Not really a real life witness but - Monday night episode of Hawaii - 5 - O (yes it’s fantasy) had two of the stars riding ATV along what was obviously a prepared trail through the windward side rain forest. No helmets, no gloves, and NO EYE PROTECTION. Sorry for shouting. Obviously a controlled camera shoot but there are armor-piercing bugs flying about. Not a great safety example. (of course emptying 9mm autos regularly in the shopping district or along the beach is fantasy as well).
Halloween night I saw a motorcycle rider sitting around watching his kids until his battery died, then push start it by scurrying down a flat road and popping the clutch. It lurched forward and the rider was only holding on by one hand, the right one, which made it lurch even more. He was lucky he didn’t wipe out or drive it into a house or something (he did regain control and went about his merry way). Maybe not the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen but it was pretty dumb.
Ok, it was me.
And I don’t think I’ll be doing that again anytime soon.
A brief googling got me the definition of the first, but not what the letters stood for. Couldn’t find the second. Can you tell me what those two acronyms mean? Thanks.
I hate it when motorcyclists ride two side-by-side in the same lane on the freeway.
Sorry Mate, I Didn’t See You. “Mate” is a colloquialism not common to the US, so I think this expression is rarely used here.
The other?
Sorry Mate, I Don’t Give A Fuck.
Way back in the Olden Times (before belt drives and electric starters) I used to push start my Harleys a lot; sometimes to show off. The technique was to give it two or three steps, pop the clutch, jump on sidesaddle and then swing my leg over as I nailed the throttle. One time all went well until that “nail the throttle” part. I was a bit early and fell off the far side of the bike backwards. It did about 50 more yards before falling into a ditch.
Now if you want to be really dumb, hand-start an old Harley by locking your arm on the kick-pedal and putting all your strength and body weight behind it. If you can, forget to retard the spark or choke it. When it backfires on you wait about 35 years and we can compare x-rays. Even healed it looks amazing.
Flip flops.
Flip flops, really.
I see what you did there, but to give a serious answer:
Not an expert, but I would guess their unpredictibility, even in well trained horses. They can spook and start in ways the rider is unprepared for, not to mention stubborn horses that don’t want to be ridden for some reason. Couple that will ill-trained horses, ill-trained riders, and riders treating them like bicycle rather than a thinking, living animal, and likely hood of getting hurt (for rider or horse) can rise pretty high. Even a horse that knows better than to buck and rear might head for a low branch and sweep you off (tricky things) or stop suddenly and lower it’s head and over you go, or puff out it’s chest when you put the saddle on, then when you’re on, it’s girth is suddenly loose and you’re really riding ‘side’ saddle!
Okay, I’m gonna cross-post/double-post, I don’t remember the rules around here for that kind of behavior, but if there’s a penalty then impose it on my sister ‘cause it was really about her. Anyway, this one is relevant to both threads and the quoted submission reminded me of this.
In the mid-70’s my sister and our friends were sitting around chatting about the holidays and something like “Are you gonna get a Christmas tree after next Thursday?” comes up. My sister notes casually that we always put up the same white plastic tree and we’ve never had a real one. Our friends note that the winter pine scent makes the whole season seem that much more special, but we shrug because we never knew any different than we’d seen.
The next Friday – Black Friday/The-day-after-Thanksgiving – there’s noise out in the front yard at 7 in the morning. I was planning to sleep in late, but drag myself out of bed to find Dave and Steve have pulled into the driveway on a mo-ped. It’s a 75cc automatic-shifting glorified bicycle with a long seat made for a driver and passenger. Dave is in front with his right hand on the throttle/brake; Steve is in back with his right arm wrapped around Dave’s waist. Their left arms are clinging to a seven-foot pine tree that they had carried 25 miles (on Surface streets, because Mo-Peds aren’t allowed on freeways) from the cut-your-own Xmas Tree lot down in the valley. They apologized for being late because the lot didn’t open until 6AM.
Mom and I marveled at the bravado and laughed about what they must have looked like zipping up the road with a horizontal pine tree slung on one side; my sister cried over the gesture.
After that, we got real trees every year – for ourselves.
—G!
Well, they call me The Breeze
I keep blowin’ down the road.
. Lynrd Skynrd
. Mr. Breeze
I’m curious to know if you’ve seen same people on funfair rides? Last summer I was touring and happened upon the Vinpearl Resort in Nha Trang. The rides, for me, were extremely lame and I could barely stifle my yawns. The (young) locals were going absolutely crazy for it, seemingly going around and around in circles with a little up and down motion freaks them the hell out, but on their synchronous bike riding across or through junctions I saw barely a raised eyebrow.
In Cambodia the bike riding is actually safer, and cars tend to be very aware of the riders around them and act accordingly. I saw an aftermath of a crash - 4x4 vs bike - and the crowd that had gathered were none too pleased.
Riding around Phnom Penh, for four hours, in a tropical shower and completely lost is not much fun. In my stupidity I thought it’d be as easy as riding around Chiang Mai or Luang Prabang. I even ignored the fact that the locals only knew of one outfit that hired out bikes. Definitely should have taken that as a warning.
You may hate it, but (here at least) it’s perfectly legal.
‘Man’ works too. That’s the way I interpreted it.
Must be our locales, Johnny. I took it as “MoFo.” 
(Or a derivation thereof.)
Reminds me of that episode of “Father Ted” where they have the local fair… oh my god I almost pee every time I watch it.
Me too. Something’s always hanging over the center line when they do this.
There is a group of 3 guys who all ride little crotch rocket type bikes in my neighborhood. At least twice a week I see them drive towards a red light honking their horns and then speed through it like they think they are an ambulance or something, waving at the people who stopped for them despite having a green light. I give them maybe a year before at least one of them is dead because they are too stupid to stop for a red light.
Yesterday I was driving in fairly heavy traffic. I stopped for a red light and a motorcycle came weaving between me and the side of the road (no curb or anything, the pavement just stops and it’s woods after that. It’s sort of a ragged edged road, too), then went around the car ahead of me on the right, then around the car ahead of that car on the left, all the way til he was at the front of the line. That can’t be legal, can it? It looked very dangerous, and it seemed like cheating, to me.
Probably not legal in most US states. California being the exception. Even so, if the person was being exceptionally reckless they could get a ticket. Many places in Europe it is common to see motorcyclists pass to the front of the line at stop lights. While my Midwestern upbringing also makes me feel like it is cheating, after living with it for over a year I realized it has it’s practical side. On narrow European roads it avoids a lot of passing that would otherwise occur once traffic starts moving if the bikes are back in the pack. It also moves the bikes out of the middle of strings of cars. That can be a dangerous place, oncoming traffic can mistake the bike for a gap in traffic. The biker is at greater risk of rear end collision in the middle of the pack than moving away up front, etc.
All that being said, advancing to the front of the line in an unsafe manner or in traffic that is not aware and does not expect the maneuver is dangerous, dumb, and should get a ticket.
I see a lot of ‘kids’ here in San Francisco riding scooters (Vespa’s etc.) with minimal protection - just a helmet (normally open-face). For the rest of their clothing it’s shorts (or skirts), t-shirts, no gloves, sneakers or flip-flops…
Don’t they realize that even at 30mph, all that exposed skin is just gonna come right off if they lay it down (or more likely, get hit by an inattentive driver)?
Me, I’m in helmet, boots, gloves, and leather jacket every time I ride. If I’m going on the freeway, it’s protective overpants, otherwise it’s my kevlar-reinforced jeans…