Weaving Is Fine–On A Loom

Weaving in and out won’t do you any good when there’s no chance you’ll ever get ahead of the guy in front–somewhere way up there.

Judy and I have a really nice shawl that was given to us as a wedding present by one of her nieces. Kate wove it herself. Thank you Kate.

Yeah, weaving on a loom is a great thing. On the road, in and out of traffic, not so much. This is one of the things people in cars hate about motorcyclists, the way some people blast along in and out, in and out.

When I first got my first bike I was pretty much a novice. My friend John was much more experienced. John had one particularly good piece of advice for me. He told me the more you change lanes the greater your risk of bad results. Just pick a lane and stay there, he told me. That way the guy in front of you becomes aware there is a motorcycle behind him and the guy behind you becomes aware there is a motorcycle in front of him. Your chances of something bad happening diminish substantially.

The other thing is that all that weaving and trying to get some advantage usually amounts to little or nothing at all. I’m not an aggressive driver so I have watched other people over the years and I see one thing again and again. Some guy blasts past me–car or bike–weaving in and out and then when we come to the next red light there he is right next to or immediately in front of me. You accomplished nothing, dude.

I saw this sort of thing in action just recently, on this latest RMMRC ride. After lunch at Rosie’s in Monument, Tom and I headed east to catch CO 83 back into town. As traffic got heavier closer to town it became pointless to try to stay together, especially since we were headed home and Tom and I do not live together.

But then Tom started doing some weaving, racing ahead, trying to get some advantage over the rest of the traffic. I was unconcerned and just said to myself, “See you later Tom.” And then there we were at Parker Road and Orchard and I rolled right up behind Tom. Just as if we had never gotten separated.

How utterly pointless. The way I see it, the only thing these folks gain is more time to sit idling at a red light. No thanks, I’ll just take it easy and I’ll bet I’ll get there just as quickly as you do.

Biker Quote for Today

Motorcycling is like sex. When it’s great it’s great. When it’s bad it’s still great.

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