Things to think about

I thought these were good enough to shamelessly pirate frtom another site. # 14 & 18 are my favorite. 1. A 'good' ride is one you can walk away from. A 'great' ride is one you can walk away from and still be able to use the bike again. 2. Every ride is optional. 3. If you push the bars left, the bike goes left. If you push the bars right, the bike goes right. That is, unless you continue pushing the bars all the way, then the bike will go down. 4. Riding a motorcycle isn't dangerous. Crashing one is. 5. It's always better to be on the sidelines wishing you were on the track than on the track wishing you were on the sidelines. 6. The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire. 7. The rear wheel is just a big fan on back of the bike used to keep the rider cool and his/her butt relaxed. Going into a corner too fast and slamming on the rear brake causes the "fan" to abruptly stop. When this happens you can actually see the rider start sweating and his/her butt become tense. 8. When in doubt slow down. No one has ever hit anything at too low of a speed. 9. Always learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make them all yourself. 10. You'll know you've left the sidestand down when all left turns are Bat-turns and you'll know you've left the centerstand down when you're in 1st gear at 4000 rpm, going nowhere. 11. Never let a motorcycle take you somewhere your brain didn't get to at least three seconds earlier. 12. Always try to keep the number of times you put your sidestand down equal to the number of times you put the sidestand up. 13. There are two simple rules for riding smoothly and safely in snow and on ice. Unfortunately nobody knows what they are. 14. You start with a full bag of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick to a successful riding career is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck. 15. If all you can see in your mirrors is sparks and all you can hear is screaming from your passenger, things may not be as they should be. 16. In the ongoing battle between objects made of metal, rubber and plastic going 100+ miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour, the ground has yet to lose. (Same goes for cars, trucks, and animals taller than you. Draws don't count.) 17. Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, experience usually comes from bad judgment. 18. Keep looking around. There's always something you've missed. 19. Remember, gravity and centrifugal force are not just good ideas. They're laws and are not subject to appeal. 20. The two most useless things to a rider are the braking distance behind you, and whatever occurred nine-tenths of a second ago. Angel J LOS

Angel: I'll add one from the MSF Experienced Rider Course - Avoid hitting any animal that is larger than you can eat in one meal . . . My favorites are 11 and 20! Take care, Matt

Gee whiz - I hope I didn't freak everyone out?! I probably should have prefaced my comment above that it was the response to a question that was asked of an instructor on how large of an animal could be hit (if there was no other way to avoid contact) and have the rider retain control of their bike. We had been talking about deer, dogs, squirrels, etc. I would personally hate to hit anything, but sometimes it is unavoidable. This board has been awful quiet lately - must be everyone is riding. Too hot for me today, plus I was up till 3:00 last night with my mom in ER. Nothing too major with her just continual chronic health problems. I was supposed to go on a ride today with the local Gold Wind club, but I try not to ride much if I'm tired. Too many folks not paying attention out there for me not to be as sharp as I should be. Hope you all are getting some miles in this weekend . . . Matt