Riding & parent hood

[oldrider]

What cracks me up are the "cool cats" that can't ride for shit. Mid/Late life crises sell more motorcycles I reckon.

Good on them for geting into it - don't get me wrong, but they're doing it from a whole different perspective

MDU, what perspective is that of which you speak? Motorcycles have been my crisis for 52yrs tell me about the "perspective". John.

[Maha]

What cracks me up are the "cool cats" that can't ride for shit. Mid/Late life crises sell more motorcycles I reckon.

Good on them for geting into it - don't get me wrong, but they're doing it from a whole different perspective

Im a midlifer....
Just new i had to geta bike after riding a point n' go in Rarotonga, no lid,shorts and an open shirt.... island style bro'
All about safety now, i have no intention of harming me or the bike, i have only one person to impress, that's meeeee.............
I have two daughters and intend to be their dad for a few years yet....

[ajturbo]

as a lot of ya know
mud boy and i get out on the bike as much as we can..

when he was born i got a side chair mounted to the XJ....
he used to fall asleep in it on rides,



now the little bugger gets the police to talk to me nearly every time i take the turbo out.....

he wants to go faster!!!!

[hunt]

my kids have slowed the amount of available riding time i have, i've never been a fast rider anyhow as my choice of bike shows,to me bike time is my time and injuries from loose riding in my youth are my greatest reminder to take it easy,

just to add to those comments about midlife people buying bikes it maybe thats the first time they can actually afford to by one,

[imdying]

Hasn't changed my riding either.

That's such bullshit... you do faaar bigger wheelies now

[marty]

mine are 14 and 10. the 14 year old has had scares with ruptured organs and injuries from push bike crashes, and the associated stays in starship, and although i do lots of really silly stuff in all my pastimes, in the more recent past i have become so much more aware of my responsibilities as a parent and a partner, and i fly/ride/drive/work/play knowing this. doesn't make me any less competitive or impinge on my ability to carry out tasks, but it does make me think.

i would hate to be upside down in a kayak on the kaituna, upside down at 3000' over cambridge, upside down in a ditch with the busa on top of me thinking 'fuck it - it wasn't supposed to happen this way - if only.......'

[ManDownUnder]

Perspective huh,,so what prespective are YOU doing it from?
I and ALL my riding friends have been doing it most of our lives.
As a matter of fact I don't know any born agains,,,they must live round your way huh.

LOL maybe they do mate.

The perspective thing... I grew up on them, they're a part of my childhood and a very real link back to those days. A kid seeks a different kind of fun to an adult.

It's innocent and simple "fun" and to me, motorcycling has maintained that.

To grossly generalise, the mid/late life crisis people have a need to live their life before it's over. To seek thrills whioe they still have the cash an physical prowess to pull it off.

My point is, both groups (the grown up kids like me, or the crisis folks) enjoy motorcycling, but they enjoy it for different reasons. Hence my "different perspective comment"

It doesn't make one right or wrong, but I think there's a danger in the crisis folks pushing it as hard of the longer timers - they don't have that same base level of experience to draw on.

The crisis folks also have a way of pointing out their relative inexperience in their riding style - they rightly ride like a newbie, and their tendency to find accidents quickly... they have more cash (translated into horsepower) than experience.

[ManDownUnder]

Im a midlifer....
Just new i had to geta bike after riding a point n' go in Rarotonga, no lid,shorts and an open shirt.... island style bro'
All about safety now, i have no intention of harming me or the bike, i have only one person to impress, that's meeeee.............
I have two daughters and intend to be their dad for a few years yet....

No worries... but if you can't ride for shit - and those are the ones I'm concerned about here... take it easy.

Of course if you can ride for whit - ignore everything I said.

I'm sure KBers will help point it out if you're not sure... LOL

[Buddha#81:Me]

I ditched the road and started racing, at least the family can come and enjoy the day. I've a four year old who trys to do anything I do so I need to keep the flash larry shit to a minimum.

[mstriumph]

riding and parenthood.....in my books they dont mix too well.

because of my riding, im not having kids. ive been hit before, and whos to say next time it wont kill me, leaving my kids without a mother. if i did have kids, id likely have to give up my riding and maybe learn to drive. so therefore, theyd likely slow me down heaps.



plus id likely get cyfed when they saw baby bungy corded to the pillion pad!

have always ridden - wouldn't give it up for the world
- wouldn't have missed having my children for the world either

it's only an 'either/or' situation if you make it one .... and life is too short and too glorious to miss out on any part of it

[and yes, i have binned, and badly on occassion ............and yes, riding is dangerous .......... but so is life, and i could be offed just as easily on foot on a pedestrian crossing ...........]

[kro]

No excuses from me, I ride like a nana, because I want to see my kids grow up, and would hate to leave them "Dadless".

[trumpy]

Oh yeah...
...but more the fact that I'm a bit suspicious that someone has done a body swap on me....it still sorta feels the same,but when I look in the mirror I see someone I've never seen before!

Bloody body swappers are everywhere.........bastards took mine some time ago.............(got to feel sorry for the poor sod that previously had the one I've got now tho)

[trumpy]

I am probably the "classic" born again biker since I waited until I was 52 before I "came back". However not all us oldies take the same route back....mine took a lot of years and included mountain and rock climbing (serious stuff), sailing, sports cars, racing single seaters, off road motorcycles etc. Having a career and a family doesn't necessarily destroy your sense of adventure but it can be tempered by the costs and responsibilities of career and family (particularly kids!!).
I see my return to biking not as anything to do with reliving my past or some kind of image I wish to portray but a continuation of the rest of my life, whatever that may be. I treat it like all the other activities I have done....I want to be as good as my limited talent will allow. I am aware of my present limits and try to learn to extend them by learning from others (any help here gratefully accepted) and working things out by riding as much as I can. There is a difference between throwing yourself at a situation because you believe you are better than you actually are and pushing the limits to grow your skills......I hope that makes sense.

[Krusti]

Bloody body swappers are everywhere.........bastards took mine some time ago.............(got to feel sorry for the poor sod that previously had the one I've got now tho)

Body sure is not what it was, my ACC case manager tried to tell me not to ride bikes the other day, "screw you".

Went to Orthopedic surgeon the other day says he is gonna do a fusion on my upper spine now. Soon I'll have more steel in me than my bike! On the plus side my other half may decide to ride me instead of the bike!