Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
“Charge for the guns!” he said
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
After a highside at Summit.Shen
one year ago, I’ve thought a tiny bit about risk, danger and fear. Not in the spirit of critique, but there’s no space on the pillion for pollyanna. Nor is there a special place in shangri-la for those riders who softly-pedal the dangers to those who would love them –and who dont get mortgage insurance, are averse to someone else wiping their arse, or are allergic to oxycontin.
Sure there are pollyannae
and there are steady riders who dont run onto the marbles. There are my friends who probably arent unrepresentative:
- USNA SportbikeKillahMillah who whipped his BMW K1200LT around The Dragon, con homemade trailer, like he did his feisty Surface Naval Warfare career, slaying the squids
- Torque-tight Teuton trombonist LTC Sackbutt, forever doubting his adequacy piloting his R1200GS; and
- USMA-instructor GoodTimeGuiseppe whose retirement plan is to “keep accelerating.” Until then he runs the cloverleafs in VaBeach schooling the chicken strips off his old-man’s R1200RT training up for Labrador
Interested in confronting fear, loathing and panic?
Consult Mssrs Pridmore and Code — men wise and courageous enough to have the conversation. BS or not, in their books, videos and schools fear and panic are living breathing things. Ask any Infantryman what its like to get chased by a tank. Ask Lord Alfred Tennyson: Stronger to have lived and feared than never to have feared at all.
It’s brain scan time
on Aug 23 for concussions suffered in 06/07, and of course last year’s humdinger. I had calculated wrongly that my skateboarding skills gained in adolescence would carry me to impress my daughter snowboarding. Maybe it’s the drugs, but my memory seems a bit short. I hope to stay white-collar long enough to not fallback to being a cedar-chopper vic P/V GlavesTexas hacienda, so i figure on becoming an informed consumer. I’ve ridden — VStar 1100, R6 and EX500 since the wreck, but we’ll see how the Battle Damage Assessment informs any future riding career.
Lastly, as I told my 16yo niece about tattoos
.. <> and
I’d like to ask that you take time with the young impressionables
. . .
you would not tell with such high zest13
To children ardent14 for some desperate glory,
. . .
as with war stories, use your powers for good. Maybe occasionally think to STFU about going WTFO.
If you read this far, well done. Now forget it all and enjoy your ride. East coast 80s not 90s starting tomorrow
Justin
scrotocycles.rip 