07-25-2018, 04:40 PM
This past weekend my wife and I were out exploring Oregon's wine country. While doing so we stopped in a small town where we strolled around a bit and had some lunch. Right after we arrived I noticed a trio of motorcyclists just as they were headed out. The last rider stood out to me as his kickstand drug along the main drag making quite a racket for quite some ways before it finally hit something big enough to kick it upwards.
My wife and I ate lunch at a restaurant there on main street where we were seated right by the front window. About the time we were finishing up our meal I saw the same trio of riders return to town. They parked right across the street from the restaurant where we were eating. The same fella that had left his kickstand down earlier when leaving wasn't really sure how to park his bike. After nosing it into the curb his riding buddies said something to him and he tried to move the bike around so that his back wheel was up against the curb. He then backed the bike into a car while doing so. A woman actually walked over to inspect the car to make sure no damage was done before she gave him the okay to carry on. I don't even think it was her car as she appeared to be just a bystander.
After many years of riding I'm still not exactly "smooth" at parking my bike. (I can say that ease of parking is one aspect of my Hawk GT that I do miss.) I can also still find things to criticize about my own riding in the name of getting better. But in this particular case I don't mean to be critical of this other rider. I really just wanted to share this story as I found myself a bit worried for this guy who was clearly rather new to riding. Also, he wasn't a small guy, but it was obvious he was having a bit of a struggle with the big cruiser that he had chosen. Maybe it was just a rental bike, I really don't know. In the end I figured that it was none of my business, but as I watched all this play out I realized that I had actually grown a bit concerned about a complete stranger. None of us are guaranteed safe travels out there on two wheels. I just hated to see someone seemingly stacking the odds even higher against themselves.
Anyone else have a similar experience? Maybe such stories aren't all that rare. I learned to ride a motorcycle when I was still a kid. By now I've surely romanticized in my mind any such problems that I might have had way back then. I know that we all have to start somewhere. I can't help but think that it's much better to get that kind of stuff out of the way early on, long before hitting the street as an adult much later on in life. Hopefully the guy I saw struggling somewhat goes on to enjoy many years of safe and happy riding.
My wife and I ate lunch at a restaurant there on main street where we were seated right by the front window. About the time we were finishing up our meal I saw the same trio of riders return to town. They parked right across the street from the restaurant where we were eating. The same fella that had left his kickstand down earlier when leaving wasn't really sure how to park his bike. After nosing it into the curb his riding buddies said something to him and he tried to move the bike around so that his back wheel was up against the curb. He then backed the bike into a car while doing so. A woman actually walked over to inspect the car to make sure no damage was done before she gave him the okay to carry on. I don't even think it was her car as she appeared to be just a bystander.
After many years of riding I'm still not exactly "smooth" at parking my bike. (I can say that ease of parking is one aspect of my Hawk GT that I do miss.) I can also still find things to criticize about my own riding in the name of getting better. But in this particular case I don't mean to be critical of this other rider. I really just wanted to share this story as I found myself a bit worried for this guy who was clearly rather new to riding. Also, he wasn't a small guy, but it was obvious he was having a bit of a struggle with the big cruiser that he had chosen. Maybe it was just a rental bike, I really don't know. In the end I figured that it was none of my business, but as I watched all this play out I realized that I had actually grown a bit concerned about a complete stranger. None of us are guaranteed safe travels out there on two wheels. I just hated to see someone seemingly stacking the odds even higher against themselves.
Anyone else have a similar experience? Maybe such stories aren't all that rare. I learned to ride a motorcycle when I was still a kid. By now I've surely romanticized in my mind any such problems that I might have had way back then. I know that we all have to start somewhere. I can't help but think that it's much better to get that kind of stuff out of the way early on, long before hitting the street as an adult much later on in life. Hopefully the guy I saw struggling somewhat goes on to enjoy many years of safe and happy riding.