Biking - A Reckless Passion or a Fatal Desire?

The period of life from the late teens to the late twenties(sometimes early thirties) is, what i feel, the best part of a person's life... By the age of seventeen or eighteen, a person would truly experience and appreciate the joys and wonders of life... I mean to say, before that, he would be too immature to realize, and into his thirties, he would be too busy to... One of the favorite past times of most youngsters, at least the boys, is to zoom on their bike, trying for a cameo imitation of the 'Dhoom' movie bikers... In this regard, I wonder aloud, is biking worth the risk it involves? As soon as you see this question you may 'huff' me off as a spoilsport nerd, but if you care to read on, you'll see that I am not anything of the sort...

Everyday I see a newspaper column showing some ghastly bike accident, it's 9 out of 10 times, the same scene... the biker killed on the spot, and the bike, more a heap of rubble than anything related to a two wheeled automobile... Everytime I see this, I tend to rip that page out of the paper and do off with it... I think most of you would have guessed the reason... the instant my mom sees that, she would start off on a traffic-discipline session that is most vexing at the beginning of a day... She would say everything in such a melodramatic fashion, you could almost say it was taken out of a movie... If this is one thing, Dad's different altogether... Emphasizing on careful speed and good control, he would move on to how accidents happen even when there's absolutely no fault of the rider's... I would be tempted to ask, "What the hell can I do about something that's not under my control?", but would refrain, just for the fact that it would trigger off another session of enlightening speech... After years of such feedback, these thoughts manifest sometimes, in my opinion, and my perspective of biking...

I love bikes, as a rule... I love taking my bike out for a ride, whatever be the time, especially favoring the nights, when there is little traffic and lots of cool breeze to caress you as you coast through the roads... But, hmmm, I see a but coming... Everything has its limits, that's my feeling... I mean to say, going on your bike at 70kmph at 1AM, in the dead of the night, when the roads are virtually empty, is one thing... Trying out the same thing at 1PM, in the afternoon, when the traffic is at its peak, is something like welcoming accidents... For instance, i don't travel at more than 50kmph during the day, my dad's voice ringing in my ears... "If you try to save 10 minutes by riding fast, you'll lose 10 days, admitted in the hospital"... This sort of words, though irritating to listen to at the moment, will appear sensible once you start to think patiently... True enough, I see no harm in going at 50kmph, rather than 70, the difference in the time taken to reach the destination, 15 mins at the maximum... The risk's not worth the time you save... Another factor to stress upon is the use of helmets... Biking is a completely safe activity as long as you wear a helmet... From the past, it's observed that 95% of deaths in bike accidents are due to head injuries... Wearing a helmet protects you from that risk and makes bike riding substantially safer... I don't see any problem in wearing a helmet as long as i can ride my bike...

My view of this whole issue, Enjoy life, but take care you are in a position to enjoy life... you can;t enjoy life if you're stuck to a wheelchair all your life, or have to walk on crutches... Live safe, live happily...