Recieved another goody in the email today, thought I'd share it
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Throttle Therapy
A couple of issues ago we explored how the demands of motorcycling make riding a healthy alternative to cars. Did you know that motorcycling is also a fine mental exercise that sharpens a number of mental functions including the intelligence, physical co-ordination and overall alertness? At least this is the opinion of San Francisco-based licensed psycho-therapist Roger Lake, as well as any number of riders. You know the old saying, “You never see a motorcycle outside a shrink’s office, unless it belongs to the shrink.” Roger has been a rider for thirty years now, and he swears that using his two wheels to commute to work keeps him mentally alert and ready to deal with the many problems his clients need to discuss with him.
In an interview for Cruiser Customizing News with yours truly, Roger said this of motorcycling, “Motorcycling keeps you awake, alive and attentive because it is a demanding type of sport. Except that in motorcycling the only team member is the one holding the handlebars. The thrill of the ride releases to the brain all sorts of chemicals that keep the rider healthy; it’s an adrenaline rush that raises the functions of the mind to the next level. For group riders, it provides a strong bonding experience. Then, if there is any sort of near-encounter, the motorcyclist benefits from his own introspection because he must demand of himself, ‘What is my part in this?’
“Motorcycling clearly endows the rider with a sense of awe, even to the point of a spiritually-based awareness regarding the fragility of life, which is a healthy perspective. Riding demands an awareness that makes the rider live his life to the fullest simply because he knows that any moment could be his last. This sense of inner vision shared by riders is a very healthy, yet spiritual, point of view. Personally, I’m no different from any other rider. We all love our motorcycles.”
And how true it is! The other day while riding down Columbus Ave. in the right lane, I moved my head left to check the left lane of traffic. A pickup truck driver beside me on my left noticed my head movement and immediately braked to let me move over in front of him. Usually it takes turn signals, frantic arm movements and even grimaces to get cell-phone chatting drivers to notice a motorcyclist. So instead of taking the spot in front of the truck, I throttled down to his passenger side window, which was open. “Hey, man, do you ride?” I called in to his truck. “Sure do, bro’. Ride on.” He responded, flashing a V sign. Here was a fine example of the sort of motorcyclist’s alertness that psycho-analyst Roger Lake discusses above. It is an alertness that carries into other aspects of the motorcyclist’s life, from driving a car or truck, for example, to all other daily affairs. This is the quality that separates riders from—well, excuse the expression—civilians.
A friend of mine, a skilled rider from an early age, recalls that when he took his automobile driving license examination for the first time, the tester said to him, “I see that you ride a motorcycle.” “How did you know?” My friend asked, dumbfounded. “Because you are alert,” the tester responded. “I always know when I test a motorcyclist because they see the whole picture in front of them.”
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Originally Posted by bugjuice
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