Motorcycle Fit.......

I am in shape! I mean really in shape.   What shape you ask?  ROUND!   I'm a pudge.  I have a BMI that makes doctors gasp.  Small children cry when they see me walking down the street.   Little old ladies use me as shade in the hot sun.   I'm a big boy!    That being said, I choose to talk about a subject that I am totally qualified to talk about.   Motorcycle Fitness! 

It takes quite a bit of force to push around a motorcycle.  If you are not so fit, a long ride won't be as long as you wanted it to be.  And after one of those "long" motorcycle rides, you will be sore.  Your arms, hips, back, legs, butt (glutes) and even your neck will hurt.   And I hear that the best way to alleviate that ache is to be "Motorcycle Fit".    I'm not sure what that means, but a few of my fellow motorcyclists have done all the work for me.

Sportrider.com has a workout that includes simple exercises like crunches, pushups, and working your arms with simple weights.
Revzilla recommends something called CrossFit.  It sounds like torture if you ask me.
Ride Apart has given a list of 3 essential exercises;  Lunges, Squats and Mason Twists.  It sounds easy enough....

Ultimately, having a semblance of fitness is important for riding a motorcycle.  Case in point:  I may be a big boy, but I am a strong big boy.   One time I had a 700lb bike decide to take a snooze in the soft dirt I put the kick down in.   Reaching down and lifting it up is not a super simple thing do to unless you happen to be Hafthor Bjornsson (strong man and actor).    What I had to do was get myself in a squatting position next to the seat and grip the downside handlebar and the grip handle on the back of the bike and squat press the bike back up to the vertical stance that it was meant to be in.  If I had been in any worse shape than I was,  I could have been facing hernia surgery or traction.   So, however you do it, work out enough to keep you motorcycle fit.   You will last longer in the saddle, be far less sore and in a pinch, be able to lift your bike if necessary.  

Ouch!

 Things have been quiet lately.  I have not posted to the blog, I have not vlogged.  Just a lot of quiet.  The reason behind this is that I've busted my butt.  I have been the unfortunate recipient of a cracked tailbone.  This wasn't due to anything motorcycle related, but it sure does make it hard to actually go and do anything motorcycle related.   This means I am reduced to a hobbling ball of ache until it heals up.   The sad part is that there isn't a darn thing I can do about it.   You can't cast it,  You cant immobilize it without immobilizing your whole self and that is just out of the question.   So, I wait.  Hoping that I will feel good enough to sit in the saddle at least for a few more hours between now and when the snow flies.  If not, well, there are always the videos from my rides this year!   Definitely good for when you can't ride.  I highly recommend watching them.  You can watch, comment and follow my motovlog HERE.    Also, if you recorded your rides, send me a link on my youtube channel. I would be happy to watch your rides as well.  After all, I'm going through withdrawls.

Trip to Enterprise Oregon Part 6

We head to Pendleton!

Exciting stuff on Sunday!  I say exciting, but really it was a lot of highways.
Worth the ride for sure!

Angry Biker = Dead Biker

If you type Motorcycle into the YouTube search bar you will generally see, somewhere in the mix, videos about angry people yelling at motorcyclists.   Some of these turn violent, but almost always you will see a biker getting yelled at and yelling in return with many expletives flying about.  
The problem with these videos is that they give the wrong impression of motorcyclists.   Not all of us are like that.   Most of us just want to ride our bikes and not die.  Unfortunately there is a subset of the biker bunch that seems to want to cause trouble.    This is generally limited to the 2 extremes.  Either an angry "Clubber" (The traditional bikers you see on TV and movies), or a young punk who thinks that it is cool if you wear down your chicken strips (The rubber on the extreme edge of a motorcycle tire that does not get used if you ride correctly).    The videos go like this:  The biker is usually doing something stupid.  Wheelies, illegal lane splitting, crazy revving of loud pipes or anything of that sort tends to infuriate people who think that they are the authority, and even sometimes the authorities.   Once the biker makes the other person mad, they usually have a few moments of speeding and swerving in order to flip off the offender or offended and eventually one of them wrecks or they stop and have a fistfight.   (Not smart for the anyone in a car or who isn't wearing a helmet designed to take a high speed impact.)
Now, the intelligent person will take pause at the whole situation.  The whole altercation could be avoided by just being smart and safe.   It's the Freeway, but it does not mean you are free to do what you want, especially when what you want can endanger others.
I do have a suspicion that these bikers are actually trying to get people angry.  After all, conflict makes for good entertainment...... (for unintelligent people who thrive on violence.)    But the fact that angry idiots can and do endanger everyone else around them should make us all be concerned.
However, if you are like me the sense of schadenfreude is overwhelming.   The sense of empowerment you get from seeing someone get their comeuppance is what drives these videos.  I feel guilty however.  It isn't right to get exited over someone else's misfortune, even when that misfortune is their own fault.  
Rather than make fun of them, or even cheering them, we should help to educate these angry people.  They need to understand that it isn't good for them to be that way.   The young but stupid bikers doing the tricks on the freeway at breakneck speeds, we can help them to see that they are putting lives in danger.  And we can hope they listen.  The clubbers, well we can just stay out of their way and ignore them, that's what they want anyway.    As for the cagers.. well, you are not the police, leave it to the boys (and girls) in blue to do the job of policing the streets.   If you are concerned,  slow down and let them pass.  Give the stupid space to do what they do and minimize the danger to yourself.   If we do that, then either these goofballs will see that it isn't so cool to act like an idiot or we will have a lot of new Darwin Award winners.    Either way the problem is solved.

I Can Drive 55

Motorcycles like mine are more than capable of doing 100 miles per hour plus.  That being said, why would I want to?   I hear guys all the time talking about how they did 100mph along the highway, or how they "really opened her up" while dodging traffic.   This solidifies my opinion that people have become stupid.  See this sign on the left?   It is what we call a Speed Sign.  It shows you what the Speed Limit is for the road you are on.  If your bike is doing any speed faster than the posted sign, then you are breaking the law.    The very law you signed a document saying you will obey.  (Yes, check with your licensing bureau, I'm sure they have a copy of the affidavit you signed.
Now, I like the Adrenalin rush just as much as the next guy, but a ticket, or worse, an accident is not worth the extra thrills I get for rolling on the throttle.   For instance,  there were 2 cases of motorcyclists riding in severe excess of the speed limit in Spokane this evening.   Both bikes were going faster than 100mph on I90 (posted speed limit 60).  One of these individuals plowed in to the back of another car.   I'm certain that at this very moment, if his brain is still working, he is feeling regret over the decision to push the limit of the law.   What possesses a person to do this?  Why do these idiots insist on being disobedient to the authorities that set the law?   The numbers on the signs are the maximum safe limit.  If you go faster, you are no longer being safe.   If you are no longer being safe, your risk increases exponentially.   If your risk increases and you don't take steps to conform to safety standards, you run the risk of a Ticket, Jail, an Accident or a Mortuary.   It's dangerous enough riding a bike, no need to make it worse.      I hope they catch the 2nd guy before he hurts himself, or others.   I really do.