Riding angry

[bajakirch]

On Friday I had a really good day at work. Then, at the very end of the day, my boss sent me an email that pushed my blood pressure through the roof. Worse still, it was one of those situations where he hit the 'Send' button, then walked out the door for the weekend. So I didn't even have the opportunity to talk with him to resolve the issue.

Needless to say, I was riled up and stewing by the time I hopped on the bike for the ride home.

Often-times, riding the bike serves as a sort of therapy for me. It allows me to put whatever's bothering me out of my mind while I shift my focus to the ride. But not this time.

I found myself constantly going over the situation in my head, thinking about how I would respond and how I felt about my job. I was angry, and it came out in my riding. I found myself being overly aggressive, passing vehicles, riding faster than I should have, 'attacking' curves and corners, etc.

In short, it was a recipe for disaster.

I made it home OK and went for a 5-mile run to clear my head. Thankfully, that worked, and my ire dropped from a hot boil to a light simmer.

Point is, riding while angry can be a dangerous combination. In retrospect, I should have done something to calm down before jumping on the bike for the ride home: Taken a walk, phoned a friend to kvetch, anything. Riding the way I did was just dumb, and very likely could have made a lousy day much, much worse.

One good thing came out of the whole situation -- it encouraged me to get a few more resumes out over the weekend.

New job = new bike, according to SOQS.

[JB1290]

You are correct...riding angry is nothing more than a recipe for disaster. Thankfully, you didn't learn that lesson the hard way by crashing but always keep that in the back of your head whenever you get on the bike when you're pissed off. Take a deep breath, calm down and focus on riding the bike like a sane person. It may just save your life. 

[Bumblebee]

Sometimes it's easy to get yourself into that situation.

Use the couple minutes while gearing up and doing the preflight as a structured ritual. Same sequence, same process, same behavior, same thoughts. In that ritual is deliberately dumping anything that is not riding related.

When you get like that, you just have to sit down or walk around a few minutes before getting on.
Other times if the environment you're in, (outside of the job that caused the problem) you won't be able to calm down so ride a block or two then get off and walk around for a bit. THEN ride home.

Of course when you're that way, it's hard to be objective. You still have to solve the problem before you ride. If you crash because of your employer, two things happen: 1. The employer wins the stress fight they caused, and 2. If you die or are mangled from the crash, you lose the job and the employer won't care in the least so they win again. You have to make them lose from the start even if they fire you for it.

[ariwhiteboy]

Pull over and do a routine check of the bike looking for anything out of whack...it serves two purposes (usually): Calms you down and allows you to spot any small adjustments which need to be made.

[n5tbu]

Never ride if you are not at least 100%.

[LOKi]

Go to the bar and have A beer. Just one. Make it a big Guinness. Sip it slowly. By the time your done you will have simmered down a little, the alcohol will relax you a bit. Better than riding angry. If you have a problem only having ONE then this is not a good option. Unless your okay taking a cab home.

[roadrunner]

Baja --
thanks for posting this excellent piece of advice.  I'll try and remember this the next time someone cuts me off or tries to run me over.  Probably a good idea to pull over and grab a cool one of one's choice and calm down before continuing on. 

[hppants]

Yesterday evening, I found myself on a nice 50 mile stretch of slab.  I was enjoying the relatively cool weather, running about 75 mph in the left lane, when Joey Chitwood starts giving me the red a$$.  He starts by tailgating me.  Traffic in the left lane is backed up, so I'm at a loss as to where he thinks he will go?  None the less, I move over and let him by.  Now just in front of me and in the left lane, he swerves right in front of me trying to pass another vehicle on the right.

 

When the vehicle in front of him slows him back down, he switches back to the left lane, and now we are side by side.  This knuckle head starts lunging his 1990ish Toyota Corolla in a lower gear next to me, picking a drag race.  I mean really?

 

Of course, I could have pulled the lane split special, run the ole girl up to about 110 mph and waived  to everyone.

But I did the mature thing instead.  I backed down a lot and let them go.  When the brain is in sync with the wrist, life is better.

[n5tbu]

I'm proud of you Pants!! You did good.

[LOKi]

Props to you Pants I would have split.