Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Evil Squids

No, I'm not talking about Bruce Schneier's oddly humorous fascination with squids that seems to manifest itself every Friday...

Among the new bikes that I'm seeing on the road are the motorized variety. No, not two-stroke mountain bike conversions. I'm talking motorcycles. With these new motorcycles and scooters come "squids", that is, newbies without any motorcycle handling skills whatsoever. Technically a portmanteau of "squirrely kids", squids kill their engines when taking off from a stop light. They rev their engines to redline while stopped for no reason. The do wheelies on public roads. They can't ride a straight line. They're dangerous. I saw plenty of them this morning, and had to swerve to avoid one that killed the engine right in front of me.

Aside from being in sheer awe that I've found some of my two-wheeled cousins are actually dumber than the wrong way bike ninjas, this morning was relatively calm. I still haven't gotten caught up on my lost sleep from Sunday-Into-Monday.

How about something more pleasant? I was greeted with a striking sunrise this morning.


Also, I've been getting out on the road later than usual, by about five minutes. I keep running into trains on my way to work this week, causing my five-minute delayed departure to become a ten-minute delayed arrival. I need to get my indolent posterior out the door on time tomorrow. I suppose that also means I need to actually go to bed at a reasonable hour this evening.

Random Tunage:
Ian Van Dahl - Castles In The Sky
Laurent Wolf - Happy TV

3 comments:

WildcatAl said...

Yea, I need to make a sign to pull out for the wrong way bike ninjas. However, I did hear a bike yesterday that I think had a generator and battery assist system on the other side of the road. I wish now I would have turned around and checked this out in more detail.
P.S.
I am diggin on these mornings in the 60's.

The Unabashed Blogger said...

My motorcycle is 29 years old and she periodically requires pampering by asking for more gas at stoplights to keep her alive. I say "she" because men don't like pampering: it implies day spas and mud masks...Coddling maybe, but never pampering.

So if you see a guy "pampering" his motorcycle at a stoplight and Murphy's Law kicks in when the light turns green(meaning she died) don't laugh and point. I 'm trying to kick start the ole girl as fast as I can!

Noah said...

I would contend that some dork bouncing off the electronic rev limiter of 13,000 RPM for five seconds does not constitute "pampering" Nor is said display of revs needed to keep the engine from stalling at idle.

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