Philosophy and Motorcycles

Philosophy and motorcycles are two of my favorite things in life. This blog will be bits of wisdom gleaned from a misspent youth and an adventurous dotage. People who like/love wisdom or motorcycles, classic or modern versions of either, are welcome to visit and comment.

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Location: Wisconsin, United States

I have been married to the same lovely woman for decades. We have one son, two cats, and live in rural Wisconsin, USA. I ride and rebuild motorcycles, and I am semi-retired. Favorite bikes are Yamaha XS650, FJ1200 and Ducati 900SS. My wife is a home care nurse. I am a Myers-Briggs INTP. She is ESFJ. Our son works at the Apple store in downtown SF and is teaching English as a second language in San Francisco, no grandchildren.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Road Rage

The weather being great for November I even went for a short motorcycle trip today. I needed a head light bulb for my Ducati so I drove to the nearest shop that has any cycle parts, a Yamaha dealership. Luckily the bulb is one of the few parts the Ducati shares with more plebeian vehicles. I returned home and found that the plug to the bulb is also bad and had been replaced once. Hmmmmm. . .
Gremlins? Italian humor? This seems a rare failure to happen twice on one machine.

I had a bit more time and was not quite exhausted although I tire easily since my illness. I decided to take my Yamaha FJ1200 out and warm it up prior to an oil change. When I got about 200 yards from my drive a large rather rustic looking fellow was standing in the road. As he was staring directly at me I stopped to see if he wanted to talk. He did. He went off on a minor tirade about this being a 45 mile per hour zone. "You better slow down or I'll slow you down." was his final comment.

I have been known to celebrate the freedom of the road with a certain elan. Webster's describes elan as a vigorous spirit of enthusiasm. While I possess that vigorous spirit I am also aware that I live in a small community and I have no urge to unduly annoy my neighbors. I suspect that being the man in this area with motorcycles I get the heat for every speeding bike. I didn't ask the man what his plans might be to slow me down but this being rural Wisconsin I don't want to know.