So the winter edition of the AA mag arrived with a story on born again bikers. 'Stayin' Alive being the headline. I must say for a pleasant change this was an unbiased story. I first thought it would be the usual rhetoric about stupid old folks that should know better, but it nicely described the freedom and pleasure these oldies get from riding.
Then it does deservedly dwell into their lack of skill and the dangers they face. But again it's balanced especially the closing paragraph;
It's a recurring theme among older riders -a desire to capture and hold on to the energy of life, to feel the surge of excitement which asserts, 'yes I am still very much alive'
Tempered, of course, with a healthy awareness of the risks involved
Not bad.
Shame it did mention idiots like the woman who's first bike at 63 y.o. was a 1700cc Hog. Really! How dumb the woman and the person who sold her the bike and her friends for not intervening. I would ridicule a teenager or a 20 something who was stupid enough to think they can start riding on such a massive heavy and way over powered machine for their skill and experience level.
The other bit of silliness is the uniform these pensioners insist on wearing over their incontinence pads. Pretend tough boy black, always black, yawn, leather riding gear with tassels galore. Honestly, they look like refugees from a 1976 Village people video shoot. One pictured had enough tassels on his jacket and handlebars to string together and circle the globe. What's Ulysses motto, Grow old disgracefully. Ha, more like growing old embarrassingly.
Again for balance it did show a pic of a middle aged rider enjoying exploring real roads on a practical XT250. Well done that man. As opposed to pretend riders doing the Parnell Cafe to K Rd Cafe route.
Rare for the AA to even acknowledge that motorcycles exist.
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