Ode to the motorcycle, and a little bit of ... happiness

[j3gq_imp]

You will agree, 2020 was a special year in many ways. How special it was I started to realize when I heard a podcast the other day on the "end of all travel", published in ... two-thousand-ninetien, yes, you heard right, in 2019 before most of us could spell cOroNa or cOVid.

This pod went like this. After discussing in a number of ways why and how all travel is the exact opposite of what the travel industry promises to its customers, how you can never fulfill your travel dreams, how it's self perpetuating, and how it more resembles traveling down memory lane than anything else, ... it made a last assault on the traveler's illusions about himself: he sees himself special, special in his preparation, special in his choices, special in the way he escapes the other tourists, and special in his way of dealing with the people who serve him when he gets to his destination. No he doesn't contribute to the destruction of places and peoples lifes. Just like the average driver who, when interviewed about his own skills compared to others, says "I am certainly a better driver than the average". Of course he isn't any different at all, The average tourist ain't any different either. Because he pays a monster industry (10% of world wide GDP).

Then it occurred to me how different riding a motorcycle is from all other forms of travel, regardless of whether you ride around home, or on long trips, alone or with your buddies. And that 2019 has shown this in ways like no other year has done before. If you don't know what I mean ... go back to Cormanus' chronicles.

I could go on like this for a while, but how about this ? You tell me your view, whether you agree or not, whether you can see it my way.

 

[Tev62]

I try not to think about these things too deeply as it makes my brain hurt. I just travel if I need or want to and can afford to. Sometimes by car, plane, ferry or motorbike.

 

[Cormanus]

Interesting questions, j3gq. Could you elaborate a little more, please, on why the podcaster was predicting the end of travel?

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

I don't know, in the end all we have left is memory lane. We will typically end up lying somewhere trying hard to make those memory connections. You are naked. All your things have been given away, or is being given away. Then suddenly, there is blackness.

Memory can be quite precious, even if painful, it defines our life journey.

= = =

I will never forget the feeling and soul of the Honda CB1100. I feel it in my bones right now as I type this blurb. It gives me goose bumps.

 

[Houtman_imp]

Do not worry about the end of Travel , according to some people the World is coming to an end anyway but they keep changing the date when this will happen. In the mean time just ride your bike and keep traveling the way you like. DO NOT OVERTHINK LIFE !

 

[Jfro5687_imp]

That’s a profound one. Whether you agree or not the ‘human race’ is top of the food chain. we are also blessed and cursed in equal measure by imagination, emotions, desires and individually are all narcissistic (to some degree). Whatever I want is more important that whatever you want. Broadly speaking. Travel is just one of many many things we abuse. The COVID year has been awful, over 120,000 have died in the UK. So families have suffered, some folk feel they need and deserve a holiday, whatever negative impact that has on the environment is ‘meh’, someone else can worry about that. Multiply that by hundreds of thousands of air passengers and there you go. Human race at it again. Of course the Airline Industry wants money/profit so it feeds the need and sells dreams. Then we have factory farming, chemicals in our food, burning down rain forests, climate change, don’t get me started on litter and plastics!

Back to the forum. I don’t need a motorbike, I like it, I enjoy it but don’t need it. So I am being selfish if I’m totally honest with myself. However, I justify that (to myself) by saying I’m only here once, I worked for it. I don’t know what the answer is j3gq, really don’t. I see merit in the ‘don’t overthink it’ approach.

There’s an expression over here ‘be more dog’. I think it means just be in the moment. I try to be more dog, but it’s really hard to let go. Trouble is, if we all do that then where will we all end up? In 20 years time (if I’m very lucky that is) I will be dead anyway so WTF

 

[LouA_imp]

Well,this is getting profound. :-/

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Well,this is getting profound. :-/

Well, maybe. In the end it is darkness. What matters is the space between here and that darkness.

 

[the Ferret]

Did take a weird twist lol

People are wandering souls. Wonder what's over that hill?

People have always travelled and will continue to do so.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Did take a weird twist lol

People are wandering souls. Wonder what's over that hill?

People have always travelled and will continue to do so.

Yeah, twisty indeed.

Just don't want to get people's hopes too high. Instead, maybe one should focus on why they are here, ... at the Forum! ... and why they ride.

 

[j3gq_imp]

You deserve individual answers
@Tev : you can keep traveling, it won't make any difference,
@Cor : the end of travel was described in a number of books since the 1850, it's not about climate change, it's about how traveling makes the travel destinations more and more look like the places were the tourists come from, in the end the only reason left to travel is the number of hours of sunshine,
@ GO : but there is a difference between memory lane experienced in your arm chair, and at the airport, the later destroys habitats - and this is where the motorcycle shows it's real beauty - you travel without destroying
@ Hout : you are absolutely right, the date is moving ... from far away in the future it comes closer and closer
@ Jfro : like your answer A LOT
@ LouA : don't worry
@Ferret : yes, they will, but there will be less and less reward, or satisfaction

So let me be more precise about the motorcycle's role. It let's you rake in all the benefit of traveling, let's you go down on memory lane, enjoy nature and unseen places LIKE NO OTHER vehicle, just look at some of the pictures posted here. It doesn't turn Thailand into McDonalds playgrounds and airport shopping malls, or the Maldives into a seaplane landing platforms for the rich and beauty. It doesn't destroy any destinations such that future travelers can no longer enjoy. Its "footprint" is minimal for maximum joy and fulfillment. My 2 cents.
Thank you for having taken the time and respond.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Mmm, "Thailand into McDonalds", that would be end of days.

 

[Houtman_imp]

Mmm, "Thailand into McDonalds", that would be end of days.

At least we will have some good looking servers behind the counter !

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Mmm, "Thailand into McDonalds", that would be end of days.

At least we will have some good looking servers behind the counter !

At least we will have some good looking servers behind the counter !
Ha, and I can also see the apocalypto price for a Quarter Pounder with Cheese being:

0.99 Bitcoin (plus environmental tax)


= = =

Thanks goodness today the CB1100 has a small'ish carbon footprint.

 

[the Ferret]

Never have understood Bitcoin.

 

[Jfro5687_imp]

In a nutshell its a way of laundering money, electronically. Unless it’s changed (or been forced to change at Government level) it was designed and intended to be that way. Bitcoin is a form of credit that isn’t ‘real’, like a coin or bank note. Its heavy on encryption, similar to how paedophiles use the ‘dark web’ to avoid detection. I am sure it can be used without bad intentions however, personally I wouldn’t touch it with a barge-pole.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Bitcoin is a cryptographic encoded ledger where completed transactions or relationships cannot be repudiated. This is extremely high value where tampering is clearly evident. It is practically impossible to break the chain due to mathematical strength in the crypto algorithm(s) used which requires a lot of energy to calculate the next link in the ledger. Because so much energy is required to perform the calculation, there is a supposed associated cost or value.

This is the area where "value" is questioned by many. The energy is spent, so it is stored in the form of a bitcoin abstraction. The math is sane and absolute. The problem is, and especially during an apocalypse, without network connectivity and the computers to perform the heavy calculations, will my bitcoin wallet put food on the table? Will it buy water, gasoline, bullets, gold, or most importantly, a CB1100?

 

[Houtman_imp]

Bitcoin is based on "faith" and nothing else . I call it the greater fool theory : find a greater fool than your self.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

The technical concepts behind Bitcoin are not going away. In fact, they are here to stay forever and is likely used right now in your financial and insurance intuitions and you don't even know it. Law firms love it because of its mathematical certainty. The most basic and fundamental concept finally retires the motive behind human signatures, which are incredibly archaic.

Medical technology is likely already using it to manage the change records of patients. This is incredibly more potent than any record-keeping before it.

Modern supply and distribution use the concepts. It keeps suppliers honest and efficient. The CB1100 you ordered fresh from the Honda factory will indeed be the actual one you will receive and along with it a non-repudiated travel log.

 

[the Ferret]

Pretty sure after reading the last few posts, I NEVER will understand it. None of that made one lick of sense to me. Lol