Distracted Riding

OK, Got the Garmin Zumo GPS as a replacement for the Garmin Montana  GPS mainly because the Zumo can double as a music player and seems a bit better suited for my Street bikes. It doesn’t do tracks like the Montana but I’m not going to go on trails with either the V-Strom or the Goldwing, so Routes based on street navigating worked just fine. 

I spent time and some money to load up hours of my favorite songs and was ready to enjoy the next ride with my tunes. The first ride out after getting the music, I wound up in a ditch.

Huh?  There sat the Goldwing in a 3-foot ditch hooked to a wrecker. No damage but I’m getting worried about how my lack of concentration would let me do something like that…a slow speed oopsie on a narrow lane while I was turning to see if I had zipped up a tank bag.  I’d never done that before.

Then, the next ride, I found myself on the shoulder from another concentration lapse. I rode it out with no issues but discovered that I was uncomfortable on twisties now and having trouble feeling completely in control. I was thinking that maybe it was time to get rid of the bikes before these recent warning signs turn into something that results in my wife getting THAT phone call.

But…maybe it was the music in both ears causing a distraction. So I turned it off. Voila!  Crystal clarity again and totally comfortable again on the twisting roads we like to ride on.

Everybody is wired a bit differently and apparently the part of my brain (I’m an amateur musician) that processes music is the same part that processes riding input. Probably something to do with how much I enjoy both activities. Anyhow, the two activities conflict with each other. It can’t be just that I’m getting more geezer-like, could it?  No way??

Oddly, no such problems when driving the car. Probably because that doesn’t stimulate the same pleasure senses in the old noggin that riding does.

Whatever the cause, now I’m happy to just enjoy the ride, the scenery, the camaraderie of my friends and everything else that goes with this gift I keep giving myself. Motorcycle riding