The Tabby Roars At Midnight

[mizarchivist]

A perfect evening such as this requires a motorcycle ride, so I did. It's always best to have a destination and I refused to go out without a target that included someone to socialize with and evila won the prize, meaning he 1. answered his phone and 2. wasn't busy.
Some observations whilst riding:
1. A p.a. system sounds even more like people talking under water when wearing a full face helmet.
2. I much prefer riding during daylight/twilight
3. Dirty faceshields suck
4. Preditory is close to the surface while riding- I had way too much fun checking out the teenage boys practicing their backflips in the front yard. I managed to rev my engine at them in a practiced rather than spazzy matter as I went by. Hah!
5. My engine will never sound any more menacing or growly than an irrtated tabby. And yet, this is (irritatingly) appropriate.

A. and I checked out the "Dairy Dome", which is down the block from his house. They have 24 flavors of soft serve. Their cheesecake flavor was quite satisfying- and! they had chocolate dip. I was relieved that it wasn't warmer out, as it was melting immediately and it took a great deal of concentration and effort to keep it from running onto my hand. Our visit was extremly satisfying- and included pictures of really hot women in boots. The ones of Jewel Strait (aka Kaylee/Firefly-Serenity) were beyond delicious. Must have copies.

While riding, I took to wondering what people's perceptions and assumptions are of motorcyclists, particularly assumed gender. What context clues are the determining factors for making those assumptions: type of bike? Size of bike? Gear/helmet? Style of riding? Length of hair (if visible)? Does one assume male rider unless obviously otherwise? I've never seen any image of myself while riding, just posing with gear, so I can't tell how androgynous I am. I'd like to think that I'm more so than the average. Perhaps just wishful thinking.

All in all, a very pleasant way to end a good day.

Comments

[sauergeek.livejournal.com]

While riding, I took to wondering what people's perceptions and assumptions are of motorcyclists, particularly assumed gender. What context clues are the determining factors for making those assumptions: type of bike? Size of bike? Gear/helmet? Style of riding? Length of hair (if visible)? Does one assume male rider unless obviously otherwise?

All riders are male unless obviously female. (I also make this assumption about car drivers.) About the only thing I use to figure gender are hair (which isn't a particularly good indicator) and, much harder to see, body shape. I know too little about motorcycles to make any assumptions about gender from type, size, or model of bike, gear, or riding style.

[fidgetmonster.livejournal.com]

My engine will never sound any more menacing or growly than an irrtated tabby. And yet, this is (irritatingly) appropriate.

*lol* will i get thwapped if i say 'true' ? :)

[mizarchivist]

Naw- I'm resigned in a zen-like way. I know someday I will have a lion.

[drwex]

will i get thwapped if i say 'true' ? :)

And would it encourage or discourage you if you did?

[fidgetmonster.livejournal.com]

well, i WAS going to write in the original (Ohpleasepleaseplease!) but didn't want to be so transparent.

[drwex]

Heh. Is that because you think we don't know you? Or perhaps been lulled into thinking you've changed your wicked ways?

[fidgetmonster.livejournal.com]

nah, just trying to be subtle in my old age.

Ohpleasepleaseplease!

[mizarchivist]

Well, well- I'm amused beyond compare.

[caulay.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a very good evening and I'm happy that you got out and were social. And "really hot women in boots" is just icing on the cake. <grin>

Does one assume male rider unless obviously otherwise?

Pretty much. I do know enough female riders that it's only a tentative assumption, however. Of course, in many cases people are not exactly concealing their gender (insert squid rant here) so identification is easy.

[kazmat.livejournal.com]

Does one assume male rider unless obviously otherwise?

Not necessarily... A lot of time I make guesses based on the size of someone's height, size of their back, riding style... Around here, it's a reasonable rarity to see someone in full gear, and it's much easier to tell the gender of a squid.

Stupid rider story from yesterday...

Coming home last night on 93, there were three idiots who I was sure were going to be leaving the highway in body bags. Traffic was moving along at about 15-20mph, and these tards were riding three abreast (that's right, no staggering at all), weaving in and out of other people's lanes (not that they were paying attention and lane splitting, even, just really sloppy riding), and repeatedly nearly hitting each other. One of the tards was clearly convinced he was Evel Knievel and pops himself a wheelie about every 30 seconds or so, nearly taking out his middle buddy twice. Once he also had to hit his brakes hard enough that I could smell them burning. He still nearly wound up hooking his front fork on the semi in front of him.

I gave them a very wide berth when I came up on their left and wouldn't pull up next to them since there was a good chance that we would have collided. So instead, they pull in front of me, and finally someone from my left pulls in front of me (because I've left a good chunk of room between my car and the bikes). The car eventually had to slam on it's brakes to avoid hitting Evel Knievel (who was trying to stand on his seat at the time, I think... he had one foot up there). One of the cars to the left of them had to swerve into the far left hand lane to avoid clipping him, too.

And what do you think they were wearing? Full face helmets pulled half way up off their heads so they could talk to each other, and shorts and tshirts. Calling the gene pool janitor! Cleanup in asile 2!

[mizarchivist]

Oh. My. God. Never a cop when you want one. When they do kill themselves, you know they'll end up traumatizing some poor shmoe along the way. We hates, them Precious.
Have you actually seen a female squid? I honestly can't think of a time that I've spotted one.

Female squids

[kazmat.livejournal.com]

Yep, I saw two bleach blondes lane splitting at reasonably high speeds (and not always paying attention to what was coming up behind them) on a couple of rice rockets on 93 North in rush hour about a week and a half ago. They were wearing very short cutoff jean shorts and tube tops, but did at least have their helmets all the way on. :P

And of course there's the very common bitch on back of a cruiser with just a brain bucket and barely noticible clothing...

Re: Female squids

[mizarchivist]

I definitely make a distinction between bike candy and girl-squids, even if they do end up wearing about the same amount of clothing. Not that the eventual crash would have different results. Tube tops?! Yuck for any occasion.

Re: Female squids

[catness.livejournal.com]

Also, tube tops are not so good in the wind. *cough*

Not that I've worn one, but I know that *tank* tops are not so good in the wind, and don't ask me why I know that.

Re: Female squids

[sauergeek.livejournal.com]

Tell us a story, Auntie catness!

[caulay.livejournal.com]

female squids

They are rarer than the male variety but they exist. I think see them most often on 128 myself.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

I think I mostly judge by build. Mostly I see men.

Cars, on the other hand are interesting. Drivers are male if they're being aggressive, female if they're being overly passive and hesitant, or just plain nice. I don't think much of it unless I have a reason to, so:

Who I think is female:
driver lets me make a left turn
driver gives up right of way when they don't need to -- ie, someone in a rotary slowing down to allow people in
driver driving too slowly in the left lane (65-70 where the speed limit is 65 on a 4 lane highway)

Who I think is male:
anyone who cuts me off
anyone weaving
people who pass me on the left (or right) FLYING by at least 10-20 mph faster than I am (I tend to drive 80).

There are good and bad qualities for female and male drivers. I thought about this a lot, because when I was younger, my dad would grimace at a driver, say, "Damn women drivers!" and I'd protest, how could he know they were female, etc? When we got a look, sure enough, they were female. Basically, my dad said nothing when people were driving overly aggressively, but when they were hesitant, or overly defensive, he'd get upset. He was ALWAYS right. weird.

[manderwoos.livejournal.com]

I take into account size (both of the person and bike) as well as hair, if seen... Cause even if guys have longer hair, it's not like a girls. Take K's hair... long, but definitely not girly.

You can also tell by their shape, both of the arms/back and butt/legs.

Around here, you rarely see anyone in full gear. Helmet's a must, and lots of Leather Vest wearers...

In Ohio there's tons of crazies who don't even wear helmets!