Confessions of a Commuter

[KarateChick]

Waiting for your next post CNF!

[CNF2002]

Monday
Miles: 6,496
Mood:

Confession #8- I auto-drive.

I didn't check my tire pressure this morning. I wanted to, but by the time I got out to the bike and was ready to go, I just wanted to get to my destination. Isn't that how it always is? There is a set plan, a sequence of events and patterns that I must follow on my morning commute; such things should not be disrupted. Once the bike is moving, everything must go as it did the day before, as it will the day after. Any deviation and frustration inevitably follows.

Like if I forgot my work keys.

I call it auto-drive. It's not an original concept, probably not even an original term. But we do it every day. Most of the time, we absolutely need auto-drive just to function. When I ride to work, I'm not thinking about what exit I need to take. I'm not thinking about what the speed limit is (because I know it, I go it, it's intuitive). I don't shift, I don't accelerate, I don't simultaneously grab the brake and apply the appropriate percentage to the front and the rear, I just decide I want to slow down, and it happens.

This of course frees us to do the more intellectual aspects of commuting; avoiding the idiot on the cellphone, for example. If we worried about every little detail our brain has to accomplish in order to get the task done, we'd never leave the driveway.

A car to my right, hidden in traffic, suddenly squealed its brakes this morning. I eased left and slowed down, and saw that he simply had missed his turn and was re-merging onto the freeway. It certainly got my heart racing.

Now what if I had been leaving auto-drive to perform some of the higher functions as well? What if I had been on my cellphone instead of paying attention to traffic, letting my poor ill-equipped auto-drive to keep me safe? Lack of attentiveness is the number one cause of accidents. How can something so essential be so dangerous?

I began to reflect on how auto-drive affects other aspects of our lives. We do it everyday. As a newlywed, I often think of how marriage is often put into auto-drive. We want something, and we just expect it to happen. No thought or effort involved. Things are designed to go a certain way, a family can so often degenerate into the same patterns and routines that we cling to on our morning commute. If anything disrupts them, arguments erupt.

I confess, I auto-drive. But with a conscious effort, we can avoid depending on it when we really should be paying more attention. How curious that we depend so much on patterns, and how those patterns can break us. We need vacations, we need to decide to do something special for our spouse - unexpected, pleasant. We need to be aware of our own auto-drive and, when we realize how dependent we are on it, it's not a bad idea just to take a different route to work.

[camthepyro]

I agree with you. After a while we commit certain functions to "auto-drive" shifting, braking, etc. that way we can use our attention on more important things, like that cager who looks like he's going to pull out in front of you. I think we subconciously do that with everything, for example, as I'm typing this, i don't concentrate on pushing each individual key, I just think what I want to type, and my hands know where to go for each key. Imagine how much of a hassle daily routine things would be if you had to concentrate on them.

[NorthernPete]

Deep thoughts.....

Very true though.... We do it throughout life alot of times dont we? The world needs to stop and relax once and a while.... take a ride not for the sake of getting somewhere but the ride itself.

[CNF2002]

Tuesday
Miles: 6,511

Mood:

Confession #9- I'm not ready to crash.

The two-for-one sales at department stores always seem like a good deal. After all, you pay what you would normally pay for one, and you get the second one free! I suppose there are two ways to look at it. You can feel like you just got a great deal, twice the product for the same amount of money. Or, you can conclude that the company obviously isn't going to sacrifice profits, so the markup on the item you just bought was probably greater than fifty percent in the first place.

So really, you just end up with double of a really cheaply made product that costs too much.

There was a small accident on the freeway. I didn't witness it and it didn't appear to be serious.

What if it had been? What if I had been involved in it? What if - instead of two cars parked on the side of the road, with the drivers gabbing on the cellphone to their family complaining about the inconvenience of the accident - I was sandwiched between the two cars and...the drivers were gabbing on the cellphone to their family complaining about the inconvenience of the accident?

I confess, I'm not ready to crash.

Who is? I suppose there are two ways to look at it. You can consider planning for your own death a jinx or a self-fullfilling prophecy (ignore what you fear and it will never come), or you can see it as protecting your loved ones.

We face death every day. From when we go hiking in the woods, to when we walk across our living room and barely avoid stepping on a Power Ranger and hitting our head on the corner of the mantle. Yet as motorcyclists we have admittedly taken a larger risk in our choices, especially as commuters. The same goes with those riding in convertibles, or who get the 2-passenger sportscar instead of the Volvo with 16 airbags.

Our choices affect our level of risk, statistically, of suffering an early death.

It seems the only responsible thing to do, when we calculate our level of risk, is to protect others around us (particularly financially). Do you have health insurance? Do you have life insurance that will pay off the house and send your children to college? Have you written to your loved ones?

So much can go unsaid...there is so much time left, and so much to do. Our busy lives don't allow us the privilege of enjoying every moment, and of closing every door before we move on to the next.

I imagine there is a computer programmer out there somewhere who has written letters to all his family and friends, and a software timer on his computer. If he doesn't sign on and reset the timer at least once a week, the computer sends out the announcement of his death.

Particularly on the internet it is frustrating, where we become used to the words and electronic delivery of individual personalities, such that we do miss their presence when they are gone, even if for a short moment.

In the electronic medium, how many people do you know who have taken the risk and departed without a goodbye? You can never know...and it is saddening that there are so many people who deserve one more thought from a kind stranger that will never get it, simply because they vanished into a sea of information, and no one noticed.

I'm certainly not ready to crash, but I suppose even with the best planning, no one ever really is.

[camthepyro]

Interesting what you said about the accident, I was thinking about the same thing on the way home today. I left from Alpharetta which is about an hour away from where I live (Acworth) and after like 15 minutes I stopped to get a gatorade. I drank the gatorade, was about to leave, and decided I should use the bathroom before I left, so I wouldn't have to pee half way home. Anyway, so as I start to get close to home, riding along a 4 lane divided highway, I slowed down behing some cars at a light. As I was almost to the intersection I saw a mangled car in the interesection, and a car flipped over in the grass off the road. No police or emergency crews had arrived yet, so it must have happened less the 5 minutes before I got there. And, I couldn't help but think that if I hadn't decided to use the restroom before I left, I might have been at that spot a few minutes earlier. I could have been there when the accident happenned, I could have been in the accident. The only difference was the decision whether or not to use the restroom. Thinking about your own mortality sucks.


Anyway, sorry to hijack your blog a little there.

[dieziege]

Or your presence could have prevented the accident. When the first guy hit the brakes there would've been enough room for you to slip through and the guy behind you would've had time to stop and there wouldn't have been an accident at all!!!

Shame on you, letting an accident happen just so you could go relieve yourself.

[camthepyro]

Haha, I'll never be able to rid myself of the guilt!

[CNF2002]

Wednesday
Miles: 6,522
Mood:

Confession #10- I invented the cloaking device.

Practice, practice, practice. Who needs to practice when you are a motorcycle commuter? Every day is like a cone-filled parking lot of obstacles, panic stops, and 1mph balancing acts. Balancing is particularly important as a commuter. Most of the time you are stuck in traffic, and leg-up leg-down 20 times isn't fun. And you certainly don't want to be that guy, you know the one going 5mph on his bike, peddling on the ground like Fred Flinstone.

I wonder how many people recognize me now? I commute every day, and I'm sure there's not many motorcyclists who do that (or at least I haven't seen one!). They sit in their car, see me, and say "yup, there he is." I wonder how many smile, how many frown, and how many are frustrated that their car is not in a good lane to ram me.

What will I do when hurricane season is upon us? You certainly can't ride a motorcycle in a tropical storm.

Woah!

Sorry, I was in someones lane. They must have owned both lanes, the one I was in and the lane next to me, because they felt no shame in just merging right into me.

How's that brake fluid? Yep...still works.

My mistake was probably in using my cloaking device. Thats right, I invented the cloaking device. I am the one who brought this treacherous technology to the world. Although its hated by just about every motorcyclist in the US, I was still Oppenheimer-style proud of my invention.

I even tried to patent it. When I sent in my patent proposal however, the US Patent office sent it back to me (it was just a blank piece of paper) with a note "Where is your invention? I don't see anything?".

Duh! It's a cloaking device. It's invisible! Those guys at the US Government need to step it up a notch in the Cerebral Department.

How could this person have not seen me? He wasn't even on the cellphone or reading the newspaper or eating a McBiscuit 'n Grease.

What do I have to do?

For my next invention, and to make it up to the world for having brought you the cloaking device, I am going to create the ultimate riding gear. First, the helmet is the highest point on your body. So it needs a yellow rotating strobe light on top. We definately need to add some under-helmet goggles here, with little red LED circles around the eyes so you look like Satan himself at night. That'll get their attention. Then, the jacket needs to be covered in those tiny metal discs...you know, the ones some women's dresses are made of and when they walk into a room they look like a disco ball. Then we need to light up your boots. Kids have the option of buying shoes with flashing red lights all over, why is this not made available to motorcyclists? I need a flashing light on my heels and I want the tips of my laces to blink.

Then the bike. Definately want to get some under-body neon. Your brake light isn't enough...we'll attach two of those big STOP signs that you see on school buses to either side of the bike, that swing out as soon as you hit the brake. It can also act as an air brake to save wear those precious pads. Also my horn should be unique, it should be twice as loud as any car and should sound like the General Lee.

At night you will want extra visibility, so we'll include sparklers on the wheels. When you ride forward, sparks will fly out everywhere. Keep your gas tank leak-free.

Last but not least, a tall 6 ft pole coming out of the tail with a triangle orange flag on top. Hey, it worked when I was 5.

[camthepyro]

Haha, commuting sucks. How far is your commute? I get to ride an hour and a half to work, and an hour and a half back. Both ways into the sun so I can't see a damn thing. Of course, I guess that's better then having the people who always want to turn in front of me not see me because of the sun. Oh, and I also had someone try to merge into me too... TWICE... and it was THE SAME GUY.

I also was sitting behind a car at a particularly dangerous intersection with only a stop sign, and I saw a guy on a motorcycle coming from my right, and he was going to pass straight through the interesection. As he was getting close, I realized the car in front of me was going to go, and I was quickly trying to think of a way to warn the guy, so I wouldn't have to witness a bloody accident. I couldn't think of anything, and the car pulled out in front of the guy, luckily, he was anticipating it, and slowed in time. Whew! Sigh of relief...