In Memory of Dumb-assed Mistakes. Sigh.

Wow. I'm fucking wiped. What a hard, long work week this has been. A success if ever there was one, this cooking camp of mine, but it was far more work than I ever expected.

Tomorrow it's all over. Thank goodness.

I was just reading the wall of a friend of a friend of a friend through Facebook, and saw a memorial page for this young guy the friend of a friend seems to have known, who died riding his motorbike.

No doubt it was a cockrocket (super fast road bike) and the kid did some dumb fucking thing that ended his life, as 7 out of 10 deaths on bikes are rider error.

I keep getting pestered by folks to soup up my ride or at least get a more powerful bike, and I know I'm not ready for that and I don't want to go there. I know that I'm still up and down with life's realities, and some days I'm ON, and some days I'm real OFF. Why risk fucking with fate and increasing the odds of serious injury by getting some 400+cc bike just so I can look cool?

I think most of these young riders buying the cockrockets fail to realize what a hair trigger some bikes operate on. Turn the throttle a wee bit too much and you're gonna burn out on a corner and meet your maker in a custom-built pine box, dude.

I dunno. Just strikes me as another senseless tragedy.

Had I died August 29th, 2004, I'd have been another senseless tragedy of just another bike operator being too stupid to respect the danger of that machine between my leg. I was a fucking moron to ride that day and would have deserved whatever came my way. I learned the hard way, and I'm totally cool with that. Life was a gift, a gift I still struggle with appreciating some days, but a gift I love despite the ongoing struggle.

After nearly three years of uneventful riding, I'm pretty confident my judgment's what it ought to be and my confidence is well-placed. And it will be... unless some fluke bad day rears its ugly head and bad shit happens. But when it does, I won't be on a 1200 cc bike with a penchant for opening it up on winding roads. Fuck, man.

In the meantime, I'm picking me up a new helmet this month. Have to decide what, yet, but still. :) Can't decide between a 3/4 with full face-shield, or a big full coverage helmet with a liftable jaw bar. About $100 is the difference in price there. HmMmMMm. But this one's got to be replaced. I've dropped it a half-dozen or more times, and that compromises its safety with hairline cracks and such. My peace of mind will be greater with a new lid/brain bucket. After all, my last helmet saved my life.

Anyhoo. Now for chips and mayo and expense-receipt sorting. FUN FUN. Ooh.