The Zen of motorcycling

Here is my understanding of the essence of riding, for whatever it's worth.

The main thing to understand about riding is that it is not simply a more dangerous variation of driving. Driving gets you from point "A" to point "B", but riding brings you into an altered state of consciousness which yields pleasures and sensations unknown to most of the world.

Having said that, riding is less forgiving because any loss of traction or control usually results in an "accident" (ie a get off). It also raises the stakes dramatically for any type of mishap because you are so vulnerable. Having the right gear helps but it is designed mostly to protect against impact with the road/ground. Against stationary objects, not so much.

So if you ride, accept the possibility that you're going to go down at some point. Don't obsess about it, but be realistic. If you're not willing to accept that possibility, don't ride. If you do accept that, the risk becomes part of the appeal and managing it becomes your central challenge. 99% of the risk in motorcycling can be controlled at some level.

The challenge enters in because the risk management is so open ended - there is always something more to learn but you know that whatever you do you can never completely nail that last 1%. There's always the proverbial golden B.B. out there which can bypass your defenses, no matter how advanced they are. But even that golden B.B. could be avoided if you only knew how.

But the essential ingredient is focus, because once you get to the stage of technical competence, riding safety becomes mostly a mind game.

So dress for the occasion, and always be focused.

Don't ride if you're not focused.