I split lanes.

Originally posted on Facebook April 1, 2016:

"Where many drivers get it wrong is that they see lane splitting as "queue jumping" that will cause each car to go one further spot back in the queue. In truth, a filtering bike disappears from the queue altogether, the only time a motorcycle holds a car up is when it sits in traffic and acts like another car.
Filtering bikes work their way to the front of stopped traffic at red lights, and accelerate away much quicker than the cars around them. When they reach the next stoppage, they disappear again between the lanes and no car is held up."
Hi, I'm Steve, and I'm a lane-splitter. It's legal here in California, and this article explains it as well, if not better, than any other I've seen. I follow the "rules"... I only do it when traffic is stopped, or moving at a snail's pace...I only go 5-10 mph faster than the traffic I am "splitting"... I give a courteous wave to anyone that intentionally moves over to give me room.
Why? Not to get in front of you. There are a few reasons: ....read more...

Add this to the Bucket List

Passo San Boldo - San Boldo Pass, Veneto Italy

Pieces of my mind....

When I was a kid, I couldn't wait for the Sears "Wish Book" to come out every year. I'd go through it and mark the pages with everything I wanted. This is my wish book now. :-)

How Motorcycle Riding Improves Physical Health

Read more: http://goodworkswellness.com/how-motorcycle-riding-improves-physical-health/

You see things differently on a motorcycle.

Transfagarasan Road, Romania

"You see things on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other.  In a car you’re always in a compartment, and because you’re used to it you don’t realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV.  You’re a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame. 

On a cycle the frame is gone.  You’re completely in contact with it all.  You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.  That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on, it’s right there, so blurred you can’t focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness. 

(…) Plans are deliberately indefinite, more to travel than to arrive anywhere.  Secondary roads are preferred.  Paved county roads are the best, state highways are next.  Freeways are the worst.  We want to make good time, but for us now this is measured with emphasis on “good” rather than “time” and when you make that shift in emphasis the whole approach changes.  Twisting hilly roads are long in terms of seconds but are much more enjoyable on a cycle where you bank into turns and don’t get swung from side to side in any compartment.  Roads with little traffic are more enjoyable, as well as safer.  Roads free of drive-ins and billboards are better, roads where groves and meadows and orchards and lawns come almost to the shoulder, where kids wave to you when you ride by, where people look from their porches to see who it is, where when you stop to ask directions or information the answer tends to be longer than you want rather than short, where people ask where you’re from and how long you’ve been riding.”

- Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Bucket list....

Ride. This. Road.

I Ride A Motorcycle, Therefore I Am Better Than You

This is not my essay, and before anyone jumps on it, "better than you" *might* be a little harsh....but this essay does say a lot. I appreciate, at some level, and for some instances, people telling me that riding is dangerous. But honestly folks, don't you think I know that? I'm the one dodging you in your SUV; I'm the one constantly scanning the road for danger; I'm the one riding by and seeing you texting with one hand and drinking Starbucks with the other; I'm the one wondering when you're creeping out slowly if you are going to be the one that turns in front of me, and calculating my escape route if you do; I'm the one feeling the wind and air whether it be hot or cold, smelling the smells, tasting the rain, experiencing life, not just "driving". I know it's "dangerous"....maybe that's a small part of why I do it....but certainly not all.

"It dawned on me after the umpteenth person decided to provide a public service announcement to my face and inform me that motorcycle riding was dangerous. Not motorcycle racing, just riding in general. A form of transport used by hundreds of millions of people around the world. Instead of arguing with this caring soul, my emotions were that of pity for them. Pity that they actually believed what they were saying and they themselves would never know what I experience on a near daily basis while riding. And then it clicked as I looked into their eyes – I’m a better person than you.

I should probably qualify that I mean by ‘better’. Riding a motorcycle doesn’t turn you into Mother Teresa. Riding a motorcycle doesn’t automatically turn you from a wanker into a saint. What I mean by better is that as a motorcycle rider, I’m better than you because I’m better able to experience what it’s like to be a human being. To feel alive and live, instead of just existing. I’m pushing back from the continual encroachment of rules, regulations and conformity that modern society is moving towards. It’s a one fingered salute to political correctness, conservative values and herd mentality. And it makes be better than you, the non-rider.

There’s a lot of clichés about motorcycle riders and riding. But like stereotypes, clichés are often spoken and applied because they can be an accurate reflection of reality. Comradery, brotherhood, freedom. While those things are nice, what to me is the greatest part of riding a motorcycle is feeling so alive.

But motorcycle riding is dangerous, you say. You’ll get yourself killed, they say. When did we as a society and a culture become so pathetic? Wars rage all over the world, children are recruited into armies, men and women work in dangerous conditions so that you and I can buy the latest crap Apple wants to sell  – and you’re scared of riding a bike? Stop being so pathetic and learn to live properly and not in fear.

Fear of terrorism. Fear of Ebola. Fear of whatever the next talking point will be. All those things don’t matter when I’m riding through beautiful mountain scenery, taking in sweeping turn after sweeping turn. I’m pushing back against the expectations of what society deems acceptable, and I’m doing it in a way that hurts no else.

I see other riders doing the amazing, the beautiful. Riding through Egypt, Nepal, the Andes, visiting remote and distance parts of this amazing planet. But instead, you enjoy your cruise on a boat full of self-absorbed people who think learning about and understanding other cultures involves a day trip to their local beach.

Even the worst things of modern life turn into positives on a motorcycle. While you’re stuck in traffic on the freeway doing your daily two hour commute, I’m riding past you between your car and every other person who feels the need to drive a five occupant vehicle with just themselves to their daily grind. Yes, traffic actually becomes a positive on a bike and I get no greater satisfaction then when a ‘cager’ tries to block my path while filtering, as I just manoeuvre around them on the opposite side of their car. I pity you, but only a little, because it’s your choice to be in the situation that you are, and that’s why I’m better than you.

You hate your vacation trip in the car because of all the sharp turns and bends and undulations of the road. I pass you exiting a hairpin and feel the wind rushing me, the smell of the trees and the sounds of life and enjoy the journey just as much as the destination. Cliché, but so true.

You might think I sound egotistical, but I’m not. You can be better too, it’s not difficult. But for every person I encounter who looks down on me for riding a bike, I can’t help but grin and say to myself, I ride a motorcycle and therefore I’m better than you."

op: http://therideadvice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/seasons.jpg

The Life of a Biker - Just Another Day at the Red Light

Quote of the day

"Keep thy nose down, and thy airspeed up, lest the earth rise up and smite thee."

Quote of the day

Photo: Lonely Planet

In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.
On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.

― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values