CaptCrash

Motorcycles, Life & Bad Dreams by Capt Crash

Here's the deal. I have Night Terrors. It's kind of interesting. Although I should have outgrown them I still occasionally have them. According to our friends at Stanford:

What are the symptoms of Night Terrors?
• A sudden episode of intense terror during sleep
• The episodes usually occur within the first third of the night
• Partial or total amnesia occurs for the events during the episode.
http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/adultterrors.html

Into which my symptoms fit nicely. Ask Mrs. Crash. It was one of those wake up in the morning and say--"Oh, yeah...I do that from time to time" things that newlyweds love. I actually had a full on nightmare the other day and that's what I'm going to spend some time on today.

No, I won't tell you what it was. And yes, the odds of what happened in my nightmare REALLY happening are about...10 million to one. Trust me, it was unpleasant, unsettling but mostly? Unlikely. Which is where I want to go right now. I was listening to the news the other day and an analyst said: "American's like to be frightened of things that won't hurt them." Which makes a lot of sense. We worry about Stranger Abductions, a truly heinous and horrifying thing, something that if it happens is so awful I can't even imagine what it would be like--yet-- In 1999 115 children were taken by strangers or 'slight' acquaintances. (http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/doc..._nonfamily.pdf) The number I've heard tossed around for 2008 is 134 but I don't have a reference other than personal conversations with educators.

Why is this important. Because as a society we truly, deeply and profoundly worry about someone taking our children. But we don't get real excited about Childhood Obesity. Here's the shocker:

"Results from the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), using measured heights and weights, indicate that an estimated 17 percent of children and adolescents ages 2-19 years are overweight." (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/...t_child_03.htm)

That number represents a 400% increase since 1963. Woof. Imagine what would happen if we reported and worried about Childhood Obesity the same way we do Stranger Abductions. Think about it, a somber and concerned female anchor looking directly into the lens and telling you: "Today at a local high school a student had 1 liter of full sugar pop, 4 pop tarts, and a bag of nacho doritos for lunch. When asked about this nutritional train wreck the teen said 'I had 3 of the four food groups covered; if I have a candy bar for dessert it'll be 4 for 4'. Police have been dispatched to the child's home to further investigate".

Routinely we get local news reports, often as the LEAD STORY, that a Stranger had spoken to a child on the way to school. Unless you're feeding your child Drain-o, as a society we pretty much don't care. We're not worried about heart disease, the physical and fiscal costs of diabetes and other chronic diseases...we don't care if our kids grow up to be fat, soft and stupid. We don't care if they have heart disease and die at 45 choking on a ham sandwich and cholesterol...JUST AS LONG AS STRANGERS DON'T TALK TO THEM.

You're asking: so what? What in the name of all that's holy does this have to do with motorcycles?

Here's what:
On my bike I'm deathly worried that a vehicle coming the other way (a truck, or some piece of heavy equipment) will have a loose piece of equipment that will swing out and cream me. Real riding nightmare? Those big farm sprayers with the derricks that fold out like wings? I'm just sure one's going to come loose, swing into my lane and BOOM out got the lights. Forever. It's horror movie kind of thing; my body and the bike keep going, and...well you get the idea; the boom has razor blades mounted to it so it's a clean cut...yuck.

I didn't say it was rational! It's a fear. It's a worry. It's a thing I should be cautious of but somehow it can consume me in the early spring when I ride. I'm looking for boom trucks that will decapitate me. Am I looking for sand and grit...yeah, but they're not looking to give me the Marie Antoinette treatment. Am I flashing my brake light at intersections to warn the guy behind me that "Hey, I'm here, don't park on me!" YES; unless one of those tricycle behemoths with the monster truck wheels and 30 feet of folded samurai fertilizer boom is coming the other way looking to do the Freddie Kruger to me. Honestly? Sometimes I duck just before they get to me. Why? Because I have an unreasonable/reasonable fear that somehow takes over my brain.

Should I worry about oncoming traffic? Abso-freaking-lutely. Should I worry about being decapitated by boom trucks? Not so much. BUT things do fall of rigs occasionally, you say. Yes, but focusing all my limited attention on one possibility, allowing it to consume all my brain's processing power; that's just silly; human, but silly. Riders often worry about being rear ended yet in only 5% of accidents are riders hit from behind. (http://www.examiner.com/x-7060-Insur...ent-statistics) Should you get worried about getting smacked in the back? Oh yeah, but most accidents are coming at you from the 10 to 2 o'clock position so a little attention up front might be wise. If you're entering an intersection worried about getting plowed from the back--you might get it in the teeth because the danger is in front and to the sides of you.

Should you worry about your child's safety? Definitely. Should you worry that the guy at the park sitting next to his bike over there eating lunch might be a pedophile using his bike as bait to snatch your child? Maybe. Odds are he isn't. It's more likely that a daily menu of deep-fried twinkie with oreo sprinkles is going to hurt him more in the long run. OH CRAP! I just realized! My kids didn't have a celery tofu no mayo tuna roll on whole grain free range wheat for lunch! No biggie. They eat good meals. They had barbecued beef sandwiches. (Used some Gates sweet and mild). They also had oranges. And milk. The point is: know what to be afraid of. Pick your battles. Don't obsess. Don't let one nightmare take you off your game.

One of the blessings of Night Terrors is that you don't remember them. They flee at the end of the night, evaporating like spilled Koolaid on asphalt at the 4th of July picnic. Nightmares stay with you; you relive them and ponder on them and worry about them and let them take you away from the things you really should be worried about.

Next time you ride and start to think about your riding nightmares, the things that obsess you and make you focus on them to exclusion of all others, relax and let them go. Get some control. Focus on the real deal, the big picture and don't give up your safety for useless fear.

Be Safe!

Pimpit

Thanks Crash good read

BLIZANTHIMUM

ok for some reason im not picken up what you're puttin down Capt Crash.
usually there is a clear and precise point to your ramblings but this time i fail to see it.
this intellectual path you are leading us down goes astray with night terrors, night mares, obesity, abduction, chomos, and somewhere in there, there was a reference to motorcycling.

-signed, confused.

Pimpit

I think the point was along the lines of we worry to much about the things that we can't control, or do anything about, while we let things we can do something about go by right in front of us. We need to focus more on what we can see and a little less on the unseen. And the stuff we worry about and have no control over often causes nightmares. Or atleast thats what I got from it. The different references were just examples, which btw were very good, because its true, we do worry about our kids well we ourselves are hurting them

CaptCrash

Sometimes we focus our fears in the wrong places.

Linker33

Sometimes I unnecessarily worry about my spelling/grammar when posting in online forums, thinking that someone might critique it, and form some sort of opinion about my intellectual capacity.


I'm not the grammar police.....


But back to OP, I don't think I worry enough when riding. Really the main fear I think about when riding is sand/debris mid corner, (and I worry about that alot). Everything else is more of a "oh, s***t I almost just died", and then I move on. But after a ride, it unnerves me reflecting on situations sometimes. As long as I can identify the cause of the problem, then it's just "don't do that again", however if I can't figure out what went wrong, then it really bothers me.

Pimpit

Eh, I get lazy when I type sometimes. I know how to use correct grammar and spelling, and I also have programs that check grammar and spelling, but I don't get graded in here nor am I trying to impress anybody with my writing/typing abilaties so eh screw it lol. I don't worry about the little things if they bare no importance

CBRF2Old

Good point Capt (even though you went way out there with your comparisons).
Linker, I think your fear of sand and debris mid corner is rational but may fall into what Capt Crash is talking about also. If you are focused on finding sand, you may not see the truck pulling out...
BTW, guard rails freak me out, but I'm working on that.

CaptCrash

Scenic route but fun!

Proeve

I fear life and white hamsters. May I leave this house once more, it just maybe the death to us all.

oh wow man.


No really, good read CC, it is so true, we worry so much over what we can not control and not on what we can. live life to the fullest, cuss when it is time, it is time and you cant stop it..

scharf2u

I understand Linker's fear of sand. He and I both had a good scare this last summer on some of the new asphalt by Lowman. Me, I fear being next semis on the freeway. Don't want to be squished in their blindspot!