Two Kinds of Motorcycle Riders

A Black Cat, a Graveyard, Rain, a Curve in the Road and a High Performance Street Bike Challenge My Riding Skills

Dad used to tell me, "Son, there's only two types of motorcycle riders, the kind that's been down, and the kind that's goin' down."

Years later I bought a motorcycle. A fire-breathing 1979 Yamaha XS1100. The speedometer would register all the way to 160. I'd pushed it to 120 before but never mustered enough stupidity to discover exactly how fast it would go. People who knew me back then will confirm when I say I had enough trouble keeping it stable at normal speeds.

One day I was riding it to work. I had my police uniform on, including my Kevlar bullet-proof vest, which it turns out is also asphalt pavement-proof to a certain extent. As I rode into Greenville from Lone Oak on US 69 I came upon a curve in the road at the Business 69 split. To the right of this particular curve is a large graveyard. A lite rain was falling. Just as I reached the midpoint of the curve a black cat ran across the road in front of me.

Yes, I swear it's the truth: a black cat ran out of the grave yard and across the road right in front of me. The only thing that could have made it more ominous would be if it was Halloween. I'm glad it wasn't, because you're probably having a hard time believing what I've stated as fact so far.

Being an experienced motorcycle rider and only having a split second to determine whether to hit the cat or hit the brakes, I tapped the back brake on the bike.

You should NEVER tap the back brake on the bike when you're in the middle of a curve on wet pavement and a small animal runs out in front of you. What you should do instead is continue to ride at your current speed and squash the small animal. Even if you're on dry pavement on a straight road and you're driving a passenger car you still should squash the small animal. Avenge me!

As the cat continued on its way across the road, oblivious to the disastrous effects of its choice not to use a legal crossing point, my motorcycle slid out from under me and began to skid down the road in a spectacular shower of sparks.