Been Riding my Guzzi and Thinking...

[Brian in FL]

Long time member here, however, looks like I was scrubbed during some purging because I haven't posted in quite some time. 

Anyhoo...wishing y'all stay safe in wherever you are in this crazy world during these crazy times....I know a lot of you are some old geese, so take care and maintain a low profile.

Hope to see some of y'all up on the Blue Ridge again or maybe for some prime rib at Martin's in Flaggler Beach once the craziness subsides.

[Bill]

Best wishes to all Florida riders.  However, just posting this so I don't get scrubbed. Haven't posted in a long time but check in every day. 
Bill

[centauro]

Long time member here, however, looks like I was scrubbed during some purging because I haven't posted in quite some time. 

Anyhoo...wishing y'all stay safe in wherever you are in this crazy world during these crazy times....I know a lot of you are some old geese, so take care and maintain a low profile.

Hope to see some of y'all up on the Blue Ridge again or maybe for some prime rib at Martin's in Flaggler Beach once the craziness subsides.

Nice to hear from you again. I live at the opposite end on North Florida, on the Panhandle; I have always been more of a lurker than a poster, except when it comes to maintenance issues, when I am happy to share my experience.
Hopefully, this big virus scare ends sometime this summer, and life can get normal again.

[Tim Henry]

I stay in contact with as many local guzzi riders in NE FL some who've been on the forum some who've not . The stay at home order here I believe will shorten c19 but riding the griso to find tp and hand sanitizer certainly helps.

[Lannis]

I find that I don't do a lot of thinking when I ride my Guzzi, strange as that may sound.

I think a lot in the shower, or while reading (books or online), or while cutting grass or bush-hogging a big field.

But on the bike, 50 (???OMG???hasitbeenthatlong?) years of safe riding has taught me that if I'm going to think about anything, it had better be about where the next intersection is, or whether that car coming toward me on the two lane might have a text-drunk driver in it, or whether a deer might jump off that bank, or whether that "twitch" I just felt might be a tire going low or was a patch of pea gravel.

I do enjoy myself on the bike; I love the sensations of sound and smell and the scenery and sense of movement, and accomplishing a long trip, or Fay behind me, the feel of the road, but those are "feelings", not things that will tend to make me go off into a reverie thinking about what might happen next year, or how to fix up the old stone house next to mine, and make me lose focus.

I do notice that the closest I have come in recent years to an "unforced error" that would put me into the ditch or guardrail are times when I spend a second or fraction of a second too long in looking at something off to the side with my eyes off the road.    The bike will "follow your eyes" no matter what you do (trail riders know that; if you Look At that rock or stump, you will Hit that rock or stump), and I've found myself dangerously close to the edge of the pavement more than once behind that.

But about life in general?   I got lots of time to think about that OFF the bike!

Lannis

[drdwb]

When ridding I have a tendency over the last several years of chanting a mantra I learned a long time ago. I started this after a deer came out of no where and I need to calm myself down until I could find a place to calm myself down. After doing it for awhile I noticed when I did  I had fewer stops for red lights when I had to go thru a town, less stops for trains and I felt better. When I don’t do it I start thinking about everything and things feel more tense and I’m not as relaxed. Sounds weird but when I get tired of chanting I start singing I don’t want a pickle, after a few choruses my singing is so bad I start chanting again. Works for me.

[Testarossa]

This is why motorcycling, skiing and flying are so therapeutic. They demand full attention to here-and-now, or at least here-and-the immediate future. No daydreaming or anxiety allowed -- only calm contemplation of necessary action.