Riding Gear – is it necessary?

Nearly a decade or so back, I got my learning license. And started to drive ride. Of course the first LL is only for an ungeared motorcycle considering I was in my teens. And as was the norm, most of us rode those ungeared scoots that were then beginning to transform the country’s landscape – and now have become ubiquitous. Its been quite a while since – more than a lakh of kilometers on the road, much more awareness, much better riding skills – and definitely way smoother. The risks I take now, are far lesser – even when in a hurry.

Which’s why whenever someone talks of riding gear, I sometimes think back to that incident all those years back and wonder how much better it would have been if we’d riding gear back then.

Back then, folks my age only wore helmets cause

a)  Their  parents forced them to

or

b)  It protected them when in rain.

Jackets were only worn due to rain. There was hardly any awareness about injury prevention, defensive riding/driving etc., Things have improved but still not to the extent they should. Which’s why this post.

This is what happened then. I was a *very* inexperienced rider, but full of b__s. Or so I thought. So there I was doing 60kmph which was not far off from the top speed of the scoot, the front wheel hit a rock, and I took off. Luckily for me, my helmet saved my life. But, one of my arms lost a chunk of skin – about 8 inches in length and 4 inches wide – just a light tee-shirt. My right ankle took a hit (I was wearing sandals only). Both palms got deeply bruised. Luckily nothing was broken, and nothing ran me over.

It took 45 days for all the skin to grow back. Even now,  I still have a 6 inch scar on me arm to show for it.

I had probably a 1000km’s under my belt then. I now have more than a 1000 times that experience. But still, I need my riding gear, and I wear it too.

Consider how lightly my friend got off, the other day. We were out on a 1000km ride. On the first day we’d done quite a bit of riding – about 350km. the last 75-100km were mostly on bad/no roads. And then, when returning back to the hotel that day, my friend – veteran of 50,000 km+ fell. Probably at about 50kmph, front wheel hit a ditch, instinctively hit the brakes, wheel locked, fell.

Whats the damage?

Helmet took the full blow, chin part and the visor scrathed, visor partially broken. Gloves okay, just scruffed up. No major impact to the jacket – but apparently it slid up a bit, and a slight tear in the riding pant. Steel toed boots take the hit, and now we could see the steel inside.

And he? A scratch, on the elbow. He’s slightly dazed because it was his first fall. Nothing else. That’s it. A couple of nights’ rest, some painkillers and he was good enough to ride back home!

The bike has a 6,000 Rs repair bill.

Helmets save lives. The rest of the riding gear minimizes recovery time from an incident. (More posts to follow in this direction…)