ItsAllGood
Pro Aris et Focis
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2008
- Messages
- 18
- Reaction score
- 3
- Points
- 3
- Location
- Peoples Republic of California
Hmmmm…Let’s see. I suppose if I didn’t write this maybe the feeling would go away. I mean nobody would know any different. But I think it’s one of those things I need to get off my chest or I won’t get passed it, after all it’s been some time now since it happened and it still bugs the crap outta me. I’m embarrassed that such a thing could happen.
It’s a nice day, late afternoon & I’m enjoying a ride up through the foothills. I’m not a kneedragger so this road is perfect for me, not really twisties, I’d say more like sweepers with enough straightaways to safely get around the slowpokes. Out of nowhere a guy in a car ends up right on my ass. So yeah, my reaction wasn’t good but I maintained my composure. Not like it’s the first time something like this has happened. I’m not poking along either, I’m making pretty good time going up this mountain but this guy is in a big hurry. And to impress upon me his distaste for my apparent lollygagging, he must now be less than 10 feet behind me. We’re in a series of sweepers (double yellow line, no turnouts) so I really have no alternative than to continue. A nice fairly long straightaway opens up so I decide to create a little distance between the two of us & roll on some throttle (Error #1). Still a double yellow but I’m sure he interpreted this as my reluctance to let him pass. He caught up with me again forthwith and displayed his displeasure by running even closer to my back wheel. Finally another straight opens up and I move to the righthand portion of the lane indicating he could now pass, which he does, within about 4 feet of my left kneecap. I acknowledged this by indicating that he is #1 in my book (Error #2). We played cat & mouse the rest of the way up the mountain (Error #3) with me taking mental images of his car just in case I ran across it again sometime. I wanted so bad for this guy to stop so I could drag him out of his car and beat the ever living sh** out of him. No idea whether I could or not, I just wanted to (Error #4).
Anyway, during all this chasing around he managed to put two cars between us and used this to his advantage to increase the separation.
I guess this is where the point of the story comes in.
My passing of the 2 cars was legal, however; it was done on a short blind uphill straight that I felt so uncomfortable with that although I was on the other side of the divided line, I passed within a couple arm lengths of both cars and dove back in just ahead of the front car so I wouldn’t get plowed by someone else cresting the hill in the other direction. I raced another mile or so looking for the guy before it hit me…..
I had just become that same stupid freaking SOB that I was looking for.
I wanted to pull over, get off the bike and just walk away. I wanted so badly to somehow let the people in those cars know that I wasn’t really like that, I was one of the “good” motorcycle riders. I had just recently posted a link to a Motorcyclist article about the “Dilligaf-ers” and the appearance they portray to the general public as bikers. And now I was one of them….just another stupid guy on a motorcycle who doesn’t give a f**k & has no consideration for others. It really hit me hard because I’M NOT ONE OF THOSE GUYS!!! Damn!!
It’s not like I’m going to give up riding. I’ve been riding everyday since but I do ride now with a completely different attitude. So this for me was a life lesson. Yeah I made a lot of poor choices & that’s the funny thing, I knew they were all the wrong thing to do but until now I’ve never had that so vividly impressed upon me. Amazing after all these years of riding that it would take so long to learn this.
I feel an apology is in order, to those people in the cars certainly, but also to all you guys who ride and collectively suffer the repercussions of such foolish acts.
And to myself, perhaps that’s the closure I need to finally put this to rest.
It’s a nice day, late afternoon & I’m enjoying a ride up through the foothills. I’m not a kneedragger so this road is perfect for me, not really twisties, I’d say more like sweepers with enough straightaways to safely get around the slowpokes. Out of nowhere a guy in a car ends up right on my ass. So yeah, my reaction wasn’t good but I maintained my composure. Not like it’s the first time something like this has happened. I’m not poking along either, I’m making pretty good time going up this mountain but this guy is in a big hurry. And to impress upon me his distaste for my apparent lollygagging, he must now be less than 10 feet behind me. We’re in a series of sweepers (double yellow line, no turnouts) so I really have no alternative than to continue. A nice fairly long straightaway opens up so I decide to create a little distance between the two of us & roll on some throttle (Error #1). Still a double yellow but I’m sure he interpreted this as my reluctance to let him pass. He caught up with me again forthwith and displayed his displeasure by running even closer to my back wheel. Finally another straight opens up and I move to the righthand portion of the lane indicating he could now pass, which he does, within about 4 feet of my left kneecap. I acknowledged this by indicating that he is #1 in my book (Error #2). We played cat & mouse the rest of the way up the mountain (Error #3) with me taking mental images of his car just in case I ran across it again sometime. I wanted so bad for this guy to stop so I could drag him out of his car and beat the ever living sh** out of him. No idea whether I could or not, I just wanted to (Error #4).
Anyway, during all this chasing around he managed to put two cars between us and used this to his advantage to increase the separation.
I guess this is where the point of the story comes in.
My passing of the 2 cars was legal, however; it was done on a short blind uphill straight that I felt so uncomfortable with that although I was on the other side of the divided line, I passed within a couple arm lengths of both cars and dove back in just ahead of the front car so I wouldn’t get plowed by someone else cresting the hill in the other direction. I raced another mile or so looking for the guy before it hit me…..
I had just become that same stupid freaking SOB that I was looking for.
I wanted to pull over, get off the bike and just walk away. I wanted so badly to somehow let the people in those cars know that I wasn’t really like that, I was one of the “good” motorcycle riders. I had just recently posted a link to a Motorcyclist article about the “Dilligaf-ers” and the appearance they portray to the general public as bikers. And now I was one of them….just another stupid guy on a motorcycle who doesn’t give a f**k & has no consideration for others. It really hit me hard because I’M NOT ONE OF THOSE GUYS!!! Damn!!
It’s not like I’m going to give up riding. I’ve been riding everyday since but I do ride now with a completely different attitude. So this for me was a life lesson. Yeah I made a lot of poor choices & that’s the funny thing, I knew they were all the wrong thing to do but until now I’ve never had that so vividly impressed upon me. Amazing after all these years of riding that it would take so long to learn this.
I feel an apology is in order, to those people in the cars certainly, but also to all you guys who ride and collectively suffer the repercussions of such foolish acts.
And to myself, perhaps that’s the closure I need to finally put this to rest.