Trivia

[Traveler]

There was a complaint a while back that posting on the forum (primarily in the General discussion thread) is dying.  I had what I believe to be a fun idea in posting some worthless trivia – thus this thread.  So here is some trivia about motorcycles.

I have a brother that loves to ride his Harley but recently sold it and does not plan to purchase another – he is done riding.  I asked him why.  The reason for him is that riding requires too much concentration.  For example, driving a car down a road at 60 mph and encountering a tennis shoe is not much more than an annoying thud.  Not really a problem.  On a motorcycle, hitting a tennis shoe can ruin your whole day – especially on a turn.   Riding with a group is kind of a thing but on a two-lane winding country road – trying to get a group of motorcycles past a semi is no longer fun for him.

Because riding a motorcycle requires much more concentration – rides over an hour has become too tiring for my brother, taking the fun out of trips.  This brings me to another trivia point I read a couple of decades ago.  It is that if someone past the age of 60 decides to purchase their first motorcycle to fulfill some dream – they have a 70% chance of dying on that motorcycle.  I have concluded this is part of the concentration thing and that as we get older remaining focused does not work so well.  I guess that if someone does not want to waist away in a hospital bed as an end of life scenario – taking up motorcycling in your retirement, may not be a bad idea.

I learned about the high-rise handlebars – the term for those handlebars are “ape hangers”.   We can speculate how cycle riders came up with that.  In the state of Utah (and several other states) it is illegal to have ape hangers that require one’s hands to be higher than their arm pits.  This is not because someone wants to give certain kinds of riders a bad time.  It is because holding one’s hands (or hand) above their heart for prolonged periods of time will cause their hand to go to sleep.  This little fact of life causes me to wonder why such a law would be required in the first place????  This should be a matter of evolution that would quickly remove certain mentalities from the gene pool.

Anyway – If someone wants to chime in – please do.  If you have any point of trivia to add to this thread – for fun or pet peeve – have at it.  For fun if nothing else.

 

The Traveler

[NeuroTypical]

8 minutes ago, Traveler said:

if someone past the age of 60 decides to purchase their first motorcycle to fulfill some dream – they have a 70% chance of dying on that motorcycle.

I'll always be a fan of Peter Boyles, who was an AM radio talk show host in Denver for a lot of decades.  I started listening the week before 9/11 happened.  He recently retired, but still acts as guest host and does a show on Saturdays.  He's in his '80's now, last I heard he still rides his motorcycle to Sturgis every year.  

Peter was often talking about the professional wrestlers he knew, and how similar the profession was to both circus/carnival performers, and politicians.  There are portions of all 3 professions that require genuine skill and competition, a portion that involves deciding how certain things will go ahead of time, and a portion that is 100% an act for an audience.  They all involve stakeholders that must be kept happy with your performance.  They all involve personalities rising and falling in prominence in a continual churn.  He'd meet with wrestlers before and after their matches, as they'd sit in their dressing rooms and talk politics.  He wasn't the least surprised that Jessie Ventura became the 38th Governor of Minnesota, based on how often Jessie would talk politics after the show. 

 

 

[zil2]

59 minutes ago, Traveler said:

So here is some trivia about motorcycles.

I tried to follow all that, but had a hard time staying focused.

Proper trivium:

1mL of fountain pen ink, in a fountain pen, will write roughly 10 letter/A4 pages, front and back.  ("Roughly" because every paper, pen, ink, and writer combination is unique.)

Edited March 20 by zil2

[mikbone]

2 hours ago, Traveler said:

It is that if someone past the age of 60 decides to purchase their first motorcycle to fulfill some dream – they have a 70% chance of dying on that motorcycle. 

Me and all my colleagues request that this nonsense stop.

Past the age of 60 you are better off taking up this sporty ride.

 

[Traveler]

11 minutes ago, mikbone said:

Me and all my colleagues request that this nonsense stop.

Past the age of 60 you are better off taking up this sporty ride.

 

I believe the point is - if someone is going to take up a potentially dangerous physical activity – they should not wait until their physical capabilities are in serious decline.  I have been involved in human powered cycling and skiing for over 60 years.  I realize that there are some not so rigorous cycling trails as well as blue and green ski trails.  However, if one’s goals involve 2,000 feet climbs cycling and double black diamond runs through the trees as a means to recover from knee and hip replacements – they may think about a second opinion.

On another note – if you are going to ski through trees make sure you are capable of keeping both skis on the same side of all the trees.  Otherwise, you could not just have a bad day for yourself, but you can make it a bummer for everybody that is with you and cares about you.  😬  Just ask Sunny Bono and friends.

 

The Traveler

[LDSGator]

21 minutes ago, Traveler said:

someone is going to take up a potentially dangerous physical activity – they should not wait until their physical capabilities are in serious decline

True, but better late than never. We have a 65 year old woman in our dojang who is a legit black belt in TKD. While it’s true she can’t do all the material, she makes it work with her physical limitations. A lot of it is mental. 

I’ve met people in their 30’s who whine about feeling “old.” I don’t get it. 

Edited March 20 by LDSGator

[Ironhold]

Not many people know this, but prominent voice actor Ken Sansom was a member of the church: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Sansom

[askandanswer]

On 3/21/2024 at 5:12 AM, Traveler said:

On another note – if you are going to ski through trees make sure you are capable of keeping both skis on the same side of all the trees

It would have been very helpful if you had mentioned this earlier! I've been trying to work out what I've been doing wrong. Perhaps I should start trying to go through trees instead of trying to go around them. I'll have to think about that a bit.