People are Strange

Being the G20 weekend in Brisbane, this morning I decided to opt for the moto over the pushie

and headed for Mt Glorious.  The streets were nice and quiet due to the mass exodus to the Gold and Sunshine coasts, and it was a perfect morning for a ride on two wheels, with plenty of both motorbikes and pushies out on the mountain.

I decided to pull in at the cafe in Mount Glorious village for a coffee, and ended up sharing a table with an older guy wearing a Triumph t-shirt.  He was friendly and we had a good chat about all sorts of stuff, sharing a common understanding of motorbikes, but all sorts of topics came up.  He chatted about his retirement, road trips he had done, his family, the G20; it was a very easy and enjoyable conversation.

I mentioned that I had noticed since my return to motorbikes that there didn't seem to be too many younger riders in the 20's these days.  Triumph t-shirt agreed, and started talking about how he had noticed that some of the camaraderie that he loved about motorcycling had reduced, with less riders inclined to give 'the nod' or 'the wave' as they rode past.  His theory was that there had been a reduction in the passing on of knowledge, which included the etiquette.  I thought this interesting, and made some comparisons in my own head to cycling.  I've heard plenty of talk over the last few years about the explosion in popularity of cycling, but often without the equivalent knowledge passed from senior to novice riders.  I think there is some sense to this, and suspect that it is part of the much broader debate into cycling on our roads.  Knowledge of how to ride on a shared road is very important, both from a safety point of view and respectfulness for other road users.  This knowledge will come from two main sources, the riders own experiences gained over time, and the passing of knowledge from more experienced riders.

This was all ticking away in the back of my head as Triumph t-shirt shared his thoughts, and at

this point I thought I would try a little experiment.  I mentioned to him that I was also a cyclist, and noticed similarities between the two groups of road users.  The moment I said the word "cyclist" I could immediately see his facial expression change.  I may as well have said I was an Islamic State terrorist.

There wasn't much more conversation after that, and he left me to finish my coffee alone soon after.  

It was an interesting experiment.  I find that people love to compartmentalise other people into boxes with labels, I guess it is how are brains are wired and helps understand the world around us.  However I have found that our brains are very easily challenged when those labels overlap, eg. "are you an Australian or a Muslim?", you can't be both!  In this instance I was both a cyclist and a motorcyclist, and when this was realised I had quickly gone from a guy Triumph t-shirt could have an easy chat with, to something else that wasn't so comfortable.

Hopefully overall when he left the table the outcome was a positive one, and perhaps he will be less likely to instinctually negatively label the next cyclist he comes across.

We are all people, but we sure are a strange bunch.

Commonality

I recently picked myself up a new motorbike, and last Sunday had the opportunity to take it for a good long ride with a mate.  We did an awesome long loop down through northern NSW and then back to Brisbane via Mt Tamborine. 

While we were riding, it got me thinking about something that has been kicking around inside my little head for a while.  Cycling and motorcycling have a lot in common, demonstrated by the number of cyclists I saw out that day, as well as plenty of the motorised version.  Although they share a lot of similarities, there isn’t really any obvious camaraderie between the two groups, and I think this is strange.  From my own experiences as a cyclist, and from speaking to other motorcyclists, I’ve found that motorcyclists hold a pretty dim view of cyclists, and I don’t think there is a lot of love in the other direction either.

You may or may not agree with my thought that the two groups share a lot of common ground, but here are my reasons:

1. As already mentioned, we enjoy the same roads.  Hills, twisties, scenery, minimal traffic, no traffic lights, and opportunities to pull over and take a breather.  These are the sorts of things that, to me, make for a great ride, whether I am on a pushie or a moto.
2. We are both intimately involved with our environment when we ride, not cocooned inside a metal box.  You feel the wind, you feel the cold, the heat, you feel the road underneath your tyres as you lean through a corner.
3. Both are marginalised groups in our society.  Our roads are not generally designed with bikes or motorbikes in mind, in Australia the car is still king.
4. Both groups are seen as oddities by the broader public – we both use group specific language, both wear ‘weird’ clothing.
5. Neither is particularly popular, unfortunately I think many people would prefer us off ‘their roads’.
6. Maybe the most important point, if I get hit by a car when riding a bike or a motorbike, either way it’s going to hurt.  A lot.

Car drivers aren’t very good at using the roads.  I’m allowed to say that because I have a car too (yes this is a bit tongue in cheek).  But really, they are crap.  I actually think that, as cars have gotten better, the drivers have gotten worse.  It doesn’t take much skill to drive a car, at least to drive a car badly.  Just point it in the direction you want to go and press the go-faster deevy.  Power steering, automatic gearboxes,  ABS, traction control, air conditioning, airbags, sat nav, reversing cameras, automated lights etc etc.   They all make the cars great, but they don’t do much to improve the skill of the driver.  As a motorcyclist you are trained to assume that everyone else on the road is trying to kill you, and it’s much the same on a bicycle.  I really do believe that being a motorcyclist/cyclist has made me a much better driver, so hopefully the increasing popularity of two wheeled transport will gradually translate to better four-wheeled drivers too.

I think it is in the best interests of both cyclists and motorcyclists to start having a bit more time for each other.  As allies we could do much to improve road design and driver behaviour.  Plus, it just makes sense for Australia to push for more cyclists and motorcyclists, and conversely less cars on our roads.  Building more and more roads for more and more cars just doesn’t make sense, it’s a lose-lose scenario, yet our governments keep doing it.

So next time you are out for a ride, whatever your choice of vehicle, try to spread the love a little bit.  We can all benefit.

You know what really grinds my gears

Ok, first blog entry, so I'll keep it quick.  Lets be upfront, I have no idea what I'm doing, and I don't want to waste your time - assuming you are reading this in the first place.  If not, I assume you came across this blog by mistake when searching the internets for pictures of funny looking vegetables.  Probs not, but just in case here you go:

Funny looking vegetable

What I do know is, I'm white, male, hetro, middle aged and I have opinions!  Potentially I'm also going through what is commonly called a mid-life crisis.  I think all the signs are there, not that I'm a psychologist or anything - but lets review:

• quit well paying good job - tick!
• started wearing a neck scarf - tick!
• bought a motorbike - tick!

• 

  Concerned for me mental health - the dog

  started talking to the dog, a lot - tick! (here he is looking confused, even though I only used simple words)
•  got a tattoo - tick!
• found myself in Spain, got damn drunk in Spain - oh yes tick that!

There are probably others, but I'm struggling to remember them.  Since I left full time employment I feel I may have gotten dumber, in a 'my mind is an empty vessel' kinda way.  There may be a bit of artistic license with the above list, I mean it's not like I did them all in the last week or anything, they were building over a bit longer than that.

Anyway, I said I would keep this short.  I mean I don't even know if anyone is reading this.  In these crazy times of conflict in Gaza and Beyoncé leaving Jay Z, does the world really need another blog?  Maybe not.  But due to the quitting job thing, I now seem to have a lot more time on my hands, so I guess I'm not going away and get used to it.