Fear of death or injury

[Tortuga_imp]

I have been riding for 42 years and just recently had my first "major" get-off. I was lucky to be within 25 miles of the only Level One Trauma Center in Nevada. I spent a day and a half there getting taped to a board, then tested, probed and braced. (My friend and I had just spent most of a week in some of the most remote areas of the Southwest so it could have been a whole lot worse.)
Here's what I have concluded:
1) I am an ATGATT guy. I slid through the desert at 60 mph and had zero road rash. ATGATT kept me from getting hurt worse. The cop and EMTs were impressed with the lack of road rash.
2) Crashing is no fun...trust me. The older we get the more it hurts and the longer it takes to recover.
3) I recently read a set of statistics about fatalities by vehicle type. Motorcycles fatalities were 30 times more likely per mile traveled than automobiles. They were the highest category in deaths/mile.
4) I am going to continue to ride. I probably won't do cross-country or international bike trips any more, but I can't quit all together despite the facts in numbers 2 and 3 above.
I have told people for decades "If the risks of motorcycling scare you then maybe you shouldn't ride." It is up to each individual to determine the risk/reward ratio for them. I hope this helps.
Keep the rubber side down.

Aren't most accidents supposed to happen within a 3 mile radius of your home?

Maybe touring's the key to survival? Stay clear of that 3 mile 'danger zone'!

Statistics is a very strange way to count. They can turn your brain to mush if you're not careful. Statistically, your very existence is impossible.

Turns out most accidents occur where you happen to be at the time.

Statistics is a very strange way to count. They can turn your brain to mush if you're not careful. Statistically, your very existence is impossible.

Turns out most accidents occur where you happen to be at the time.

I read somewhere once that 82% of statistics were made up!

And 93.7% of people believe them

Speaking of acronyms, I just finished a 4 day class on Internet and mainframe security procedures. I don't think I have uttered an acronym-free sentence since last Sunday.

And 93.7% of people believe them

Speaking of acronyms, I just finished a 4 day class on Internet and mainframe security procedures. I don't think I have uttered an acronym-free sentence since last Sunday.
R?,YPB!

[Red Mist_imp]

I don't know what ATTGATT is. I don't know what any acronyms are because they're too hard to remember.

I appreciate all the instructors coming up with all these acronyms, but acronyms (pilots, please help me out here) are only useful when you have time to check off each item, such as when flying a plane.

If a rider has to try to remember all kinds of tricks and gimmicks to ride safely and skillfully, in my opinion there's a problem.

In flying, we have checklists for certain phases of flight. But when the stick-and-rudder skill really come into play, as during a takeoff once we get permission to roll, or during the landing phase after we start to lower the flaps and adjust power, nobody's reciting acronyms. We are flying the plane.

The contrast here is that while you're riding a motorcycle, you are ALWAYS landing. There's not time for checklists and gimmicks. It's ALWAYS stick-and-rudder time, so to speak.

The best place to get your skill levels cranked up is on some kind of closed course, whether it be the Advanced Rider Course, a track day/riding school, or some other venue. Our reactions have to be instantaneous. No one ever learned to ride a motorcycle in a classroom.

You want to keep riding? Do one of these skill-building options.

Good call Red Mist, if you take the training you know not only your limitations but also your capabilities. Knowledge is the power that dispels the fear of the unknown. Turning hard into a corner the mind's focus should be on entry point, line, looking through, exiting etc., not being distracted by the fear brought about by "@&$: I hope I can make this". Most of us old farts learnt the hard way, by watching yourself or your mates riding the roads of triumph or despair, or on a very few occasions, tragedy. Any new rider, once comfortable with the bike, (that is being able to get it on to the centre stand ) , should take an appropriate level of Advanced Rider Course. Anyone returning to riding would also be well advised to do so. After all, you ain't eighteen any more. I returned to riding in '93 and it was '05 before I decided, out of curiosity, to do an instructed track day. I learnt things that day that would have stood me in good stead over the previous 12 years. Shoulda done it earlier. They didn't run them in '62.

Quote:In flying, we have checklists for certain phases of flight. But when the stick-and-rudder skill really come into play, as during a takeoff once we get permission to roll, or during the landing phase after we start to lower the flaps and adjust power, nobody's reciting acronyms. We are flying the plane.
Nice simile and I get your point. However, sigh, the world of aviation is full of acronyms or mnemonic acronyms. The simple PTO mnemonic acronym of GUMPS or the other, more complex pure acronym TTMPFFIHHC* get the light aircraft pilot airborne. The modern Airbus (or Boeing) pilot has to be familiar with many, many acronyms ranging from ADIRU, through FMGES, all the way to VαPROT. There are hundreds to choose from if you want to operate in that world. It's like talking bloody Swahili!

Cheers

*Trims Tighten (throttle friction) Mixture Propellor Fuel Flaps Instruments Hatches Harness and Controls. It pisses me off that that is still there from 1966 but I don't remember where I parked the CB (on centre stand) twenty minutes ago.

Nice simile and I get your point. However, sigh, the world of aviation is full of acronyms or mnemonic acronyms. The simple PTO mnemonic acronym of GUMPS or the other, more complex pure acronym TTMPFFIHHC* get the light aircraft pilot airborne. The modern Airbus (or Boeing) pilot has to be familiar with many, many acronyms ranging from ADIRU, through FMGES, all the way to VαPROT. There are hundreds to choose from if you want to operate in that world. It's like talking bloody Swahili!

Cheers Interesting, and I think the British used acronyms to a great extent, whilst the Yanks did not. I have an extensive collection of flight manuals from WWII aircraft and beyond, and the Brits always seemed to favor acronyms. I cannot honestly remember any in the Yank manuals. I was never taught an acronym by any instructor while learning to fly here in the Colonies.

But it's like they used to say: the Spitfire can do everything the Mustang can do, but the Mustang can do it over Berlin.

All the gear all the time, eh? Well, I'm All For That!

[Tortuga_imp]

Fixed it for you;

"the Mustang can do everything the Spitfire can do, except win the Battle of Britain.


Tally Ho Chaps! What!

[MFGUSA_imp]

The Battle of Britain? Holy crap, how old are you guys?!!

[Red Mist_imp]

Fixed it for you;

"the Mustang can do everything the Spitfire can do, except win the Battle of Britain.


Tally Ho Chaps! What!

No; but then again, the Mustang didn't exist during the BoB, which was all wrapped up in 1940.

You know the Mustang was designed for the British, of course. But the American Allison engine wasn't sufficiently supercharged for high altitudes. We stuffed in a Merlin, then began mass-producing them here in the Colonies (Packard). A kick-ass plane.

P-38's used Allisons but they were turbosupercharged. More room in the twin booms.

The Battle of Britain? Holy crap, how old are you guys?!!

Old enough for our heroes to be WWII fighter pilots! Dick Bong (yes, that's his name), Pappy Boyington, Chuck Yeager...let's not forget the bomber pilots: James Doolittle, Jimmy Stewart (yes, THAT Jimmy Stewart), Paul Tibbets...

[Pterodactyl_imp]

Fixed it for you;

"the Mustang can do everything the Spitfire can do, except win the Battle of Britain.


Tally Ho Chaps! What!

No; but then again, the Mustang didn't exist during the BoB, which was all wrapped up in 1940.

You know the Mustang was designed for the British, of course. But the American Allison engine wasn't sufficiently supercharged for high altitudes. We stuffed in a Merlin, then began mass-producing them here in the Colonies (Packard). A kick-ass plane.

P-38's used Allisons but they were turbosupercharged. More room in the twin booms.

The Battle of Britain? Holy crap, how old are you guys?!!

Old enough for our heroes to be WWII fighter pilots! Dick Bong (yes, that's his name), Pappy Boyington, Chuck Yeager...let's not forget the bomber pilots: James Doolittle, Jimmy Stewart (yes, THAT Jimmy Stewart), Paul Tibbets...

Ideology aside, and that is important, I can't help being in awe of the 200+ aces that did it every day for up to six years.

Cheers

[Cormanus]

My late father was flying reconnaissance in a Mustang when he was shot down. Waste of a plane. He spent the rest of the war in a POW camp.

[flynrider]

Since this thread is already suffering from thread drift, here's an rare sight I saw on a ride to the airport a few weeks ago.



Tried to get a pic of the CB1100 next to it, but the pilot was just getting ready to start up.

Unfortunately, sighting a Spit around here is a bit more difficult.

[Pterodactyl_imp]

Since this thread is already suffering from thread drift, here's an rare sight I saw on a ride to the airport a few weeks ago.



Tried to get a pic of the CB1100 next to it, but the pilot was just getting ready to start up.

Unfortunately, sighting a Spit around here is a bit more difficult.

I guess that the mention of a CB keeps the thread on track. But maybe not.

Don't get me started on aeroplanes, or aviation. That's why I retired!

In fact, ferret, I think I will have a glass of fine Hunter red and wash down a Don't-Get-Me-Started pill.

Cheers

[Pterodactyl_imp]

OK, had the pill and now back on topic.

We need risk, some more than others I will admit. Some time ago a Pommie bloke (and i have to say, reluctantly, that he did camp on our side of the river), put it rather well this way:

Quote:But the evil of it is, that it is a world wrapped up in too much jeweller's cotton and fine wool, and cannot hear the rushing of the larger worlds, and cannot see them as they circle round the sun. It is a deadened world, and its growth is sometimes unhealthy for want of air
He must have seen it coming. If he had lived long enough I would vote for him as OH&S Committee chairman. Of the whole bloody planet that is.

Cheers