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3rd June, 2005
Well, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I just got back from the dentist after having a root canal. I had heard all the stories about the pain to both my mouth and my wallet. At the end of the day I was assisted by a little bit of my friend Mr. Laughing Gas, and my wallet was assisted by my private health insurance.
All of which has made me think, riding is kind of like going to the dentist. You jump on your bike and head for the hills and by the time you’ve found that first corner you’re smiling inside your helmet and life’s great! Your ride can continue like that, corner after corner after corner. But let’s not kid ourselves, sometimes the dentist of life can just reach right into that tooth with a pair of tweezers and rip out a sick root that hasn’t been anesthetised enough.
Suddenly you find yourself on the wrong side of the road due to lack of concentration or skill, sometimes it’s another road user on the wrong side of the road, other times it’s just plain bad luck. Sometimes we can be lucky, other times we find ourselves and our bikes in a right mess. Fortunately health and bike insurance can ease the pain, but sometimes it can’t. And sometimes the pain is passed on for our families to have to cope with.
What’s my point? My point is that the roads are not race tracks. We’ve all been guilty of treating them as such, and many of us will continue to use them in that manner. Hell, that’s the lure of the motorcycle!
2005 has been tragic in terms of the number of road users killed or injured and even KSRC has been hit with the “crashing-heebyjeeby’s!”. So, how about we do our best to turn it around for the club? Let’s all take a step back and start riding at 8/10th’s instead of 10/10ths when on the road. Who knows, maybe you’ll even find a little time to smell the flowers on the way.
Jason
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