underrated riding skill you need to have; but it's not just that, as every single item of road furniture, millions of them, must be avoided. Technically, as you learn to instantly recognise different traffic patterns, it's more than this. You also begin to 'download' life information into smaller bits, with especial reference to road information that breaks it down into something less chunky. One aspect of my life surely has something to do with whittling the world down to a more manageable size. With this in mind, I rode a bike, but it was only the road that changed, everything else more or less remained the same.
Journey Beyond Reason  Nick Sanders  p22
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Offline Biggles

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2998 on: October 11, 2022, 06:11:41 PM »
By three in the morning the black clouds were dumping their load of rain again, making surface conditions treacherous and delaying the arrival of daylight. Sitting on my bike in the rain, alone on the side of the road, I was beginning to feel ill. It was a very uncomfortable vibration in my body that was a degree or so less tremulous than shaking and still I had at least 12 hours more to ride. Forcibly being kept awake against a back drop of severe fatigue is a known method of torture. Riding for two and a half days with no sleep must be a kind of self harm. As the comfort zone diminishes to the point when it is nearly not there, that is the time when ambition overrides sanity. When it did get light, the rain stopped and I power napped for a few minutes which made me feel immediately better. All I had do was cross Bulgaria and even though I didn't stop for breakfast my spirits rose and the tremors stopped.
Bulgaria came and went and soon I crossed the border into Turkey at Svilengrad and reached the motorway to Edime and onto Istanbul where my friend Ikbal was to meet me on the outskirts of the city.
Journey Beyond Reason  Nick Sanders  pp42-3
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

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Offline Biggles

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Re: Motorcycle Quote of the Day
« Reply #2999 on: October 13, 2022, 09:47:34 PM »
Why on earth would someone keep on riding around the world like this? Well, to tell a secret, such repetition had become my only contribution to life. The act of motorcycling around the world is such a bizarre and little-known skill - its use to humanity could be described as nil but I was unsure about this. It certainly represented the story of a human being living on the edge; one who crossed ten thousand traffic junctions when it needed only one miscreant with a bullock cart to end it all; when rider, dreamer, essayist and father could, in an instant, have his face forced through skin and bone against the animal's rib cage. Wherever he was in that envelope of space, he had to acknowledge that his life was now just a game of numbers.
Journey Beyond Reason  Nick Sanders  pp68-9
For the modern man who lives in the city, riding a bike might be one of the only ways to escape the humdrum monotony. To take off and ride. To be both at one with nature and one with the bike. To feel masculine. Adam Piggott

OzSTOC #16  STOC #6135  FarR #509  IBA #54927
 
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