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CVO Social => Other Topics => Topic started by: Keats on September 15, 2010, 10:34:45 PM
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I thought I would start a discussion on a subject that most of us have not spent much time thinking about.
How do we know when the time comes when we should stop riding?
I have not come to any conclusion on this myself, but feel that the time will come.
Eyesight, balance, hearing and reflexes are not getting better and I really enjoy riding enough that I cannot see stopping.
Most of us are probably are 40 -65 and getting older everyday, but a recent incident involving a local
Police Chief that was killed when he ran into the back of a vehicle got me thinking.
I am guessing that his reflexes and reaction time influenced this accident.
I am more than a casual fair weather rider and I need some criteria that would help me identify "signs" that should end my career of riding.
1 accident, 2 accidents, big small? stupid drops? forget my name?
let me hear what you think......
By the way I am not experiencing any signs that would make me stop in the foreseeable future.
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I have been forgetting my name for 20 years hope that is not "THE SIGN". Rode with a man part way to Sturgis he had ridden from Florida caught him somewhere in Nebraska and made a few miles with him he was 78. In my opinion which is only worth what it is costing you is as long as you recognize and ride within your limits When you reach the end of your 2 wheel comfort then trike it out all will be good and you will know when the time to stop is right.
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I agree with what cobb has said, I would add that the decision on your true skill levels should be from another person especially if your ego is inflating your evaluation of yourself. What I mean is, every couple of years take a rider course and see how well (or poorly) you handle the parking lot drills. It is better to fail at low speed in a parking lot then on the road.
The idea of counting accidents as they add up is really gambling with not only your life but those of your passenger and maybe even other bikers around you. In a car you may have little fender benders but on a bike it can be deadly. Older riders break things easier,take longer to heal and something relatively small in a young person like a broken leg can make an older person have a blood clot and lead to a heart attack or stroke.
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I have thought about this several times when I've almost dropped my bike at an intersection. I think that when I have trouble holding up the FLTRSE3 then I'll either have to put a trike kit on it or trade for a Softail.
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I hope is does not come very soon to me. At 56 I JUST started riding!
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Tough question, very similar to the one about when you should hang up the car keys. If you leave that decision to the individual involved, like we do with automobiles, I'll expect to see a lot of 80 or 90 somethings weaving along the highway on their Harley's at 20 mph. It is just human nature to see your own capabilities through rose colored glasses, even as you sit in traffic bitching about the other old geezer holding you up. I'm only 60, but even through my rose colored glasses I can tell that my capabilities have been significantly diminished. Eyesight and reaction times seem to go first, and you can compensate for those things by riding more conservatively. Physical strength is another thing that erodes slowly so you don't realize it's happening until you find your leg doesn't support that 900 pound bike at that off camber intersection and you lay it down. A strength training regimen at the local gym can help with that. But eventually, the mind gets a little fuzzy, and then how do you tell yourself to hang it up? In many cases there will need to be outside intervention, be it family members or better yet licensing agencies. I'm a firm proponent of increased testing requirements for elderly drivers, and that should include motorcycle testing for those with motorcycle endorsements.
As for voluntary methods, I like VaEagle's idea of doing the riding course on a regular basis (yearly, every two years, ? ), to get an unbiased opinion of your skills. But that method requires removal of the rose colored glasses, and it still requires you to have the mental ability to make the correct decision when those skills are no longer adequate. So it comes right back around again to outside intervention in many cases. Another slippery slope issue.
Jerry
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I guess when i get to the point i can't drive a 18 wheeler i'll get off of 2 as well.
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its time to quit when the other guys riding look to young to be riding. :2vrolijk_21:
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its time to quit when the other guys riding look to young to be riding. :2vrolijk_21:
Bull, they already look to young, I think I'll ride till I can't tell the difference between the road and the lawn. LOL
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I dread thinking about "that day"....and I've thought about it a lot. I've thought about it so much that I've reduced it down to two simple truths or "end results" if you will. One being I'll never see it....and I'll end up leaving this world doing what I love the most....the other is I WILL see it....and I should only be thankful that none of the countless "near misses" ended it all before I was ready.
Allthough I find solace in that line of thinking...I know that day will be especially hard for me as I don't drive a cage unless I absolutely have to. Riding is pretty much all I know. I've drove a total of maybe a dozen times in the last three years....most of those for my wife and a few times because of ice. I've driven fast cars...and I've driven luxury cars...but anymore I can't stand to be "in" any of them. When it's raining so hard outside that the chickens on the farm are drowning....that guy on the bike you see and think what a fool....well that's me...and I'm on a bike not because I don't own vehicles...I'm on it because it's what I love..../shrug
As far as how I'll know that day has arrived ?...well....if the later is true and I DO see that day come...I think I'll recognize it by the fact that if I'm honest with myself....I no longer feel safe and in control on two wheels....time will tell which way this story ends :2vrolijk_21:
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All good responses. I guess for me it will be when the pain outweighs the pleasure!
BTW at a recent bike night I met a geezer 91 years old. Still riding and just got back from the mountains after a solo trip to New York state.
Also a guy in his late seventies participating on the slow race.
I guess time will tell for each of us.
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I thought that time was approaching quickly when last year while riding, I would get a split second of vertigo and dizzyness. It was like the road was turning upside down. Only a split second and it was gone. Doctor couldn't find anything wrong. Would happen several times on one ride, then not again for a few days. Weird. So I stopped drinking caffeine and it seemed to go away. Haven't been bothered by it in the last two years. But if it would have continued, I would have had to hang it up. Hopefully, I will know when that time comes too.
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we got a friend - and professional colleague - who's 76 now. He sold his FLHRC 2 years ago after he laid it down several times. Rode a Sporty for a year and was really unhappy. So he went on a rider training for one week last autumn and afterwards got himself a new CVO-Streetglide. Perfectly happy again ever since. Took a refreshment training just some days ago on the spanish isles and rides like a pro. Instructors were perfectly happy with him as are both his wife and his doc.
Basicly he learned some new techniques to control his bike, enlarged his situational awareness and learned to just avoid situations like gravel parking lots. He's evidently fit for some more years on his FLHXSE now as he was evidently challenged with his old FLHRC.
So we just may have to adapt a little and voila some more years in the saddle to come ;)
As to physical hazards: 54 % of my colleages do resign of the profesion before the age of 45 for various reasons. From those 46 % "survivors" 85% last over the age of 85. 75 % of them do never retire but die in their offices.
So beware of German lawyers on the open roads of Europe ;D
Besides, I installed back-seat-contol: Madame will tell me when I'm not roadworthy ::)
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I hope I know when!!! I have scared myself several times, but only in very slow turn around situations. My SE and me and wife weigh in a 1350, I blamed it on that.
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I remmber that he was my polcie cheif from East Norriton, I work for the next township over as the police mech. that was a said time around here. I'll hang it up when I can't lift my leg over it. That wil be a said day.
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I remmber that he was my polcie cheif from East Norriton, I work for the next township over as the police mech. that was a said time around here. I'll hang it up when I can't lift my leg over it. That wil be a said day.
John McGowen RIP
I work in Lower Providence