BEST MONGOOSE BIKE

[BB9550]

....my one and a half hours in idle self-reflection...stuck on Rt30 heading north to Gettysburg for the Yamaha demo after leaving the previous Yamaha demo at Petes' cycles in Baltimore...

a classic case of pushing my luck too far LOL

Of course as I sat there watching the traffic roll by in the rain which had well soaked me, I saw a fat guy with some person of indescriminate gender roll by on a Harley, both wearing raingear. I personally am not that into riding motorcycles that I continue to ride in the rain any more than necessary, once it becomes clear that this is "rain" not just a passing light shower. I don't even like to ride on wet roads, but I will, carefully, because it just takes too long to wait for them to dry out. But "riding along through a a steady rain when there is cover right there just waiting", no, not me. That's one of the great things about riding a bike: you're mostly riding for fun, you can stop. In a car you make plans, you're going to go, rain, sleet or shine. Stopping just adds time to the trip and is usually to be avoided if at all possible. On a bike you stop often, for gas, food, to stretch your legs...to see things. A stop for rain is usually a good thing. Not stopping for rain means that you are way too serious about getting somewhere, in my book, and you really need to get a car.

The problem is that despite all this "philosophy" this is the 2nd time in the past three days that I got wet, really, really wet, and I hate getting really wet, and I was already thinking about getting some sort of rain gear. There isn't always cover to dive under much less time to get to it. It gets very hard to dive under cover when you're out riding on the open road, and you can see the clouds and even the rain falling from them while it's still miles away, and not be able to find a good place to stop before it catches up to you. Or you run into it.

But this damm fool was just riding merrily along like it wasn't even raining. In rush-hour traffic. With two up, on a chopper. On a two-lane road. At 45mph. In a steady, solid rain. Not quite "pouring" like it was when I stopped, but still a good rain. I wouldn't have been riding in it if I didn't have to much less with someone else on the back etc. As I said to someone later that afternoon, "even in the lunacy that is motorcycle-riding there are degrees of lunacy, just as there are degrees of idiocy among automobile-drivers". The people who are reading their SMS and even sending text messages in rush-hour traffic, the people driving along blithely talking on the phone...the people driving after a party or a few beers at a bar after work...the people dealing with their kids...the guys racing through every gap in traffic...the people who tap their brakes at the slightest provocation, or change lanes without looking at the lane they are going into, either through their side window or their rear view mirror, they only see the gap ahead and to the side of them, and half of them really don't give a damm about pulling out into the fast lane at the same speed they are driving in the right-hand lane, all they care about is that they have not hit anyone and they expect everyone to drive at the same speed even though that would say that it makes no sense for them to change into a supposedly-faster lane...no you don't have to ride a bike to be an idiot on the road, and you don't have to either be an idiot to ride a bike or ride a bike like an idiot. And trust me both sides point at the other and say, "you fucking idiot..." just like with bicyclists and cars...all I know is that you rarely if ever see a motorcycle run into a car, and I see cars run into other cars all the time. And they damm-sure run into motorcycles despite the fact that a motorcycle can outmaneuver a car any day of the week.

In the minds of car drivers, that just goes to prove that riding a motorcycle is idiotic. I guess that by that same logic it is idiotic to walk or ride a bike, because they get hit by cars too. So what about driving a car? Don't cars get hit by other cars? Don't cars get hit by trucks, tractor-trailers, even trains? You have to be a special kind of idiot to call other people idiots because of their self-exposure to the threat of people like you. Ah but you say, "once you get behind the wheel of a car, you're the same risk to other drivers that I am". Again that's the idiot in you talking.

See that's the problem: there's no conclusive test for idiocy. They can always say that it was just an accident. Then if you get mad at them, you are the problem. But if they get mad at you it's "completely justified" because of what you've done to anger them. Idiocy and hypocrisy go together like gasoline and dynamite, blowing up everything around them and blaming it all on everyone else but themselves. Yet again, these are the things that become clear to me when dealing with the real worl

Well, since this info is gonna be all about me, I thought I'd take a picture of, um, me. :)

Foods you like, despise, can't eat (allergies, etc.)
Hmmm...It is hard to find something that I won't eat. No allergies or anything like that. I'm making an effort this year to change the way we eat around here. I come from a "1 meat, two veggies and a starch makes a meal" southern family. I'm trying to learn how to not only incorporate veggies, but also to start creating some vegetarian meals. As far as snack food type things go, I love chocolate (anything except dark, not a big fan), chocolate chip cookies, brownies and all manner of salty snacks. My eating out addictions are the cinnamon crunch bagel from Panera and McDonalds fries. I love trying new foods that I haven't had before!

Coffee vs. tea?
Coffee, but really only when it's cool outside. Though, MH got me some rooibos tea and I liked it hot, but I really love it iced.

Where do you live? (I'm thinking climate, big city/small town, etc.)
I live in the 'burbs outside of Houston, it's going to be hot here soon. :)

Favorite yarn(s)?
I love sock yarns of just about any kind, and I've been into making the dangercraft monsters for the kiddo lately, so I'm on the look out for fun colored yarns for that.

Crafty pursuits - knit, crochet, spin, sew, quilt, any of these or others?
All of the above, though I'm better at the knitting than anything else. I started out crocheting but just revisited it this year, and I have been working on improving my sewing and quilting skills. I like embroidery, too, I just don't do it often. I also like finding crafts to do with the kid as he's getting to the age to be able to do cool stuff like that.

Hobbies/pursuits/proclivities/passions (other than the aforementioned crafty ones, obvs)
I took up gardening and canning in the last year, thanks in large part to flickr (it's all your fault). I am getting back to cycling after a hiatus of a few years due to lack of training time since the kid wouldn't ride in the trailer (he will now, so that gets me back on the bike a bit).

What do you do in life? (job, career, school, family, etc.)
Um, I think most people know that I work for Ravelry. :) I just started full time with them in January, and I love working from home. Friends and family wondered if I would get lonely as I'm very much a people person, but I don't, thanks to the interwebs! Before that, I worked in Higher Ed. I have a toddler son, a miniature schnauzer named T-Bone and a husband of 8 years.

Random favorites -- colors, flavors, scents, books, movies, tv, genres, time of day, motifs (bees, squirrels, owls, beavers, mushrooms, bats) etc.
Colors - tealy blues, greens, reds, bright pink
Flavors - I like sour things
Scents - Fresh clean scents like honeysuckle, gardenia, etc. Anything not too overpowering.
Books - Everything I read right now is on the Kindle, which doesn't help you much with good mail, but right now I'm reading the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency and liking it a lot.
Movies/TV - We don't watch many movies, I'm just not very good at sitting still for them and we don't often have a two hour block of time. However, I do have TV shows that I follow. My favorites right now are Greys Anatomy and Project Runway. I'm a sucker for crappy reality shows.
Time of Day - I wouldn't define myself as a morning person, but I'm definitely not a night owl, maybe mid morning? :)
Music - I love music from just about every genre but mostly listen to rock/pop/alternative type stuff. Right now, I'm listening a lot to Ben Folds, Kate Nash and Regina Specktor, but I love discovering new music.

Anything you CAN'T tolerate (b/c of allergies or intense dislikes)?
Um, not really. :) Probably just candles/lotions and things like that that smell too strongly perfume-y and black licorice.

Random note - I have a ton of traveling coming up this summer, mostly for fun stuff, but still a ton of traveling so things to make that better would be good. :)