08-31-2014, 02:24 AM
08-31-2014, 03:03 AM
Two crashes for me in my early days. After the second one I was a little gun shy, but never quit. Just took a 15 year hiatus when I got married and had the little ones, but went back no problem.
08-31-2014, 03:27 AM
Like other stories, I took a 25 year break to raise my kids, but kept wishing every time I heard one I was back on.
I only crashed once when I was 17 on my CB350, hit sand in an intersection in town and was down before I knew it, but only a skinned elbow so no big deal. Still to this day, I keep a close look out for anything that will mess with traction/friction.
After getting my last child out of college, I started having health issues, 3 different events (afib, shingles, UTI..what the heck, right) in 3 months, so I thought if I don’t do it now, I may not be able to later so on my 58th birthday, I went and bought the CB1100.
My best friend was a motorcycle enthusiast too, but has given up on riding with good reason; his 18 year old daughter was involved in a freak accident on an interstate where a “wooden crate” was dropped in the road on a blind hill. She had a helmet on, but was in a coma for a month. The doctors suggested organ donor but the family refused and after 1 ½ years, she has made a miraculous recovery. While not 100%, she is still a walking miracle.
In short, my friend’s enthusiasm for motorcycles has disappeared, so I ride alone 100% of the time.
I still enjoy it, I miss my friend riding with me, but I totally understand.
I only crashed once when I was 17 on my CB350, hit sand in an intersection in town and was down before I knew it, but only a skinned elbow so no big deal. Still to this day, I keep a close look out for anything that will mess with traction/friction.
After getting my last child out of college, I started having health issues, 3 different events (afib, shingles, UTI..what the heck, right) in 3 months, so I thought if I don’t do it now, I may not be able to later so on my 58th birthday, I went and bought the CB1100.
My best friend was a motorcycle enthusiast too, but has given up on riding with good reason; his 18 year old daughter was involved in a freak accident on an interstate where a “wooden crate” was dropped in the road on a blind hill. She had a helmet on, but was in a coma for a month. The doctors suggested organ donor but the family refused and after 1 ½ years, she has made a miraculous recovery. While not 100%, she is still a walking miracle.
In short, my friend’s enthusiasm for motorcycles has disappeared, so I ride alone 100% of the time.
I still enjoy it, I miss my friend riding with me, but I totally understand.
12-17-2014, 12:48 PM
All of my good friends ride and and I worry about them as much they do me. I know this is an old thread. We just had this conversation again the other day. There are so many more destratctions now a days with cell phones, texting, infotainment systems on cars ect...
Its a new age we are in.
Im not ready to throw i the towel but I realize my reflexes are not as good as they used to be either. I continually warn my friends about being hit close to home at intersections. Im not afraid but I am very aware and alert.
I had to go to Louisville Ky today in my cage and it shocked the living heck out of me people drove with some common sense. That is not normal.
.
Its a new age we are in.
Im not ready to throw i the towel but I realize my reflexes are not as good as they used to be either. I continually warn my friends about being hit close to home at intersections. Im not afraid but I am very aware and alert.
I had to go to Louisville Ky today in my cage and it shocked the living heck out of me people drove with some common sense. That is not normal.
.
12-17-2014, 11:51 PM
So true about risk close to home. I think we relax a bit as we get really close to home, as evidenced by all the drops occurring in our driveways and garages after a long ride.
I'll never forget coming home from a long ride two years ago. A quiet residential street, no traffic. About three blocks from my house I notice this car approaching from the other direction. I notice it because it's a time capsule, a 1975 greenish blue Chevrolet station wagon that looks brand new. Yes, as I get really close, he makes a left turn right in front of me and into his driveway. I hit the brakes and just miss him, and I lay on the horn, which is a double horn, really loud, the bike is a BMW RT-P. Now I'm stopped and I watch him get out of the car and I yell something over to him. We're only about 75 feet apart. Then I notice he never looks at me, never hears me yelling. He literally looked 101 years old as he slowly, creakily walked toward his front door.
It was a good thing I was still alert enough to notice the great looking car approaching and staring at it for a second or two. Had it been a common, nondescript econo box, would I have paid it enough attention or had enough reaction time?
I'll never forget coming home from a long ride two years ago. A quiet residential street, no traffic. About three blocks from my house I notice this car approaching from the other direction. I notice it because it's a time capsule, a 1975 greenish blue Chevrolet station wagon that looks brand new. Yes, as I get really close, he makes a left turn right in front of me and into his driveway. I hit the brakes and just miss him, and I lay on the horn, which is a double horn, really loud, the bike is a BMW RT-P. Now I'm stopped and I watch him get out of the car and I yell something over to him. We're only about 75 feet apart. Then I notice he never looks at me, never hears me yelling. He literally looked 101 years old as he slowly, creakily walked toward his front door.
It was a good thing I was still alert enough to notice the great looking car approaching and staring at it for a second or two. Had it been a common, nondescript econo box, would I have paid it enough attention or had enough reaction time?
12-18-2014, 01:03 AM
It depends on WHERE we ride too. I've been down South in the cities with two and three lanes in each direction and double lane turns and it can get very hectic. It's almost like riding in the forest looking out for trees. But it's that focus, that meditation that I like. I have to forget the rest of the world, the news, work, and just ride. I use hand signals to get people's attention at times. I wave people in front of me or behind me. I wear high vis at rush hour. At the same time I can't count the number of people who DO notice the bike, who stare, who talk with other people in their car about it, who yell out the window at me about the bike and so on. It still brings people together too. We have to find Harleys and sport bikes and even scooters who live near us if need be. Put little dangling wavy things or flags on the bars or the tail of the bike. Make people see us. The car coming the other way WILL turn. Am I going behind him when he does or am I slowing down in case he does? Etc.
12-18-2014, 01:38 AM
I Did from 2001 to 2013 because my daughter asked me to not ride because she was scared that something bad would happen. Now that she's grown up....I'm back in the saddle
12-18-2014, 04:56 AM
I'm struggling with this now too. I moved from a small little town in Florida over to Houston. The amount of cars and they way they drive them here is insane. I'm not sure I'll every ride on the highways here. I think I've put a total of maybe 20 miles on my bike in the last month. I used to ride every day. It pains me seeing the bike sit in the same place neglected for so long. Perhaps I'll be able to ride more once I get more familiar with the city but I've been very uncomfortable so far.
12-18-2014, 06:04 AM
I bought my first bike in 2003. A used Ducati 748. That was a sweet ride. Commuted on it for about a year to college and work. I never rode crazy, just did the speed limit or slightly above. One day a friend mentioned a near by track (Jennings GP) and invited me to go to a track day. Talk about an adrenaline rush! That bike was completely different leaned over, hammering the throttle. It became readily apparent that sport bikes are not designed to be ridden on the road.
I continued to ride on both the track and road for another year until I had an incident on the road. An RV traveling back to New York after winter merged into my lane. The lane to my left was a turn lane full of cars so I had no where to go. I hit the brakes but didn't avoid being hit. I remember waking up with a bunch of people standing over me that acted shocked I was awake. I sat up and took my helmet off which caused many of them to tell me to lay still until the paramedics arrived. I did a quick check and couldn't feel anything broken so I told a guy that I felt fine and didn't understand why everyone was so worried. Turns out when the RV made contact I bounced off a car in the turn lane and then was thrown underneath the RV and was run over by both the RV and the car it was towing. I had all the gear on but I still feel extremely lucky to have walked away with just scrapes and really bad bruises. From that day on I decided to not ride a sport bike on the road again.
I continued to ride on the track. In 2009 I sold my Ducati and purchased a new CBR600RR which is a dedicated track bike. I always wanted to ride on the road again, but didn't want to resort to a cruiser or adventure bike to do it and I certainly wasn't interested in riding my sport bike any where but the track. Then I saw the CB1100 in a magazine. It looked like the perfect bike for me to ride around town. I always had fond memories of my Dad taking me for rides on his CB750 and the bike struck a chord with me. A few weeks later on a beautiful spring day I told my wife it was perfect motorcycle weather and I would love to have one. She replied "Let's get one." The next day I bought a 2013 CB1100 and haven't looked back since. Hopefully that will be the last hiatus I go on for a while!
I continued to ride on both the track and road for another year until I had an incident on the road. An RV traveling back to New York after winter merged into my lane. The lane to my left was a turn lane full of cars so I had no where to go. I hit the brakes but didn't avoid being hit. I remember waking up with a bunch of people standing over me that acted shocked I was awake. I sat up and took my helmet off which caused many of them to tell me to lay still until the paramedics arrived. I did a quick check and couldn't feel anything broken so I told a guy that I felt fine and didn't understand why everyone was so worried. Turns out when the RV made contact I bounced off a car in the turn lane and then was thrown underneath the RV and was run over by both the RV and the car it was towing. I had all the gear on but I still feel extremely lucky to have walked away with just scrapes and really bad bruises. From that day on I decided to not ride a sport bike on the road again.
I continued to ride on the track. In 2009 I sold my Ducati and purchased a new CBR600RR which is a dedicated track bike. I always wanted to ride on the road again, but didn't want to resort to a cruiser or adventure bike to do it and I certainly wasn't interested in riding my sport bike any where but the track. Then I saw the CB1100 in a magazine. It looked like the perfect bike for me to ride around town. I always had fond memories of my Dad taking me for rides on his CB750 and the bike struck a chord with me. A few weeks later on a beautiful spring day I told my wife it was perfect motorcycle weather and I would love to have one. She replied "Let's get one." The next day I bought a 2013 CB1100 and haven't looked back since. Hopefully that will be the last hiatus I go on for a while!
12-18-2014, 07:15 AM
I started riding in the mid 60s and have had my share of crashs through the years but always got back on. Took a break in the 70s
because of war and lack of funds. Married ( she rides also) never had kids so never gave it up and rode a lot in the 80s, had lots and lots of bikes in the 80s and 90s but I also got into the motorcycle bis. by working for a dealer witch curtailed my riding a good deal but then I
started my own motorcycle shop. That almost made it very hard to find time to ride but keep me around bikes all the time. Once I hit my 60s I noticed my body did not help me ride like I used to.
When I retired 2 years ago and bought the CB I had planed to ride much more again. Lack of money and my bad shoulder makes for short rides. Every year my shoulder pain has gotten worse. I went in thinking it was arthritis or damage from a bad fall I had many years ago. After I explained my pain while riding and how important it was
to me and a bunch of tests. ( My parents had bad arthritis) . They
looked at me and said nope everything looks clear. Just keep taking that over the counter pain meds. To say I was a little upset with
the medical industry would be a understatement .
I will always try to ride but don't ever turn your hobby into your job.
because of war and lack of funds. Married ( she rides also) never had kids so never gave it up and rode a lot in the 80s, had lots and lots of bikes in the 80s and 90s but I also got into the motorcycle bis. by working for a dealer witch curtailed my riding a good deal but then I
started my own motorcycle shop. That almost made it very hard to find time to ride but keep me around bikes all the time. Once I hit my 60s I noticed my body did not help me ride like I used to.
When I retired 2 years ago and bought the CB I had planed to ride much more again. Lack of money and my bad shoulder makes for short rides. Every year my shoulder pain has gotten worse. I went in thinking it was arthritis or damage from a bad fall I had many years ago. After I explained my pain while riding and how important it was
to me and a bunch of tests. ( My parents had bad arthritis) . They
looked at me and said nope everything looks clear. Just keep taking that over the counter pain meds. To say I was a little upset with
the medical industry would be a understatement .
I will always try to ride but don't ever turn your hobby into your job.