Norm
Wizard
Coming back from Baton Rouge, after getting a few hundred miles under my belt I stopped in Alabama for some gas, a coffee, and an interesting conversation with one of the locals. I wasn't much in the mood for talking but a middle aged guy that could have passed for an old age guy walks up to me as I'm getting my coffee and says: Thay yu aw! I jes got stopt bya troopa and he gave me a tickot fo no seadbelt. I believe because of our different dialects and his lack of a lot of teeth I needed to drink a little bit of that coffee to comprehend this man's communique before I responded with a brilliant: "Yea?" Then he goes on to say that I was the one who passed him while he was receiving the bad news and he pointed to me and said to the officer: "Well how come thad guy don't got to wayer no seadbeld" to which the officer responded: "because he's on a motorcycle." Attempting to further gain some insight to his supposed transgression he states: "Well that thar thing is a lot mo dangerous than my big truck." The officer responded, as we all know, "Sorry, that's the law. I have a motorcycle myself."
So it seemed what this man wanted was to further understand this ridiculous law and my impression of the inequitable situation and when he asked me: "Well wad do you thaynk?" I could only muster: I think you should get a motorcycle. Well this gave him a big ole' laugh and I pat him on the back and made my getaway while the gettin' was good.
A friend on another forum asks quite rightfully "What is this "feeling of freedom" everyone seems to get when they ride a motorcycle. I once wrote a long piece to respond to that but these days I think what they're trying to say is that they are "out there" exposed to the elements, and, important in the equation, exposed to the dangers, that would have otherwise been mitigated by cars and their innumerable modern safety features. It's probably not much different than the sense of "freedom" a deep sea diver, a pilot, a rock climber, or an open sea sailor feels. Assuming you do not do any of these as your daily profession there certainly is an exhilarating feeling from these relatively dangerous "hobbies." What you are really doing is living life on the edge so that freedom feeling may be that you are, with the consent of the law, putting yourself in more danger than is normally "allowed" by the law. You are exposing the loopholes, exercising your rights of certain freedoms that have been preserved through the years, either through active lobbying or simply remained under the radar of the lawmakers.
Think about this: I can row my boat out to the open seas in the middle of the perfect storm, have the the great young men and women of the Coast Guard come rescue my dumb arse at the peril of their own lives and I've committed no crime. Yet this poor Schmuck from Alabama gets a ticket I'm sure he can't really afford, let alone the increase in his car insurance, for not wearing his seatbelt in his truck while I fly by sitting atop my vehicle with nary a safety device within sight. And then, just for an extra slap in the face to our poor Alabamian the officer brags that he too regularly engages in this risky behavior at the behest of the law. (No offense you LEO's, you know I love you).
Well, that was one of my points back in that old post I can't seem to dredge up from the forums. The other was that it brings many of us back to our childhood, when we had no car, just a bicycle. But we also had very little responsibilities compared to adulthood, so yes, we feel as free as a child running through fields of hay.
I'm sure there are more thoughts on the matter. I can come up with a few, like feeling "different" from most of the drivers, different in a good way, the good feeling of gaining skills in a tough hobby, willing to put your life on the line based on your skills and instincts, etc.
So it seemed what this man wanted was to further understand this ridiculous law and my impression of the inequitable situation and when he asked me: "Well wad do you thaynk?" I could only muster: I think you should get a motorcycle. Well this gave him a big ole' laugh and I pat him on the back and made my getaway while the gettin' was good.
A friend on another forum asks quite rightfully "What is this "feeling of freedom" everyone seems to get when they ride a motorcycle. I once wrote a long piece to respond to that but these days I think what they're trying to say is that they are "out there" exposed to the elements, and, important in the equation, exposed to the dangers, that would have otherwise been mitigated by cars and their innumerable modern safety features. It's probably not much different than the sense of "freedom" a deep sea diver, a pilot, a rock climber, or an open sea sailor feels. Assuming you do not do any of these as your daily profession there certainly is an exhilarating feeling from these relatively dangerous "hobbies." What you are really doing is living life on the edge so that freedom feeling may be that you are, with the consent of the law, putting yourself in more danger than is normally "allowed" by the law. You are exposing the loopholes, exercising your rights of certain freedoms that have been preserved through the years, either through active lobbying or simply remained under the radar of the lawmakers.
Think about this: I can row my boat out to the open seas in the middle of the perfect storm, have the the great young men and women of the Coast Guard come rescue my dumb arse at the peril of their own lives and I've committed no crime. Yet this poor Schmuck from Alabama gets a ticket I'm sure he can't really afford, let alone the increase in his car insurance, for not wearing his seatbelt in his truck while I fly by sitting atop my vehicle with nary a safety device within sight. And then, just for an extra slap in the face to our poor Alabamian the officer brags that he too regularly engages in this risky behavior at the behest of the law. (No offense you LEO's, you know I love you).
Well, that was one of my points back in that old post I can't seem to dredge up from the forums. The other was that it brings many of us back to our childhood, when we had no car, just a bicycle. But we also had very little responsibilities compared to adulthood, so yes, we feel as free as a child running through fields of hay.
I'm sure there are more thoughts on the matter. I can come up with a few, like feeling "different" from most of the drivers, different in a good way, the good feeling of gaining skills in a tough hobby, willing to put your life on the line based on your skills and instincts, etc.
