Just got infuriated
Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 12:02 pm
So...I'm driving home from work (in my cage) and I get to the busiest stretch of road there is. Lo and behold I see some guy on a bike come flying off the interstate and cut in front of all the traffic to get in the leftmost lane. Well, as luck would have it I get to pull right behind this...dude.
I can tell from behind that he's on a sportbike and that this guy has probably no idea what he's doing. He's dangling his legs off the pegs, teetering on the edge of falling over, and TUCKING at about 20 miles an hour now, etc. So, we pull up to a light (we both were turning left, and there were 2 left turn lanes) and I get to see the brilliance of this guy firsthand.
First off, he's wearing a tee-shirt, shorts, tennis shoes, and a bright orange backpack. Luckily he's got the helmet on but he looks like he's barely got an idea of which way it should be pointing. He's stopping at the light, puts his bike in neutral. Turns about 160 degrees around both directing looking all over. Fiddling with his helmet, stops to revv his engine every few seconds. Acts like he's talking to all the cagers around him. Looks up. Looks everywhere but in his rear view mirrors and forward. Fiddles more. Looks like he's getting impatient. Finally the light turns green and he just about falls over trying to get his GSX-R600 off the line. He jolts forward, slows, jolts, slows, etc. Then (and this is the really good part) he TUCKS! He's doing about 8 MPH maybe...and he's tucked and attempting to lean into a low speed turn. Almost rams the SUV in front of him because he has no idea of what he's doing. Gets jerked around more because he has no idea what the clutch does apparently. Well, I pull over into his lane (I had to turn ahead, wasn't being a jerk) and we come to another red light. Now, his signals are still on (it's probably been a good 45-55 seconds) and I try to signal to him that his signals are on. Hard to do when I'm not on a bike...He looks, looks completely confused, points, giggles or something, and starts looking around and fidgeting again. And of course, he's got to revv his engine some more, it's just that sweet!
So we take off again (I swear he couldn't have been more than 6 inches from my rear bumper) and he's just using the gas, letting off, using the gas letting off. I don't think he even touched his clutch from takeoff. And he's jolting around again. I have no clue how he stayed upright with all that jerking. Anyways, I turned off the road and he gunned it...with his turn signals still flashing.
I realized then that this is not the first time I've seen this particular individual. He was at the DMV the day I got my licence. I distinctly remember him putting his sidestand up/down by leaning over and moving it with his hands. I also remember him stalling not once, but twice from a take off (in a nearly empty parking lot...not like there were alot of distractions).
THIS is why motorcyclists have bad names! I feel bad, but I kept thinking to myself "maybe he'll scare himself out of motorcycling." Or maybe he'll slightly injure himself and give it up, because he has NO business being anywhere close to one, not even a small one. He is dangerous. He's riding a bike that he obviously has no clue how to ride, no clue what it can do, and he's endangering everyone out there.
Anyways...I got back to my apartment somewhat filled with spite for my fellow man...
I can tell from behind that he's on a sportbike and that this guy has probably no idea what he's doing. He's dangling his legs off the pegs, teetering on the edge of falling over, and TUCKING at about 20 miles an hour now, etc. So, we pull up to a light (we both were turning left, and there were 2 left turn lanes) and I get to see the brilliance of this guy firsthand.
First off, he's wearing a tee-shirt, shorts, tennis shoes, and a bright orange backpack. Luckily he's got the helmet on but he looks like he's barely got an idea of which way it should be pointing. He's stopping at the light, puts his bike in neutral. Turns about 160 degrees around both directing looking all over. Fiddling with his helmet, stops to revv his engine every few seconds. Acts like he's talking to all the cagers around him. Looks up. Looks everywhere but in his rear view mirrors and forward. Fiddles more. Looks like he's getting impatient. Finally the light turns green and he just about falls over trying to get his GSX-R600 off the line. He jolts forward, slows, jolts, slows, etc. Then (and this is the really good part) he TUCKS! He's doing about 8 MPH maybe...and he's tucked and attempting to lean into a low speed turn. Almost rams the SUV in front of him because he has no idea of what he's doing. Gets jerked around more because he has no idea what the clutch does apparently. Well, I pull over into his lane (I had to turn ahead, wasn't being a jerk) and we come to another red light. Now, his signals are still on (it's probably been a good 45-55 seconds) and I try to signal to him that his signals are on. Hard to do when I'm not on a bike...He looks, looks completely confused, points, giggles or something, and starts looking around and fidgeting again. And of course, he's got to revv his engine some more, it's just that sweet!
So we take off again (I swear he couldn't have been more than 6 inches from my rear bumper) and he's just using the gas, letting off, using the gas letting off. I don't think he even touched his clutch from takeoff. And he's jolting around again. I have no clue how he stayed upright with all that jerking. Anyways, I turned off the road and he gunned it...with his turn signals still flashing.
I realized then that this is not the first time I've seen this particular individual. He was at the DMV the day I got my licence. I distinctly remember him putting his sidestand up/down by leaning over and moving it with his hands. I also remember him stalling not once, but twice from a take off (in a nearly empty parking lot...not like there were alot of distractions).
THIS is why motorcyclists have bad names! I feel bad, but I kept thinking to myself "maybe he'll scare himself out of motorcycling." Or maybe he'll slightly injure himself and give it up, because he has NO business being anywhere close to one, not even a small one. He is dangerous. He's riding a bike that he obviously has no clue how to ride, no clue what it can do, and he's endangering everyone out there.
Anyways...I got back to my apartment somewhat filled with spite for my fellow man...
