Scenery
 

Mods - please move this wherever as I wasn't sure where to put it, kind of bike related and kind of not.

Yesterday hubby and I took a drive south to a store about an hour away. Our route took us down some of our favorite riding roads. We both were pointing out stuff we had never seen before when we are on the bikes... houses on top of hills, cemetery on the side of a hill as we are rounding a corner, etc.

It was amazing how much stuff you miss when you are tucked down behind your windscreen or setting up for the next corner (maybe exceeding the speed limit here and there).

Of course there wasn't a single person on the road in front of us so it would have been a perfect day to be on the bike... minus snow/ice/cold.

Has anyone else noticed the same?

Being winter helps too since there are no leaves on trees making it easier to see things we wouldn't normally see in the summer too.

Oh, absolutely. Try being a passenger in a car on roads you normally drive. You'll find that you notice all sorts of things you never knew were there.

Something to be said for slowing down.

Welcome to a glimpse to how it is on a cruiser bike.

I'm usualy the passenger so I notice a lot more than Erik. When we went to NC in November he said he was enjoying being a passenger because he could look at all the stuff he had missed on previous trips.

Don't get me wrong, we don't speed all the time or that much. I don't like looking around very much when I'm on the bike. I feel like I have to be more attentive because everyone else is not. Even in the car I'm more attentive than probably most.

That's a learned skill that I am trying to drill into my GF who is a chronic non-attention payer when she drives. Now when we are in the car, I randomly ask her what color the cars are in random directions. It still blows her mind that when she tries that on me, I know 8/10 times. It my honest opinion that for the most part, motorcyclists are better drivers than average.

My first thought too.

My wife gets car sick on mountain roads. Last time we were out west, it was all she could do to keep from hurling every time we were in the car.

Put her on the back of a Street Glide and she gets to experience all the beautiful surroundings with no issues at all. :dthumb:

This is part of the reason I own the BMW as well....I ride the same roads that I do on a superbike/motard, but on the BMW its like another world entirely.

When people ask me for reason why I ride, "scenery" is always one of the first answers.
Don't forget smells...noticing the little temperature changes..

Definately. It's also not a crime to slow down if you're on a sportbike and take a look around.

I hear ya. I can usually tell ya what make/model the car is as well.

I was just talking about driving today. I told a co worker that I think I can text & drive better than most people drive without any other distraction. But then again I am not only a MC rider, I have also took countless hours of driving classes for work.

Yeah that is a seperate thing. I think that on a bike you are part of the scenery. Where in a car, its like watching it on tv, not the same.

BMW's can be cruisers too.

True. I have done it on my 9R at the gap and/or surrounding areas. Its just harder to do.

Right. A bit tougher, but certainly possible. :lol:

I know what you mean. Erik constantly misses signs, specifically the speed limit one. Yet he knows what is going on, just doesn't pay attention to the same things as me.

I notice things on the bike that I don't notice in the car too. Just was funny that we both noticed it this time and nearly said at the same time.

I have and then I get asked why I slowed down.

I generally take in the scenery during my training runs. It is amazing what you see when you are on foot.

Asked by who? And who cares anyway?

Husband. I don't really like riding by myself although I did more this year than ever before.

This is why I bought the GS. I was tired of seeing the world through an uncomfortable blur.

According to some on here, that would make you a poser...and obviously you own a bike you don't use the full potential of.

Guilty as charged, and not worried about it. :lol:

F'in squid!

I've been called worse!

Like Buell rider :lol

Exactly.

Or maybe a



ready?





you sure?






A nice guy!

How dare you!

True. The wife and I usually take turns driving since she's a good driver...with my ex I drove all the time. :lol:

You do notice alot of stuff when just being the passenger that you miss while being the driver.

When on the bikes sure...we miss a lot on some rides due to the pace but we also like to cruise from time to time to take in some of the scenery...no biggie to me since I'm not here to impress everybody else anyways. I know I'm not Valintino. :idk:

sometimes a nice relaxing ride taking in the scenery is the best therapy at the end of the day

This is what I started to do on the couple rides that I did alone this year.

I hate being a passenger in a car. I see things that most don't and have to keep my mouth shut about the drivers speed, tailgaiting, what the other cars are probably going to do. Goes back to driving truck, developed a 6th sense about what cagers are going to do. Has saved my ass more than a few times on the bike. Perfect world is about 200 feet between me and anything around me.

Don't worry... nobody will believe me anyway. Asshole!

You sound like Jar Jar Binks

How Wude!!!

Why slow down when you can pull over and stop? Bikes can pull over in places where cars can't. It's unbelievable how many people I see taking pictures of scenery from their moving car. As a geologist, I also notice the rock formations, faults, folds, and dikes. Dikes? They're my favorite. There's a beautiful pegmatite dike in twisty Golden Gate Canyon. If anyone ever comes out here, I'll show em' where it's at.

Pull over around here and you a liable to get run over. If not by a car, then by a buggy.