geekpat

i've been riding my motorbike for a little while now (maybe 6 months, or something like that), but it just hit me yesterday (hmmm, maybe a bad choice of wording there) how much i really enjoy it and how handy it is. i had to pick something up at this shop yesterday on the way home from work. so it was 1) peak hour traffic, and 2) the shop i wanted to go to was on one of the busiest streets in sydney. hard enough to deal with anytime in a car, and during peak hour traffic, forget about it. the only way to get there would be by walking or bus.

but on my bike i could cut through all this stood-still traffic, finding gaps where i needed them, dodging the occasional pedestrian darting across the road (people seem to go nuts once they finish work and transform into jerk pedestrians, crossing the road like idiots, taking stupid chances just to get home a few minutes earlier. worse before a long-long-weekend). and then getting to the shop, finding a parking space between a couple of cars right out the front of where i needed to go. clip helmet under seat, buy stuff from shop, put it in backpack, unclip helmet, and i'm ready to go again, the whole thing taking in 5-10mins. i'm home maybe 10-15mins later. i'd have still been sitting in traffic if i was driving.

that's the handy part. the enjoyment part is pretty much the whole time. accelerating quickly, taking a corner just right, finding a nice winding road, thinking about my balance and what i'm doing, watching the scenery go past, opening up my visor to get the breeze in my face (okay, dogs out of car windows figured that one out ages ago).

...hmmm, should go for a ride now.