How (not) to ride a motorcycle- lesson 1
I would like to offer some advice in the form of a story.
Once upon a time there was this guy, let's just call him Graeme, just for kicks. So Graeme was cruising along on a lovely tropical island, let's say..mmm...in thailand, on his rented motorbike.
"wheeee!" proclaimed Graeme as he sped along the road at around 60 km/h
"wheeee!" proclaimed Graeme's friend, let's call him Alex, as he sped just behind graeme.
As they began decending a small hill, Graeme noticed that there was a slight right turn at the bottom of the hill, just where it began to go up again.
"No big deal" thought Graeme, "Zoom, Zoom!"
But then he saw it...a patch of loose sand at the bottom of the hill...ohhhh dear. He tried to slow down but realized that he was simply going to fast. Graeme was in a bit of a dillema. Either try and make the turn through the loose sand which would likely result skidding out, sliding across the rough ashphalt road and end up in the ditch OR just forget the turn, try and slow down as much as possible and hold on as he cruised into the ditch. Well, before a logical decicision could be reached he was headed for the ditch at about 40 km/h.
"Yay!" though Graeme's body, "This is going to be fun". Unfortunately, Graeme's body was mistaken.
When he dipped into the ditch, coming from about a 20 degree angle, his front wheel decided it didn't want to go forward anymore, but the rear wheel sure did want to keep going sooooo WOOP! that shot Graeme face first into the concrete lining the ditch! Whoopsadaisy!
But dont' worry, that nice motorcyle was kind enough to land on top of Graeme juuust to make sure he wasn't going to get hit by anything else. Phewf..that was close!
Graeme brushed himself off, looked at keller who had been looking at the scenery when he had seen a poof of dirt in the ditch and said:
"Dude, I'm better than I look".
Luckily, about 30 people passed by the ditch just in time to see Graeme in this most embarassing state just to make sure that he was not only sufficiently injured physically but also that his ego was crushed too.
Bloodied and bruised, brand new shirt and hat dirtied to the max, Graeme triumphantly returned to his beach side bungalow with his friend, Alex.
After a shower and a beer, Graeme was alllll better...aside from a pounding head, bruised and super-sore hip, of course.
The end.
Luckily it was just a fictional story, right? I mean, otherwise someone really could've gotten hurt!
hhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......................
(don't worry mom, I'm fine!)
Once upon a time there was this guy, let's just call him Graeme, just for kicks. So Graeme was cruising along on a lovely tropical island, let's say..mmm...in thailand, on his rented motorbike.
"wheeee!" proclaimed Graeme as he sped along the road at around 60 km/h
"wheeee!" proclaimed Graeme's friend, let's call him Alex, as he sped just behind graeme.
As they began decending a small hill, Graeme noticed that there was a slight right turn at the bottom of the hill, just where it began to go up again.
"No big deal" thought Graeme, "Zoom, Zoom!"
But then he saw it...a patch of loose sand at the bottom of the hill...ohhhh dear. He tried to slow down but realized that he was simply going to fast. Graeme was in a bit of a dillema. Either try and make the turn through the loose sand which would likely result skidding out, sliding across the rough ashphalt road and end up in the ditch OR just forget the turn, try and slow down as much as possible and hold on as he cruised into the ditch. Well, before a logical decicision could be reached he was headed for the ditch at about 40 km/h.
"Yay!" though Graeme's body, "This is going to be fun". Unfortunately, Graeme's body was mistaken.
When he dipped into the ditch, coming from about a 20 degree angle, his front wheel decided it didn't want to go forward anymore, but the rear wheel sure did want to keep going sooooo WOOP! that shot Graeme face first into the concrete lining the ditch! Whoopsadaisy!
But dont' worry, that nice motorcyle was kind enough to land on top of Graeme juuust to make sure he wasn't going to get hit by anything else. Phewf..that was close!
Graeme brushed himself off, looked at keller who had been looking at the scenery when he had seen a poof of dirt in the ditch and said:
"Dude, I'm better than I look".
Luckily, about 30 people passed by the ditch just in time to see Graeme in this most embarassing state just to make sure that he was not only sufficiently injured physically but also that his ego was crushed too.
Bloodied and bruised, brand new shirt and hat dirtied to the max, Graeme triumphantly returned to his beach side bungalow with his friend, Alex.
After a shower and a beer, Graeme was alllll better...aside from a pounding head, bruised and super-sore hip, of course.
The end.
Luckily it was just a fictional story, right? I mean, otherwise someone really could've gotten hurt!
hhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......................
(don't worry mom, I'm fine!)