BE AWARE

it's working. I get to work in the morning with a supersized grin on my cheeky face. Staying alive is fun ;-)

I'm so nervous on the bike, haven't riden in a few months now (since the CB went in) and the Jonway lost it's back wheel. The FZ6 is nce, really nice. But it's bigger, and heavier, and much more than i know how to handle right now.

I guess the only answer is slowly .... but even then it's dangerous ....

I have to add at this point, that the Think Bike campaign is running again. It was started quite a while ago, and then ran out of steam. But some guys grabbed the idea, and have been very busy lately.

Coming from an angle of education, for both bikers and "cagers", informative and friendly, the guys try help each other learn and be better at this riding thing.

I am so happy to be a biker again. I have been learning all sorts, about bikes, bikers, cagers, traffic, and even the perceptions of people, of bikers.
Stopped at a shopping centre the other day, and walking through with my helmet and leathers everyone turned to stare. Guys, gals, kids the lot. Just worth mentioning i guess, although i must add that guys, gals turn their heads for 3 things: HUGE muscles (not me), a baby in your arms (me), or leathers and a helmet (me).

But the more i learn about the road, the more i see that the only factor that matters, is being aware. If you're a nooby (like me) .. be aware of it. If you're driving a car, be aware of what's around you. If you are at least aware, you can react in a manner (any manner for that), but the biggest problem is that people aren't even aware of the fact that they're blissfully braindead.

If you have a near miss on the roads, almost guarenteed the schmuck was on the phone, screaming at kids, doing make-up, talking to passenger, in fact any damn thing except watching the traffic. Come on ... you're driving at an even modest 80km/h, surely the only rational thing to do is make very sure that nothig happens, even at that speed the damage can be phenomenal, the impact velocities are frankly too large to comprehend. Being on a bike puts you in the leading edge, but exactly the same princioples apply to any aspect of the road.

I have discovered that biking is in my blood. My dear grandad rode to work on a scooter over Ou Kaapse Weg daily, i been riding pillion with my old man since i was 3. That was in Cape Town too, known for it's windy and wet conditions. The other regret i have is the years i had no bike. Those years i walked. People still don't believe me sometimes, but when i was 16/17, daddy didn't buy me a bike, or anything. So, i walked. Miles and miles and miles and miles. I guess i was hitch-hiking, but in-between rides i never stood still, there is another turnon ahead, more cars, maybe one of them will stop. Then i got my license, and instead of code 8, needed a code 10, which let me drive a great big bloody blue truck around. The other end of the scale. Big, slow, hardly functional, a deathtrap. Since then a couple of cars, couple of bikes, worked as a delivery boy for years in the car (for charity) in and around jhb, 8-10 hours a day in this blasted traffic. The rules don't change, not even for pedestrians, or trucks, just the perspective of however is behind the wheel.

I think part of the problem is basically human(ness). I am on a bike, i see the world from THIS perspective. Or, i am in a car, i see the world ONLY as car drivers similar to me. Taxi's fall under some other listing. Never driven one, travelled them enough, i actually believe it's safer to be outside the damn things, hard as it may be to consider. They however perceive the world as theirs. Anything else merely does not matter in the slightest, and their contampt for you and i and their passengers is truly frightening.

BE AWARE ... of yourself, your own car, your place in the traffic, your speed, etc.
BE AWARE ... of the people around you, at any point, know which car is where WITHOUT looking first.
BE AWARE ... of the road 100m and more in front of you ... just in case
BE AWARE ... of the road behind you, be it a car or a bike ... there WILL be someone trying to get past you.

And for god's sake ... if you are going to talk on your phone (we ALL do) please understand that it is SECOND to driving. If you drop the phone, it's inconvenient, if you drop your car, it's literally a smash. Keep your focus on the road, if you can't watch the road and talk, either pull over (applying due caution) or call them back. It really is easy.