Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Vignettes from my life as a motorcyclist
WTF, Bro?
August 7, 2026
We frequent the Maverik fuel station in Lordsburg, NM as part of our maintenance rides and this is our usual parking spot. There’s rarely anyone parked in this strip of spots on the side of the building so we roll in through them a swing around pointed out for an easy exit.
Until this guy showed up today. In the fucking enormous sea of concrete—complete with areas for big rigs to park or pause—this knob decides to block the space we’re parked in. The one spot that had vehicles in it.
When we came out of the store after securing our snacks and to this little scene we were annoyed but it didn’t require immediate attention. We figured he’d be gone in a few minutes given that he parked like a complete asswipe. We still needed to take our snack break which we figured would be plenty of time for him to vacate.
He did not leave within a few minutes. He proceeded to eat his lunch from the confines of the truck cab. By the time we had our snacks and were quite done with hanging out in the sun and heat, we began gearing back up. Dude still wasn’t going anywhere.
Just fuck. We were hot, tired, and simply didn’t have the bandwidth to talk with this guy. Fortunately no one pulled into the spot next to us so we pushed the bikes around to set up for a smooth exit behind the truck.
So no, we weren’t completely blocked in. But we shouldn’t have had to work around this guy. Or have to gauge whether a conversation about the situation would be cordial or adversarial if we approached him about it.
Fancy gear
July 14, 2026
J. and I talked with a fellow local rider at one of our favorite lunch stops yesterday. The discussion turned to managing monsoon weather while riding.
He was wearing regular jeans and a t-shirt. He mentioned he didn’t have “fancy gear” like us to stay dry. I tried to hide my cringe. I’m not sure if I was successful.
What’s my takeaway from the conversation?
Can we dispense with the notion that proper motorcycling gear is “fancy” or performative, please? I can not fucking believe that this still has to be explained.
Weather protection is just the start. Gear also provides protection from minor road debris and insects that become very unpleasant projectiles at speed. And crucial protection at the other end of hazard spectrum in crashes.
It’s basic safety gear. It is not a luxury. It is not “fancy”.
Because you know what else very fucking not fancy? Road rash.
Tiny missile
July 5, 2026
There are times when the insects I encounter while in the saddle sound and feel like rocks as we collide. And the bug I took to the face shield today was a doozie.
Today this one came directly over my windscreen, then dipped down a few inches in the wake before the air flow grabbed it again and jetted it back up into my face like a missile.
Sans helmet, it would have probably gone directly up my nose. That would have been some bad shit while piloting a bike at 65 mph.
I seriously don’t know how riders get by without helmets, obvious crash protection aside. Just the bugs and other debris are bad enough.
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