I am on the road to getting my motorcycle license and am steering through the the obstacle course of theMinnesota Motorcycle/ Motoized Bicycle Manual. *ba-dum-bump-chhh* Anyway, most of it common sense and I am pleased to find that I have already made habits of much of the advice, but there are a few pieces of info that I wouldn’t have guessed had I taken the knowledge test before perusing the manual. For example, my instincts tell me that when I am braking a two wheel vehicle I should always choose the rear brake over the front-wheel brake(this from my experience flipping over the handlebars of non-motorized bicycles), but the manual points out that it is okay rely on the front brake alone (it provides 70% of the stopping power), but riders should get into the habit of using both brakes together in the case of an emergency stop, such as if I were cruising down the road and missed the “Wildabeast Crossing” sign and a herd of wildabeasts suddenly stampede across the road; I may need to stop quickly using both brakes.

I also found that the law gives motorcylist “affirmative defense” against laws car drivers must obey. This “affirmative defense” means that if some jerk is tailgating the motoryclist may carry a baseball bat and smash the tailgater’s headlights (the catch is that the driver must always have both hands on the handlebars, so this is only applicable if carrying a passenger; In which case the “affirmative defense” rights transfer to the passenger). Just kidding. Actually it means that if a traffic sensor doesn’t detect the motorcyle at a controlled intersection the cyclist may legally make a left turn on a red light.

I found it ammusing when the manual told me that “a larger person may not accumulate as high a concentration of alchohol for each drink consumed” because “they have more blood and bodily fluids.” Mmmm, juicy giants.

I am excited to get my license especially since my dad has an older, classic- looking Honda that he is fixing up and giving to me. I can’t wait to pack my bike up “evenly” and “with the weight low and in front of the rear axle” for weekend roadtrips.

You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you’re always in a compartment, and because you’re used to it you don’t realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You’re a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.

On a cycle the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on, it’s right there, so blurred you can’t focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness.
Robert Persig from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I’ve just finished with a two week break and am glad to get back to a solid schedule. Even though I hate having to leave my warm tent of an electric blanket I am better for it. When I am on break and have not really premeditated a schedule and list of things to accomplish I seem to spend my time idle, twiddling my spiritual thumbs. I get kinda depressed and lose inertia. My prayer life slows and I take infrequent dips into scripture. Sometimes in the past I have made a list of short term goals/projects that I could attack, but I failed to prepare one this break and I ended up watching way too many movies. I didn’t exercise and I feel the worse for it. Don’t get me wrong, I did many meaningful things over break, not the least being visititations with much beloved friends and family. It was the space in between that I spent unwisely. Breaks likes these leave me reeling in a bipolar funk that takes at least a week for me to get my head above it. Funk! I really start annoying the crap out of myself. Times such as these the West, with all its illusions of escape, pulls on my muscles as if I were at the ledge of a bungee jump.

The queer thing is is that time still moves quickly and I find myself rushing to get the few things I had planned to accomplish done. Echk! God free my soul of pointless distraction!