Self control...

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Mark.
A lot of people are walkin around with T shirts, with the following message!
To be old and wise, first you gotta be young and stupid!
I am just but one of the older members here on KB and I can equate to that message.
I only got to be this age by pure luck.
Can't even count all my friends who didn't make it, on my fingers and toes.
I "still" suffer from the same temptations to do something stupid on my bike, every time I ride it.
You have answered your own question just by asking it, the rest is up to you!
"You" are in control, you and you alone, are accountable for your actions! You know what you have to do!
Good luck, live long, enjoy life, enjoy your bike! Cheers John.

Most of us have been through the ‘young dumb and full of cum stage’... but by asking the question is actually the first step ... recognition

Like OldRider I am regularly tempted to go for it, and most likely do a stupid thing. As I got older I realised I was wasting more time riding really fast and stupidly.

First of all what is the hurry…

• You want to get there first? Why do you get a prize? If you were riding with me you would be broke, I would expect the coffee and snack waiting for me at each stop. Your shout… gives you something to do while waiting for the rest of the group.
• You are late. Leave earlier…
• You like going fast. Go on the track. It’s a good adrenalin rush. (Join a club, both social, skills and track events)
• You don’t like riding in a group… what you don’t have friends or like be socialable. Sometimes if you force your self to ride in a group going at the group pace can slow you down. You also can start to appreciate the country side.

I have never understood the reason to go like a bat out of hell to get there a few minutes quicker with all the risks involved

Do you really have the skills?

• You haven’t have an accident yet… doesn’t mean you wont have one.
• You are not the only person on the road. Do you want to be responsibly for their injuries or worse death as well.
• Do a “Ride Right Course”. I think you will be surprise that you don’t know everything.
• Can you really afford the loss of license, bike or worse use of a hand or leg.

Friends and family

• Do they want to see you splattered over the hood of a BMW… (a porche maybe but not a bmw )
• Or in a wheel chair for the rest of your life… could you handle that.
• Just as a side note. I am not 10 foot tall and bulletproof and I am pretty sure you are not either.

My young nephew when he first got is car license got him self a turbo charged RX7 (was very nice for a cage) He thought he was a go driver to and use to drive it like the young hoons do…

Six weeks later he doesn’t have a turbo charged RX7 any more, because it was wrapped around a lamp post. His friend was in hospital, and he himself with a few minor injuries now wondering what did he do wrong.

Other bikers
Do you really like giving all the others bikers out there a bad name. Cage drivers don’t like us as it is with out you putting fuel on the fire by acting like a idiot on the road. Cage drivers don’t remember or even see the 300 bikes doing the right thing but they do see the one acting like hoon. I tell you this, I sure don't appreicate you giveing me a bad name as a rider...

My biggest tip would be this.... live to ride, stop, think, deep breath, think again, ride to live...

[Colapop]

All this advice will fall on deaf ears as it has done in the past.

[ceebie13]

All this advice will fall on deaf ears as it has done in the past.

Sorry mate, what did you say...didn't quite hear that!

[yungatart]

You just need to grow up or you will never be around to grow old.
Stop thinking you have to "prove" something over and over again.
Learn to like yourself!
Only you can do this for you Mark, ain't our job to do it for you.
Good luck!

[terbang]

30 years ago my best friend asked the same thing, he got lots of advice from others but he was was too skilled for all that. He's been dead 30 years now..! I saw it happen and it wasn't a pretty sight either and did I Learn from it? No because I was also 17, ten feet tall and bullet proof. How did I get to here and he didn't? Luck I guess.

[rideNroot]

I find listening to mp3's helps. Being able to chill out and listen to the music keeps me entertained.
That and having a bike that is barely able to accelerate

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Reading all the other posts its it seems this advise has been given before, and yeah it has online to other riders as well...

Give your self a goal... and that goal is, "proove you want to have self control riding... proove it to us even."

Actions speak louder than words.

[Jimmy B]

This is one of the big tests of the old style road trials. It wasn't always the fastest rider, nor the slowest, that won the event, it was the most disciplined.

To get yourself disciplined on the road, set yourself a target speed to average. .

Absolutely Jantar,

A couple of time I have met up with Blackbird in Kopu for a day ride. He leaves from Tokoroa and I leave from Auckland. BB has more distance to cover and I have to get out of town in rush hour. Both times we have arrived at Kopu within 5 minutes of each other. It is as you describe.

[ipod1098]

go racing bro!!

[sunhuntin]

dumb question i know, but mark, have you ever been taken out by a cager, whether their fault or yours? i have, and so have many others. the main reason seems to impatience on their part. my cager must have got sick of waiting in 3pm traffic and decided to pull out without being able to see clearly in any direction except forwards. she tried to save 5 seconds of time, and ended up wasting several hours due to my being so rude as to be on the patch of road she wanted.

that slowed me up a lot, specially at give ways and other intersections. now, i always wait until the way is fully clear, and i forcefully think "better to be 5 minutes late than to not get there at all." sure, i still have a go at raising the speedo a tad now and then, but only ever on roads that i know are clear [like between palmy and wangas the other night] or that i know like the back of my hand. i certainly dont do it in built up traffic. and overtaking is only done in town where the car in front is doing about 30 or 40k and its dangerous to be pinned between them and a 4wd.

only thing i can really suggest is force to slow you up. when you get the bike back, book it in and get a speed limiter put on. say, 70k. will still allow you on the open road [70k being the learner speed limit] but wont let you get too out of control in built up areas. and in built up areas, really work on keeping it below the 60 mark. feel the speed creeping too high? roll the throttle back and reduce it.

[SimJen]

Easy, either have self control and live.........
Or carry on as you are and let the odds catch up with you.

[Sniper]

Its called self discipline. Learn that and you can control your riding young fella

[Swoop]

Perhaps an Outward Bound course?

Seriously.

[ManDownUnder]

All this advice will fall on deaf ears as it has done in the past.

Possibly, but credit where it's due. Mark has stunned me with some of the advice he's taken on board from time to time...

Perhaps an Outward Bound course?

Seriously.

I'll throw $20 towards it. I think that's a bloody brilliant idea.

[bert_is_evil]

- Print some photo's from ride2die.com and keep them next to your bike
- Don't listen to techno or drum n bass while you're riding
- Imagine a cop with a ticket book just down the street
- Picture yourself with an artificial arm/leg or in a wheelchair
- Don't change out of 1st when riding through the city or you'll exceed the 30kph speed limit (grumble grumble)