It doesn’t matter what time of the year it is. There’s always someone flying by our house on a motorcycle. That’s because we live right at the base of the mountains, and our road is considered a short cut to two of the curviest mountain roads in South Carolina.

You know I seriously don’t mind seeing bikes coming through here all the time. I like to sit out on my porch swing in the summer watching the various bikes come by, but today just really pissed me off.

I was outside taking the dog out, and I heard 2 bikes coming from a good bit away. I could tell they were flying pretty fast, and as I listened to them approach I moved into the front yard to see them. They came flying through here, neither of them wearing a helmet.

1. If you’re going to ride, especially fast, wear your damn helmet!

2. When riding through a residential community don’t freakin’ fly!

I had just watched a car back out into the road next door, and they barely made it out of the way before the bikes came flying through. Where we live you can’t see very far when you back out, and if those guys had came flying through here any sooner they would have creamed the woman backing out. They wouldn’t have had time to stop, and who would have been the ones getting hurt? The guys without the helmets of course!

Look at it this way. If you’re in a really bad wreck without a helmet you’re going to come out of it 2 ways. Dead, or if you’re lucky enough to make it out alive you’ll probably spend the rest of your life drooling while sitting around in adult pads.

DH got stuck today in something he didn’t want to ride in. He got stuck riding in the rain while out shopping for my Christmas present. (I asked for something like this Seagull lighting for the dining room.)

While riding in the rain may not be that big of a deal it is to hubby. He had a pretty nasty wreck back in August that happened because he got stuck in a downpour on the mountain on a very bad section of road. He ended up with a broken ankle and another foot that was badly beaten. He couldn’t walk without crutches for about 6 weeks.

I felt really bad for him because he basically had a panic attack when he got stuck in the rain today. He was about 45 minutes away from home when it started to sprinkle, so he tried to keep himself calm while he headed home. The closer he got to home the worse the rain was. He finally had to pull over because the rain started coming down so hard he decided it just wasn’t safe for him to ride any farther. It took him almost 2 hours to make the 45 minute trip.

I’m actually very proud of him for pulling over. Old DH would have “played” in the rain. He used to love riding in it, and although he was very conscientious about staying off the wet paint he wouldn’t let rain hold him back. When I would make remarks about going slow and being safe when he got stuck in the rain on the way home from work, he would tell me I was overreacting. It’s nice to see that he’s had a change of heart, and he’s taking his time now to ensure he makes it some safely.

It looks like DH is indeed going to be stuck riding the bike to work for the next month. Thankfully he’ll have a little time off to recover from the cold ride during the holidays, but I found out today that the Blazer won’t even go to the shop for a thorough inspection until January 11. I could get it into another shop 45 minutes away on January 3rd, but I don’t know the shop nor do know what quality of work they do. I’m not sending my truck to a place I don’t know. I’d rather just wait it out.

On that note, DH has decided that with his recent record of wrecks we need to look into getting life insurance. He admits his bike wreck was poor judgment on his part, but the Blazer wreck just couldn’t be avoided. No matter how hard you try to stay safe, you just can’t protect yourself 100% of the time. Now I need to start looking at some life insurance quotes to find something that’s suitable for us but affordable.

How is your motorcycle safety knowledge? Do you think you know all you need to be safe on a motorcycle? Why don’t you find out by taking the Motorcycle Safety Quiz? The quiz was developed by the Naval Safety Center as a way to identify where service members need more training, but it’s also a good way to check yourself. If you miss any of the questions it’s a good idea to do some follow up learning of your own.  The questions pertain to things like crash prevention, crash causes, safety information, and motorcycle operations.