Brake test: I pass!
Yesterday, while going home with The Wife, we were following a Qualis (actually I was lining him up for an overtake and was accelerating towards him from about ten or twelve bike lengths behind). But I was closing at fairly elevated speed knowing the slight curve ahead always created space and there weren't any peds in that area. Except that his brakes lit up and he began to slow. I realised that I wouldn't have the time to swerve around him, besides, I couldn't see why he was braking so hard. So I had no choice but to brake to a stop myself. I was most impressed at how controlled and how hard I made the stop. I think The Wife reacted splendidly, squeezing her knees together to stop sliding forward. She and I both lifted a couple of inches of our seats right at the end before our CBZ X-Treme came to a complete, no-squealing, no-squirrelling, picture perfect stop. I'm amazed. I'm also thrilled to note that while it was close (I think there was about an inch or two to spare once we and the Qualis stopped), I wasn't for a moment tense, panic-ed or any such. Cool like the Iceman, I was.
Then I spotted the two effing idiots who were merrily crossing the road hand in hand. Even as the Qualis and I stopped in a hurry to avoid running them over, they were completely oblivious. The Grim Reaper was hurtling towards them, blood-dripping scythe windmilling at the prospect of a fresh kill, and extra points for a two-for-one shot too... and these two were probably still discussing Kareena's hairdo, or whatever it is you discuss to deeply that it makes you forget the Reaper's claw perched on your shoulder...
|
Me,
Riding Skills
5 comments:
Big Deal :p!! What else do we except from a person who irrespective of any bike wears his lid, riding jacket, riding pants, titanium toe slider riding boots, and in every ride from office to back tries braking hard for the educational sake of it more than once? You are one of those people who understands why you push your handlebar at the left end when you intend to swerve left. You are one of those people who realizes that braking a disc is done in four stages ( ah i'm sure you can name them...didn't i learn all this from your blog!). You are one of those people who rides with his pilot lamps on even during day inspite of getting 'boobed' by passerbys. You are one of those people who thinks it worthy to analyze your reactions in a panic situation, evaluate yourself, give yourself a pass/fail result and comes home and write on the wall about it. A wall which a minute ago i was staring at. rearset rocks!
PS: Mrs.rearset obviously wears a lid, but does she wear riding gear too? If i had a girl i'm not sure i could convince her to wear any gear beyond the helmet!
good to hear you passed the braking tests. i feel this test is more important than the acceleration test (unless u are being chased by the 'bad guys')
am curious, did u appear for the boxing test as well. from the way u described it, the two idiots were the other participants for that one :-p
@theslayer
That was the sort of backhanded compliment I can truly be proud of. 8-D you make me sound great and ridiculous at the same time. Which is probably closer to the truth than I realise, I guess.
Mrs Rearset wears her own lid, her own jacket and the persuasion to wear gloves also is under way... she's claustrophobic, so wearing this much is already a big deal.
If you had a girl, she would listen. I'm sure of it...
@nyctophobia
Considered the boxing test... but passed it on. They'll get what's coming to them soon enough.
Who says God is not doing anything about increasing population? He is making people like those two.
Just to protect the nice guys he made sure the car and bike guys stop in time but I'm sure there will be one of those truck guys who don't care whom they just went over, waiting for such people round the corner.
God is great !!!
Post a Comment