Oh boy, here come the comments...

Gone in 60

Road warrior
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Sunday I rode Super Bird to the boss' house in the morning to do some final work on some of the fleet bikes and drop off supplies before Mrs. G and I head to Greece for two weeks, then run some errands before coming home. Enroute from company HQ to Costco, I saw her call come up on my brandy-new CarPlay screen. But, not wearing a helmet with internal comms, I couldn't answer. She called again immediately, which is my signal to pull over and call back, it's important.

Her boss is an avid rider, and we've always said "Hey, we should go riding someday!". Being in the medical industry I think he keeps his riding on the down-low to avoid commentary about the dangers of motorcycles. I got a taste of that when we were at a social gathering for her company, and the "So, are you in the medical field too?" questions came. I answered that I ride for medical deliveries. Eyes rolled and I was admonished about the dangers, and she was chastised for letting me engage in such a hazardous occupation. We both just quietly absorbed the commentary. Many of her colleagues, and Mrs. G herself treat people who are dealing with long-term recovery from motorcycle accidents. So, the correlation to the hazards are more direct than a casual observer who might just think "Motorcycle = Dangerous".

I pulled over and called Mrs. G to see what was up. Her boss had just been in a motorcycle crash, and had called her from the ambulance to let her know. He wasn't clear on his injuries yet or how long he might be out of action, but wanted to fill her in so she could plan for the things their team might need to do in his absence. Mrs. wanted to know where I was, and if I was close enough to possibly help with the disposition of his bike and gear at the scene of the accident. I wasn't near the area, and it was quickly determined that his family was able to help.

He ended up breaking his hand, and it looks like his recovery will be fairly short and straight-forward. As Mrs. and I are getting ready to leave for vacation, leaving later today, she's been on a flurry of calls to get her team ready for her departure, and short-term absence of her boss. I've been overhearing most of the calls. As she's talking, I'm hearing long pauses, and her replying "Yes, my husband rides a motorcycle for work..." followed by longer pauses.

Hopefully whatever flurry of commentary will result will have blown over by the time we return from our trip, but I know she's absorbing some "Are you sure you want your husband doing this?" right now.
 
Yea, non riders don't understand the appeal. When I sold motorcycles in the 70's and 80's people would come in to look, but then say "yea, I could never get a motorcycle, my cousin was killed on one".... to which I would reply "Well, it's a good thing he didn't die in a car wreck, or you'd never be able to go anywhere".

About 40,000 people die in auto wrecks every year in the US and that's with air bags and crumple zones
About 6,000 die in motorcycle accidents.
There's no such thing as perfectly safe travel.
3,000 people a year in the US die from eating contaminated food
4,000 people accidentally drown
48,000 people die from accidental falls
and an astonishing 250,000 people die every year from medical complications from surgical care
Just living is a risk

It's been said the Vikings had a saying that your life is predetermined when you are going to die, so going into battle was no big deal...you were either meant to die or you weren't.
 
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I like the Viking idea. I'd hate to find out that I'm going to die doing something stupid or embarrassing.
I nearly died plenty of times on the racing circuit. None of the incidents were heroic.
They were all caused by large objects hitting me on the head, usually because I forgot they were there.
- forgot a large tent support beam was being held up by a ladder. Grabbed the ladder to use it somewhere else and the beam landed on my head.
- pulled on the wrong ratchet strap in the trailer, clothing rack landed on my head.
- landing gear on trailer collapsed when I leaned too hard on trailer, trailer landed on my foot.

Heck, after working for 26 years around things were hot, sharp, noisy or heavy, it's a wonder I made it out. I put thousands of miles on scooters during that time usually without a helmet, and never gave a thought to possible dangers there.
 
All things though sadly are getting worse. What was acceptable risk in the past, worked, now is terrible.
Distracted driving, unlicensed people, less care, on and on.
It's almost becoming a daily decision now to keep riding...As I'm looking at a new to me bike tomorrow. 😁
It makes that off-road riding seem much less dangerous.
 
I like the Viking idea. I'd hate to find out that I'm going to die doing something stupid or embarrassing.
I nearly died plenty of times on the racing circuit. None of the incidents were heroic.
They were all caused by large objects hitting me on the head, usually because I forgot they were there.
- forgot a large tent support beam was being held up by a ladder. Grabbed the ladder to use it somewhere else and the beam landed on my head.
- pulled on the wrong ratchet strap in the trailer, clothing rack landed on my head.
- landing gear on trailer collapsed when I leaned too hard on trailer, trailer landed on my foot.

Heck, after working for 26 years around things were hot, sharp, noisy or heavy, it's a wonder I made it out. I put thousands of miles on scooters during that time usually without a helmet, and never gave a thought to possible dangers there.
I have sort of a motto try to I live by, a credo if you will: Don't die doing anything that, when the announcement shows up in in the paper, people would say "What an idiot".
 
I love where we live, except as regards motorcycle riding. In most directions from my house, I have to brave as much as a half hour of traffic to get to nice, pretty riding areas. When I ride my dual sport off-road, it goes on a hitch-hauler through traffic until I get to my riding spot.

For street riding, I really like those warm summer nights, the streets leading off from my driveway nearly empty all around.

I do fear deer and inebriated drivers, but both populations are blessedly sparse in my area, and, unlike traffic, tend to come at me one at a time. 😎
 
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