Motorcycle

Guns and fear

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

This morning while doing my rounds to the blogs I read, I was struck by two stories and posted about them here and here. While reading Midnight Rider’s recounting of his story, this part struck me:

Be prepared to pull that trigger. Strangely I felt no fear during the incident and knew I was ready, had I seen someone within my home, to counter that threat.

It’s then interesting that yet another blog posting from Rebecca also made this morning was also dwelling on fear. Her fear was different:

To keep a handgun in one’s house insinuates, in my opinion, a certain amount of fear, which is why guns are so scary.

A few hours after reading her article it was still rolling around in my head and it hit me. She’s afraid of guns. She’s afraid of bad people and that they use guns to obtain power and control over her and her family. She’s afraid of her child becoming a bad person. She’s afraid of her child being hurt or killed, due to guns. She’s afraid that mere presense of a gun in a household means death for her child. She implies that those who own guns are afraid — and likely some are — but maybe here we’ve got the old “spec in their eye, log in your own” situation.

If someone does own a gun out of fear? Is that bad? A woman that’s been raped and fears repercussions or another attack because the rapist got away. Is her fear an unjustified reason for owning a gun? The woman with the abusive husband or boyfriend, has the restraining order but pieces of paper only do so much good, and fears for the lives of herself and her children. Is her fear an unjustified reason for owning a gun? Or even big strong me. If fear is “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat” then I guess I may well have some fear that motivates me…  knowledge there are evil people out there that have no qualms about bringing injury to myself or my family, and my fear of losing them to something so senseless, especially when I have the power to do something about it.

In me, I know where my fear comes from: it comes from how I was raised. My mother was very protective. What underlies protectiveness? Fear. Fear of harm, mostly. Could be simple things like fear of falling out of the tree and breaking your arm. Or it could be worse things. But I know that given how I was raised, fear can be a strong ingrained reaction in me. Now I’m not blaming my childhood as some horrible thing that has scarred me for life boo-hoo me. Nope. I’m just accepting how things are, and trying to better my situation. I’m not letting my fear control me, I’m controlling my fear.

Martial arts study? It gets you over the fear of being hit. Sure you still don’t want to get hit, but you accept you will, you learn how to defend (block, avoid, etc.), and when you do get hit it’s no big deal.

Motorcycles? Well, I don’t ride a crotch rocket, but there’s still a level of fear you have to overcome because there’s no question you’re more vulnerable out there. But you can take riding classes, wear proper gear, and expect the cagers to be stupid and thus ride defensively.

Guns? I hope I go my entire life and my use of guns is nothing but training and recreation. I hope I go my whole life and never have to defend myself in such a way. Was I afraid of guns? Sure. I remember the first time I handled a handgun and how I felt. My friend that introduced me told me at first to just load one round at a time: one in the magazine, seat the magazine, rack the slide, fire. Many reasons for doing that for a first-timer, but my friend expected me to do that a few rounds then load up the magazine and go. Nope. I went through a box or two of ammo one round at a time. My friend didn’t believe it, but I admit I was afraid and wanted to take it slow. All those years of conditioning to be afraid of guns took a little time to get over.

Do I fear guns? No. Do I respect guns? Yes. They are powerful tools. In the wrong hands they can be used for great evil. In the right hands, they can be used to fight that evil.

Fear is a natural human emotion. Fear in and of itself isn’t good nor bad, it just is. Like everything in life, it’s what  you do with things that determine if that thing winds up being put in the “good” column or “bad” column of your life. I have chosen to take my fears and not let them control me. I work to control my fears, to overcome them, to channel them into positives that will work towards my success in anything and everything in life. I admit I will have fear, but I cannot let fear have me.

Slow speed skills

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

I love riding my motorcycle on early Sunday mornings. Sun starts to rise, fire up the bike and head for the hills. The weather is cool, the roads are mostly empty and quiet. It’s a wonderful time to ride.

This morning I hit a lot of back roads on the foothills of the Texas Hill Country, going around Dripping Springs and Wimberly. On my way back home I ended up in Buda so I opted to stop into Cabela’s. Why not? 🙂 Look for a S&W 640 (nope) and for .22 LR ammo (nope). Ah well. I did get to fondle a Ruger LCR. Comparing to a S&W 642 they had, the LCR was noticeably lighter than the 642. Specs say the LCR is 13.5 oz and the 642 is 15 oz, and you could certainly feel that difference. Of course, the LCR is .38 +P only (642 could do .357 Magnum). Size wise, they’re ultimately the same in terms of outer dimensions, but the LCR does “bulge” a bit more than the 642, e.g. the LCR’s trigger guard is a bit more rounded out than the 642. Nothing that should really affect carry or concealability, IMHO. I’d be curious to shoot an LCR side-by-side with a 642 and a 640 (all shooting the same loads) to see how they all felt. I wasn’t able to get a pinky on the LCR (I honestly can’t remember if I tried with the 642). Anyway, nice little diversion.

I arrived at Cabela’s before they opened. Instead of sitting around, I used it as an opportunity to practice. Cabela’s has a huge parking lot, including an area in the back for large RV’s, people hauling trailers, and the like. Just wide open space. So I took the opportunity to practice some motorcycle riding skills, especially slow speed skills. Things like turning tight circles left and right, figure 8’s, weaving, starting into a turn from a stop , and even some emergency braking. I actually need to pull out my Jerry “Motorman” Palladino “Ride Like a Pro” DVD again and review a bunch of those techniques and practice drills. I think I could make it a regular thing: if I visit Cabela’s, take 15 minutes in the back parking lot and do some drills.

I was doing fairly well, but for some reason I was having a tough time with counter-clockwise circles (turning to the left). I couldn’t get those circles as tight as clockwise/right circles. I’m not sure what it was, need to work at it more to try to figure it out. I can say that I love Palladino’s approach for slow speed, which is to keep the clutch in the friction zone, keep power to the rear wheel, and feather the rear brake. I recall from my Rider Safety Class that they only taught the friction zone, no rear brake technique. But it’s really the feathering of the rear brake that makes it all happen. You have so much more stability and control with the rear brake use.

Everyone likes to focus on high-speed riding skills, and certainly those are important. But slow speed skills are important too. If you haven’t checked out “Ride Like a Pro” you should. The skills he teaches are valuable and will make you a better rider at any speed. Ugh… this just sounded like a commercial… it wasn’t supposed to. I’m just a satisfied customer.

Morning randomness

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

Went out this morning for a bit. A bunch of little things came up that aren’t worth a whole blog post, but I wanted to put down somewhere. Make one big post. 🙂

More from the snub-nose files

I opted to do a little snubby shopping this morning. I think I’ve settled on something like a Smith & Wesson 640: J-frame (or the like), all steel, chambered in .357 Magnum, fully enclosed hammer. Note that while I would like it to be chambered in .357, I don’t think I’d ever really want to shoot .357 out of it; probably just shoot .38 Special +P. I just think it’d be ideal to have it chambered in .357 so I could shoot it if that was needed; for instance, I needed that extra oomph, maybe that’s the only ammo I could find and would be better than nothing, etc..  The versatility and options from the chambering would be nice, but not required; I would be happy with just .38 +P.

Went to McBrides to see what they have. They had some stuff, but nothing like I wanted. In fact, on the drive home I also stopped into a pawn shop and a sporting goods store. Basically what seems to be carried has at least some aspect of what I don’t want. First, the predominant models are lightweight models, which I’m not sold on wanting. The all-steel models aren’t much heavier (tho I was amazed at just how lightweight that S&W M&P 340 felt, and I did like that U-ramp rear sight) and will be nicer to shoot. Then if they had a steel model it would have an exposed hammer. Or one third thing might be laser grips, which I don’t want. So, nothing in stock that I’d want, either new or used. But I do think that going used would be a way to go, if I can find it. 

Questionable Fund Raising

At many intersections here in Austin you’ll find people begging for money, food, pot (yes, I’ve seen requests for this on their signs), various other things. Oh yeah, they’re also disabled vets, anything helps, God bless. I’m not insensitive to the plight of the homeless, but the vast majority of the folks I see do this as their chosen way of life. I’ve seen them at various intersections around town over the years. If they’re truly someone in need of help, Austin is loaded with help; instead of walking up and down the intersection for a few hours and spending any money they get on booze, they could walk to the help facilities or buy a bus ticket or any manner of things to help themselves. But they don’t, because they don’t want to; they don’t want help. These folks are just freeloaders and parasites and I refuse to support that with my hard-earned money.

So then I see kids out there with signs saying they’re fund raising for their baseball team’s trip, or to help the basketball team reach the finals. Or some such thing. While that seems a more noble cause — and how can you place kids in the same boat — I have to question the tactics. That some adult leader of that group thought that begging for money would be a good way to raise funds, and that the rest of the adult leaders in the group went along with it and said yeah that’s a good idea. What a wonderful thing to teach the children, eh?

Motorcycle Parking Spaces

Do you know what a motorcycle parking space is? The same spaces that cars park in, unless a specific motorcycle parking space is designated (I’ve seen such things).

What isn’t a motorcycle parking space? Sidewalks, crosswalks, the walkway in front of a business door (that’s under the awning and out of the rain, but certainly isn’t a place for vehicles), handicapped walkways. I’m a motorcycle rider myself, but I just cannot stand when other motorcycle riders think that because they’re on a bike, because they’re afraid of getting their bike tipped over or rained on or merely because they’re small enough to fit in some spot (or maybe they’re just arrogant or lazy riders), that they can park wherever they want to. Sorry, no, you can’t.

At the sporting good store, a Moto Guzzi was parked in the handicapped area. You know how those spaces can be set up in the parking lot, with a wide space then lots of paint bordering things, leading into the middle, then through the median as a “cross-walk” so that people with wheelchairs can safely get around. Well, Mr. Moto Guzzi parked his bike right in the median break; no chance of a wheelchair getting through. Why does this bug me? Because I have a nephew in a wheelchair. I’ve had times when we’ve gone out and his van couldn’t be parked in a handicapped space because of people abusing handicapped parking hang-tags. Or in a case like this, the only way for a wheelchair bound person to get around would be to navigate through the parking lot instead of the designated lane. Not a safe and sound thing.

If you ride a motorcycle, don’t be an asshole. Park your bike in a proper parking spot. If you want special motorcycle-only parking, lobby for it.

Conversation I Overheard When I Returned Home

Wife: (Calls Youngest to come downstairs).

Youngest: (Eventually shows up).

Wife: Where were you?

Youngest: I was in my hamper.

Wife: You mean your clothes hamper? You were inside your hamper?

Youngest: Yes. I was sitting in it, clothes piled on top of me.

Wife:  Why were you doing that?

Youngest: I don’t know. It was comfy.

I’m not even going to try to understand it. I’m just going to chalk it up to some random cuteness. I later found out he decorated his hamper to look like a monster, so when you open the lid to put in your clothes it’s as if the monster is eating your clothing. Fair enough. 🙂

No competition for me, yet.

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

I mentioned before that I’ve wanted to get into competition shooting.

Austin Lone Star Practical Pistol Club has a steel match this Sunday, but I just got the email about it and it seems like it’s going to be a big shin-dig that’s kinda appropriate for folks that have been around for a while… not exactly the place for a n00b to show up to. I could, but I think I’ll wait a month and go when things are more subdued.

Instead, I’m going to try for a nice long motorcycle ride on Sunday morning.

It’s the perfect weekend for it.

Beautiful day for a ride

/ hsoi

That rain that came through the area yesterday was brought by a strong cold front. This morning the temperatures were in the low 60’s and maybe even slightly lower out in the country. The skies were mostly cloudy, which helped to keep the early morning sun out of my eyes. Made for a cool but wonderful morning motorcycle ride.

The Texas Hill Country is gorgeous this time of year. Things are still green (not yet scorched by the summer heat and drought), seas of wildflowers in bloom. Rolling hills covered in lush foliage. Sure I could go 70 MPH but why? I’d miss all the beauty out there.

Bike was humming along pretty well. I noticed I was getting about 40 MPG which I am happy with, but I think the bike can do a little better. When I got home I leaned out the pilot mixture screws on both carburetors a quarter turn. We’ll see how that fares. Hopefully I can just tweak it there and don’t need to tear into the carbs to adjust things like the needle shims… much of my throttle is spent in the pilot circuit and I don’t want to lose much power in the needle circuit, so we’ll see what this tweak does. Such is the fun of a carb’ed bike. 🙂

Bottom line: I was just happy to ride. After not being able to ride to/from Houston yesterday, just being able to ride about 100 miles this morning was a welcome thing.

Sunday ride

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

Early Sunday mornings are my favorite time for motorcycle riding. The roads are about as dead as you’ll see during the week, so there’s little pressure and little noise. It’s a great time to ride.

This morning the weather was great. Cool, breezy, fairly cloudy. Just had some rain so the roads are fairly clean. And with the rain we’ve been getting lately, everything is green. Wildflowers in bloom up and down the roadsides, lush green grass. It’s just a great time to cruise and enjoy what’s around you; be thankful for it too.

I prefer to ride alone as riding is my therapy, my escape, my time to decompress and unclutter my head. On Sunday mornings, it’s my personal time for commune with the greater thing(s) out there. When you roll through and experience the sights, the sounds, the smells of the world around you, you get reflective… you get thankful… you count your blessings and perhaps discover a few you didn’t realize you had. I haven’t been able to ride much latey and it reflects in the level of stress I’ve been feeling. While today’s ride was short, it was better than nothing and certainly welcome.

To boot, I stopped by Cabelas, picked up a couple things including .22 LR ammo (finally, someone has it back in stock!). I picked up 5 bricks — that’s over 2500 rounds, and I guess means I have an instant arsenal now, right? For anyone who wonders why someone would need that much ammo, well… come shooting with me sometime, you can use the Buck Mark, and you’ll see how quickly one runs through it. You might even have fun too, but don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. 🙂