I first rode my 2 wheeler bmx without training wheels when i was about 2 or 3 from memory. My cousin, who is 6 days older than myself, and I basically grew up together. By the ripe old age of about 4 we were alreaedy making little jumps to go over on our little bmx's...two wheeled action was in our blood. We could kill whole days pedalling around our yards pretending we were on motorbikes.
Hit the teenage years, well into freestyle BMX, hanging out for that magical year when you can be allowed to start captaining cars around on the road legally, of course being the naughty little buggers we were, we had both learnt to drive before we were 12, but this was different. This was freedom. Neither of our parents would let us ride motorbikes yet. There was the old attempt at even getting scooters and go-peds, however each time to no avail. They were just a total no no.
Then came the first full time jobs and decent money. Suddenly i was a youngish adult(19) and I could really do what I wanted. I first helped my cousin find a bike, he had more money than I did you see since he had been working as an apprentice sparkie since he was 15, but i stayed in school the whole way and thus he had a bit more time to get the funds up.
We found him a cosmetically worn but mechanically mint little CBR250rr, and i took it out for the odd ride. Thus the biking bug was bitten.
It was about this time I joined KB. I did not have a bike, and from memory one of my first posts was asking which bike i should get. I also started meeting some really brilliant people including a few who had transitioned over from the car scene just like i had.
Within about a month, i had bought my own ZXR250c, and bought all the basic safety gear. Thus began a long and very awarding new experience.
It started off with rides out to maraetai/clevedon etc. at what can only be described as learner speeds, since , well i was! I will never forget the feeling of the zxr when i first got it. I came from driving pretty decent cages, however this little thing sorta made my mind go back from the acceleration(them were the days).
Many rides later going down the coast, up north, to kaiaua and many other routes and i was well on the way to knwing this bike inside and out.
The first little crash came one sunday night when i was coming back thorugh twilght road racing, it the dark on a damp road with a tinted visor. I just didnt see the corner, and by the time i was in it, the bike just couldn't hold the lean i was trying to put it through. I was lucky, wearing just jeans i only got a sore hip, and the bike only suffered fairing road rash. This was the first major lesson in self preservation, and saw a bit of an end to being quite so cocky and bullet proof.
The send crash was pretty pathetic, I was riding at 20kph looking behind me for N4CR and R6 Kid when i rode into a ditch...no bike damage, but i looked pretty stupid when the boysall came riding around the corner. Some of you will remember that ride.
By this point I had learnt the bike really well, could shred the sides of the tyres and was comfortable chaisng some of the quicker boys ont heir 600's and thou's, was happy getting wheelies on to balance point (not too frequently, mostly they went up for 10m and slowly dropped back down!) and good old rolling stoppies. It had got to the point where i could make the bike do what i wanted to, but the power was lacking and my 93kg on it really was a limit in the handling department.
It was at this time I saw the gsxr 600, and decided it would be a worthy upgrade and would hopefully be a loyal and worthy steed. I didn't yet have my full, but was close enough that it could sit in the garage, and I could wait in eager anticipation.
Two weeks of defensive driving classes (where i just happened to be booked in with Tristan aka N4CR, and between us we had quite a laugh) and one riding test and I was legal on the gixxer.
That brings me to this last weekend. I was pretty keen on doing the coro loop ride, however like an idiot had thought it was sunday, and thus missed it. It was that afternoon that I heard about Bruce and Darryl via the grapevine. That put a real dampener on the day, as does the serious injury or death of any KB'r, SB'r or riding buddy.
Nonetheless, i headed out on the 250 learner ride organised by Maverick, and had a bit of fun with Gremlin heading out to Kaiua. It was not a fast pased ride at all, just a chance to feel the new bike out and play with the suspension a bit. Got through the ride and came home and started to read the forums and threads about the recent crashes and injuries. Thus started a new line of thinking.
I love my riding, i love my bikes. I love the company and the people. I do not think i have ever met a crowd of blokes and girls that are more generous, friendly and good fun than since i started riding. KB'r and SB'r has been bloody good. However I now find myself asking myself whether this is worth the risk.
Dont get me wrong, i am not saying i want to throw in the rag and stop riding, however i have reached a point where i am doing some real soul searching. I am 22, have finally got a bloody well paying job, have a beautiful wife and my whole life ahead of me.
I am a person who, once i get into something, dive in head first. Such is biking. Many people on here are the same. How many of you have reached the point where you really truthfully ask yourself whether the riding is worth the risk, and what did you decide and why?
I starte from the beginning, because it shows that bikes are just something that i am insanely passionate about, and shows that this is really something running through my mind a lot.
At the end of the day, like Motobob, Inline4, UncleB, Loosebruce and Darryl as well as all the others who were just hurt or killed too early in life.. THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD GO I.
Let the thoughts flow.
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Popping wheelies on sj50's since 2003 
), I was a late starter - didn't start riding motorbikes until I was about 22, started racing about 3 years later and I'm still at it another 8 years later.
Originally Posted by vamr
The best way to forget all your troubles is to wear tight underpants.
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