I took a trip out east a few weeks ago, and spent quite a few hours on the turnpike in OH and PA. I prefer taking secondary roads most of the time, but on this trip I had to make time on a few days, so I jumped on the turnpike. In general, it's pretty boring, no crossroads, just cruising along.

After I'm done thinking about everything from my normal life and done worrying about all the new little noises on the bike, my mind starts to wander. I start thinking about how the motor is turning 3200 RPM which means each piston is going up and down 6400 times per minute. How can the motor possibly hold together? How can the connecting rod take the stress as the piston comes up to top dead center, stops, and turn around under combustion pressure and head toward bottom dead center, just to do it all over again, but on the exhaust stroke? How can the piston accelerate and slow down so many times without seizing right up in the bore?

I also think about the wheel bearings. How can the wheel bearings on a bagger (the bike I was riding) carry the weight of the bike and handle the stress of turning and spinning at the same time, without maintenance, and not come apart in a shower of sparks, sending me right under the 18 wheeler I am trying to pass?

What do you think about once you've settled into a long ride?

--Chris

on any longer rides I through in head ear buds and kick back enjoy the ride the wind and the music.

Hey, that's not thinking! I guess that's an option too. I did that a bit also, but music gets old after a while. Then with the music off, wind and engine noise gets old after a while. After that drones on for a while, my mind starts to wander. That's when I start thinking about stuff failing catastrophically. :)

--Chris

First I think about SEX. Then I think about the scenery. Then I think about SEX. Then I think about where I am going. Then I think about SEX. Then I think about the hotty that I just passed. Then I think about SEX with the hotty I just passed. And so on and so on. :smoke

usually..................nothing
but the road ahead
that's why I ride......to get away from it all

mechanics syndrome....I remember the first commercial flight I took after A&P school...looking out the window and seeing those engines that are held on with 3 bolts...bad rivets on the wings.....obvious leaks....:roflblack :roflblack

When I ride, I think about the scenery I see, the sound of my bike, people in my life, things like that. Each ride I'm sure my thoughts vary according to what mood I happen to be in at the time.

I guess I never settle...I think about the car in front of me, and the one next to me, and the tractor trailer behind me, and the frost heaves in the road, and the on-ramp coming up, and when was the last time I checked the torque on my axle, and what a front tire blowout would feel like at 80 mph, and why I didn't wear something else, and how gravel feels on the face, and whether it looks like rain, and the car next to me, now the truck is on my tail...and so it goes...

Huh, I think about everything but the bike. Think about stuff going on in my life, but for the most part I think about the moment, and how I'm alone on a bike and not in an office or doing chores or getting yelled at. When I start to think about things I need to do coming up, I usually realize that I can't do anything until I get to where I'm going, and think about something better.

This weekend I had a number of hours on a major highway, and it was a damn good time for healing and reflecting on the good parts of life.

</philosophycrap>

Hey, that's not thinking! I guess that's an option too. I did that a bit also, but music gets old after a while. Then with the music off, wind and engine noise gets old after a while. After that drones on for a while, my mind starts to wander. That's when I start thinking about stuff failing catastrophically. :)

--Chris

by the time i get to the point that I start thinking like that its o crap I better get fuel or I have along push then after the stop got other things to think about

except for looking out for cars/animals I generally try to be flatline when I ride...I think about enough stuff during the day that I try to let it all go and think about nothing when I ride. I try to take in the sights, smells and sounds around me and that's about it. Unless I'm really pushing myself or the bike then I'm calculating every slightest movement that I make.

The sound of one hand clapping. :p

Well not really, more like the sounds of riding. Sometimes, I look at female pedestrians and wonder :D... other times I look at drivers and wonder if they even realize what they are doing.

All the time I watch anything moving close to me and wonder if it can negatively impact me.

With all that wondering, I guess that makes me the WONDERER.

like Chris i start counting stuff in my head. start counting at .0 mile markers to 60 and see what mile marker im at. compare mile markers to odometer. count telephone poles in one mile. add up numbers of SS#. boring crap

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s276/macsteven/Dancing_Banana.gif

One of the reasons I like riding so much is that it requires 100% of my focus on my riding and safety, therefore I don't have room in my head to daydream or think about things.
It makes me wonder how Robert M Pirsig was able to write Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance while crossing the US on his Honda

It makes me wonder how Robert M Pirsig was able to write Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance while crossing the US on his Honda
He did his draft writing after stopping to fix the Honda? After stopping for the night? Maybe he has/had a 'dual mind' where he could do two things well.

Oo oo oo, Mr Kotter. He had a 'ghost writer'. :laugh:laugh:laugh

It's been so long since I read that, that I can't remember anything about it.

I generally think - is that truck going to pull out in front of me? No. Good. Is THAT truck going to pull out in front of me? No? Good. Why won't you either turn off your blinker or just effing turn already!

But I also ride in town often. If I am highway cruising, I usually like to take in the sights and smells, and really think about nothing at all.

wonder how Robert M Pirsig was able to write while crossing the US on his Honda

back roads. no super slab

Everything, and nothing.

Think about the sweet sound of the motor running up and down thru the gears, and making sure i get home safely for the next ride,:banana isn't that what riding is all about???????????? to keep your sanity in check, LOL

At this point, mostly listening for little things on the sporty. Should I mess with the jets some more, shims, if I was a little leaner or richer would she run better. My bars are buzzy and this seat flat out sucks, I need to fab something to move it back about 3 inches and find some rubber washers to go on the handlebars to see if that would help. Does the clutch need adjusting, what gear am I in, did I check the oil, would switching to a different primary lube smooth things up a bit or would it hurt it? Do I need to quit procrastinating and just change the choke cable before it just completely breaks off more than it already has? Are these 5 year old stock dunlops going to stick to the road or leave me in the ditch? Why doesn't my speedo just crap the bed from all the vibration and in that same context, is it really accurate?

I also try and pay as much attention as I can to surrounding traffic, pedestrians, and animals.

i think about how easily my breath enters my body at 80mph:tour

I ride to escape. I get enough thinking during the day to allow me to be think-free when I'm riding!

Pirate

Generally, the thought process goes something like this.

Thank God I'm away from all that crap...yeah, I've got enough gas for now... I should really clean the bike. That looks like new oil spray on the crossover pipe, but I really can't tell (and even I'm not dumb enough to reach down and check)... hopefully she's not leaking... hey! Watch where you're going, a$$hole! You'd think some people would've learned how to f&$king drive by now...ya know, I don't care what that mechanic said; that rotor shouldn't be rubbing against the brakes like that. I'll have to rip that apart and check it one day...those front lifters are getting a little loud. I wonder what's going on with them...so I'm at xxx,xxx km, which means I'm due for an oil change in Say! She's cute! Dammit, why didn't I bring my spare lid!...so, that means I'm due in about 500 km; I'll change it this weekend...I should do that back brake and check for the leak & lifters while I'm at it...hmm, where am I going... ... more importantly, where am I?...hey, I think I recognize that street...(turned onto the street, two miles later on some backwater country road)...maybe this wasn't the road I was thinking of...hmm, where am I...maybe I should find a Hey! She's cute! Oh yeah, no lady lid. Crap!...

Or something along those lines! :rolleyes:

Usually just some deep thoughts....!

Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean ? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.

Actually, more like a meditative state. Thoughts come and go, but if I put no importance to them, they fade and leave me blank again for awhile.

Awareness of my surroundings is always there, and really helps create this meditative state.

I'm pretty much 100% focused on what I'm doing.
That is how I clear my head of all the other junk that's been on my mind and IMHO anyone who is thinking about anything but the ride at any given moment is an accident waiting to happen.
If your mind is not on what you are doing when you're riding a motorcycle you'll not be ready when things go bad.
That and things may go bad because you were thinking about something else, a split second of inattention on a bike can be fatal.
:soap