Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC - Full Auto Friday - Round 125

Episode Date: September 30, 2022

Rapid Fire Q and A to finish off the week: 1.  Should I develop empathy for miserable and unhealthy people 2.  My wife is a teacher and does not deserve the treatment she receives, when should I tell her enough is enough 3.  My girlfriend's mom won't stop talking shit about me, what should I do  4.  Thoughts on motorcycle safety courses and riding in general  Enjoy

What's up? It's Friday. It's Q&A. It's full auto Friday. Q&A. Number 125. And away we go. Okay, coffee. West of the smoke. I'm looking at danger close now. All right, everybody, what's up? It's Friday. Which, if you're just finding the podcast, which would be an odd time to find it, I suppose, given that we're a couple hundred episodes in. On Fridays we do Q&A, I have four questions for today. I think they cover the Gambit, a large, spectrum and I try to pick things that I don't cover frequently. So here we go. Question number one from you, the listeners to the podcast. I went on vacation in Hawaii with my wife for a week. And when we landed back home in the Midwest, I thought, holy shit. So many people are overweight and obese.

Well, over half. It was then that I looked online at statistics. And after Colorado, So, Hawaii is the second least overweight of the United States, or the states in the United States. I live in one of the top state-slash areas. But fuck me. I went to the grocery store midday on Sunday, and it was like the spaceship in Wally. I was super bummed out, and that is italicized and what's the font when it's darker? bold. That's what I was looking for. And my entire day was ruined. You can feel the misery in the air. I feel like this is a terrible state to find my fellow Americans in. I mentioned this at my BJJ

gym and heard several military folks mention coming home after a stint in Korea or Japan and having the same experience. My favorite story, a training partner told me about coming home from a week at the CrossFit games, arriving at an airport with a plane full of savages and the culture shock of them entering the airport that looked like the golden corral was having a 50% off BMI eat free day. Great description, by the way, one of my favorites so far. I expressed my obesity malaise and my non-savage coworker homies, and they basically said, get over it, fat shamer. As someone who lost over 150 pounds over the past decade, they pointed out that no one hates fat fucks more than a former fat fuck. This probably rings true

but my feelings were different this time in parentheses usually despising o beasts like my former self I am legit bummed out by this and feel helpless to make a difference is this a normal feeling should I just develop an apathy for these miserable unhealthy people well quite the question and certainly one I don't think that I have touched on which is why I selected it where to begin I'm going to start with one of two of your sentences. You could feel the misery in the air, and I feel like this is a terrible state to find my fellow Americans in. I think that's the perfect starting point.

If we had to measure most Americans, and I don't know how we would do this, and this is maybe more a thought exercise, and people listening to this or watching this as I move forward with what I think we were going to measure Americans in, perhaps you would have some better ideas about how to do it. But more importantly, let's hypothesize about likely where the results would come in. And what I was about to say is if we were to measure the resiliency of Americans right now in getting ready to be, let's see this will come out on Friday, damn near in Q4 of 2022. We'll be missing Q4 by a day, I think, if my calendar or remembering what day Friday is serves me well.

I don't think that the results would be favorable. And there are quite a few reasons for that. And again, I don't know if it's possible to necessarily measure somebody's resilience. But I think there are societal aspects that are reducing people's resilience. I think that an app-based instant pleasure, instant gratification, no working hard for instant results. culture could be discussed. The rounding of the edges and the desire to remove all struggle and hardship from society could be discussed.

There's the educational system. I mean, you could talk about the economic situation that a lot of people find themselves in. And then you could also talk about the physical shape that far too many Americans also find their self living with, the situation they find themselves living with. And what I'm talking about specifically when I say that is obesity. Go onto the internet yourself and Google what percentage of the American population would classify as being obese. And if you really want to dig a little bit deeper, go look at what would or what is classified as obese in 2020, then look at what it was in 2000, then look at what it was in 1980 and then 1960 and 1940.

And what you're going to realize is if we were to judge ourselves by the 1940 standards, the number would be way fucking higher than it is right now. Because instead of turning around and facing the music collectively, we're just moving the measurement. You know, instead of saying, hey, things are going really bad and people are allowing their lifestyle. And I understand that there are situations where people have no control over. I'm not talking about those people. I'm talking about those who are slowly, and maybe they don't even recognize it, but intentionally leading themselves down a path of poor health and poor longevity and poor resilience. Instead of saying that, what we do is we just move the numbers around a little bit.

So let's just bump what obesity, you know, what it used to be and let's bump it up a little bit. That way less people will seem like they're obese. And then we'll continue to do that instead of actually doing the hard thing and saying, and hey man, what the fuck is going on here and what can we actually do to fix it? Now, the solution, I think, comes from the individual. You know, the individual can either take action or not, but I truly think that resilience and the resilience of our society, the resilience of our culture, the resilience of our country, if we were having to measure that against our population, and the population is

physically unwell, the results would probably land in a place where we don't want it to be. Like I said when I started out, of course there are people who have legitimate issues, and it is impossible, if not extremely difficult to control their weight. I'm going to put those as an outlier and take them off the table, and I bet you right now it is a fraction of a percent. I think a lot of people would like to pretend that that fraction of a percent is a lot higher than it is, but I hate to tell you, or I should say, I can't say I hate to tell you because I'm not sure, but I suspect that the science and the math is not actually in your favor. What's likely causing from my own experience with my own two eyes, and in my own life, what is causing people

issue with this is a term that we're probably all familiar with laziness, because there's a variety ways that you could talk about it. You could talk about it via the lens of difficulty, situation, all of those things. And there's a level of that that is legitimate. But at the end of the day, we as individuals have a choice between the easy path and the hard path. A lot of people want to take the easy path. And when you take the easy path, when it comes to food, and exercise and recovery, what ends up happening is you turn yourself into a fat fuck. And I actually don't know anybody who meets that technical description that I just gave that is super happy about it. Now, should you develop apathy for these miserable, unhealthy people? I'd say, I would say that

you meant empathy, and I would say, yes, having empathy for other people and what they are going through in their life, I think is an incredibly important thing. If you look at others and expect them to be perfect, let me just tell you right now. Let me give you the results on how that's going to go. unfulfilling, and you're constantly going to be let down. Hopefully nobody's judging you with that lens either. I am as far from perfect as a human being can be, and I suspect that everybody has their struggles. So you would likely want to have somebody view you with empathy when you are going through, let's say, the sine wave of life, you hit a peak and then you're going to hit a valley after that. You would want some empathy. So yes, let's have empathy for people who are in

this situation. Should it be acceptable? Well, that's not a choice that you and I can make because I am then overlaying a value judgment in what I believe over the top of somebody else. And, you know, one of the things that's beautiful about the world that we live in and the country that we live in is you can live your life however you want to. Is it consequence free if you choose to treat the body that you are walking around with for the rest of your life like shit and end up deeply involved in the medical system. No, I'm not going to say that that's cost-free to everybody else. You know, it's obviously sucks for the individual, and there is a societal cost to that as well. And that's where that argument of it's like, hey, my life and I can live it how I want to, it falls a little bit

short because if you take it to the extreme, other people are ended up picking up the slack for you. At the end of the day, empathy, yes. Should we normalize? and celebrate people who are living an unhealthy lifestyle. In my personal opinion, which means absolutely fucking nothing, but since this person asked, I will give it. No, we should not. We should not normalize things that are unhealthy, and we should not celebrate things that are unhealthy,

in my opinion. And again, that is just my opinion. I think as human beings, there is so much value to be found from hard work, from discipline, from doing the things that you know you need to do, even when you don't want to do them. And you, the person wrote this email, somebody who's lost over 150 pounds over the past decade. You know the value that it has. And, you know, answer this question for yourself. Were you happy when you felt that way when you were 150 pounds heavier?

I don't think so. And for somebody who, this is a tough one, but it is so powerful. You know, the individual that wrote this, it lost 150 pounds. Next time you're in the gym, people just throw two 45 pound plates on a 45 pound bar, pick it up. Obviously, that's 135, not 150. But just imagine carrying around that extra weight and how empowering it must feel to be able to lose it. You didn't gain it overnight. You're not going to lose it overnight. But holy shit, what a powerful reminder. If you could walk up to that bar, pick it up and recognize, fuck look how much different my life is now that I've been able to actually put down this weight

literally and metaphorically in that situation it's a powerful thing and it's in your control I want more than anything for our country to be very resilient I want us to be able to tolerate the ups and downs and the lefts and rights of democracy and I think the less resilient you are the more susceptible you are to being malleable and pushed around and lied to, and more importantly, controlled by fear. If you take ownership of yourself and you put yourself into a very physically capable position, and with that, most often, probably not always, though, I find that people get a very robust mental conditioning from that as well. And bullshit starts to fall off you like it's being thrown onto Teflon. And you can rely on yourself as opposed

to ever having to rely on somebody else. And it's a very powerful position to be in. And it's a very powerful position to be in. And that is the position that I wish everybody got into. I don't think as a society or a culture that we are ever going to be there if all we focus on is the empathy and celebrating people who are making unhealthy choices. Could it be considered rude or mean to point those things out? I suppose it could be. But I would say the juice is worth the squeeze on that one. I'm not trying to make anybody feel bad. I'm not trying to judge anybody. I'm trying to be objectively honest about where you are and where you could be and the difference that could come from that. If you want to live your life in that fashion, you know, I'm a fan of people living their

life however they want to, but you should also be able to deal with the consequences individually and not have them aggregate or aggregate to other people. One of those two words is probably correct. Question two. This is long-winded, so please bear with me. My soon-to-be wife is a a teacher, and while I'm biased in saying this, she is a beast within her profession. We are both younger. I'm 27. She's 26, and are both in the early stages of our careers. I'm contacting you for an outside opinion. A bit of background. My wife is a second grade teacher and is currently within her fifth year of teaching. She started in fifth grade in a very poor district with multiple issues. Throughout her time teaching, I have heard countless stories of students being

violent or shithead parents that don't give a rat's ass about their kids. The worst one was one of fifth grader, in parentheses, 11-year-old had a full-blown meltdown. The child destroyed the classrooms, throwing items at other students, and proceeded to tell his teacher, which was my wife, that he wanted to buy a gun and kill everyone starting with her. Wow. As you can imagine, my wife had a hard time with that, especially with all the shootings and mental health issues we are seeing, and not only adults, but children. She has since moved to a different school district, although similar problems are occurring. Recently, she has brought up how a student in her class is physically hitting her randomly throughout the week.

She says she has brought it to the attention of the behavior specialists, in parentheses, who are responsible for handling these situations, and has been told that this particular student is not a priority. I do not know how the prioritization aspect works, but my wife has expressed multiple times a month. She drives home in tears due to the way she's treated by her students. She has not been hit hard enough to leave marks, but I am becoming increasingly concerned that it could escalate and that her mental health is at risk. I get that the child is in second grade, seven to eight years old, but at the end of the day, it does not make it,

it does not take much to hurt a human. So I'm concerned that something more serious could happen in the future. I've talked with other teachers in the area. From those conversations, this is happening to multiple people at all grade levels. Outside of my concerns with my wife's physical and mental health, teachers or schools in general do not get the support that they need. Over the past five years of teaching,

she has spent around 10K in school supplies, lunches, snacks, books, and other items. On top of that, without going down the rabbit hole that is our school system, the community is consistently voting for default budgets, teachers are quitting, and there is always another shithead down the line creating at-risk kids, which is just further fueling the fire. I am hesitant to ask her to stop teaching, as she loves what she does. She is a damn good teacher, and I fully believe that we need these type of people in our school systems. My question is, as a spouse, at what point should I step in and say enough is enough? Wow, what a situation and what a question? At what point should you step in and say enough is enough?

I'm not sure that you should. I think that you should be there as a sounding board for your wife. I think you should be there to support her as much as possible. But I think if she gets to that point, it needs to be her decision and her decision alone. Otherwise, she may spend the rest of her life second guessing. So what I would recommend, as much as you want to step in, or in the future, if things continue to get worse, even though, to be honest with you, I don't, I mean, other than the physical violence escalating to another degree, I don't know how it could get worse. It sounds fucking horrendous. I would resist stepping in. Do everything you can to support her. I'm not saying that you can't voice your concerns. You absolutely can do that. You could provide her a different

perspective and maybe allow her to hear you speak about this about how you were feeling and what is concerning you because you're not directly involved with it so you can have a little bit of a different optic. But she's the one who needs to decide when enough is enough. And I'll be honest with you. I mean, I'm not a teacher at all, but any teacher that is dealing with this, I mean, loving your job is one thing, but holy cow. I mean, it sounds to me like it would be very reasonable for any teacher to say, having dealt with all this, that enough is in fact enough. And that speaks to how awesome your wife is. And I'm so glad that people like this exist in our school system. Because the kids that you are describing, they need her more

than they will ever recognize. But in the same breath that I say that, it's an unbearable burden for her to have to be that foundation and pillar and to tolerate this and just to have this driven at her day after day after day until she finally fucking cracks and walks on and who knows or walks off and then who knows from there who she's going to get replaced with or who's going to fill that void. I don't remember things like this happening when I was in these grades. For clarity, I don't remember shit about second grade. Barely remember anything about fifth grade. I can have like a hazy memory of high school and maybe a little bit around middle school. but I don't remember things like this happening. And I can't even fathom, you know, a child being violent and then the teacher going to the behavioral specialist and the behavioral specialist saying that the student isn't a priority.

I mean, if that's not a priority, then I don't know what is. And maybe this problem is so bad that they are just triaging. And what you are describing is at the lower end of the totem pole. And if that's the case, holy shit, we are in for some trouble. And what a second grader. Like, you know, is it possible for people to come out of the box and just be broken? I mean, I'm not an expert on Jeffrey Dahmer, but I feel like he probably was a fucking cracked egg right out of the box. Most of the time, though, I don't think that's the case.

I feel that these people who are, when I say people, I should be saying kids, these kids that when they are acting out, you know, people that are hurt, hurt other people. And it makes me wonder and worry about the environment that they are growing up in. And is it just shit traveling downstream? Is it just their opportunity outside of the environment that they are growing up on and in where they're getting shit on? That they have a place where it comes out and it can be expressed on somebody who doesn't deserve it. And by that I mean your wife. And also the other kids in the class, I don't know, but that's my suspicion. Yes, there's having three kids myself and they've already gone through this age,

Not that they're necessarily clear of it, but young people and old people, for that matter, can be incredibly cruel. But I don't know how many of them are cruel at their core. This to me makes me worry so much about, again, you know, it kind of ties into the first question about our society and resiliency. And what the fuck are we teaching our kids? You know, no child should act like this. Like an outburst like this, I would love to believe that there are people who can actually professionals who can deal with this. And if those professionals are so overreesome, overwhelmed with other kids that are acting like this, we have a fucking long-term problem and we better figure it out. I don't know what advice to give you other than to let your wife make that choice. What I would say is, and maybe when you're having a conversation with your wife, is, you know, view it from the lens of, you know, you can only pour so much out of your cup before your cup is empty. And then you're going to have nothing left for yourself. And that's when I start worrying about people. You know, if she's spending all of her energy effort and time on kids like this, as opposed to the other kids that are in the class that also

have an equal right to their education, which is actually the job that she's being paid to do is to educate and not be a counselor, not be a behavioral health specialist. If she's pouring all of her energy into others, you know, just be cautious and keep an eye out as to when that may run empty, because at that point in time, you know, I feel like there can be some issues that could come from that because she's just going to absolutely be at bankrupt. And I would ask her. You know, if this was my wife, I would say, how long do you want to do this for? Is this what you thought it was going to be? How long do you think you can do this for? And just try to talk objectively in that manner. And then let her, you can ask questions. Don't demand answers in the moment. Let her sit on it

for a little bit. And I think that's the best thing that you can do to try to support. But holy shit. you know, I'd love to know what I'd love to do is sit down and get some understanding from the parents of these kids and have a better idea of who they are and where they are coming from. I have some suspicions, but we'll leave it at that. And all I can say is that I'm glad people like your wife exist. They may very well be saving the lives of those kids, but they shouldn't do that at the expense of their own life. We have to be able to find a different way to get through that. question three Andy I've been a listener since I was 16 and I have found myself in a less than desirable position

I'm 18 and I have an amazing girlfriend that supports me cares for me and has the same life goals as me and I would one day like to marry her my girlfriend's mom is what some would call a control freak and is consistently trying to control my girlfriend's life and manipulate her to do things that she thinks would be the best for her even though it has caused my girlfriend's severe mental trauma to a point where some days she says she didn't want to exist anymore. She's doing much better now, but avoids talking to her mom. Her mom has also had some terrible experiences in her life, specifically with men. My girlfriend is currently in college, and today her mom sent her an email basically saying that she and her dad think that she should break up with me,

because I could potentially be abusive, prone to violence, and overall a bad influence since, in her words, I am not a faithful Christian, even though I have never shown signs of any of these and have been nothing but kind to her, and they've even gone on a mission trip with their church and go to church almost every Sunday and have a long list of teachers, mentors, youth pastors, and more that would say nothing but the good things about me. My question is, what should I do? I think her dad is reasonable, but I'm not sure. Sorry for the long email and probably bad grammar. Thank you for your time.

Well, wow, you're deep in it and you're 18 years old. First piece of advice I'm going to give you. Don't get rushed or don't be in a rush to get married. You are in a relationship with the woman that you care deeply about. And the one piece of advice that I would give myself looking back on my first marriage is that I wish I would have waited until I was a little bit older. And I say that not saying anything about my ex-wife. I'm talking specifically about myself and my ability to be a person to understand myself. Let's start there.

To understand myself who I was, what I wanted, where I was going to go. So it just would have served both of us better, I believe, if we would have waited. So I have no doubt that your feelings towards your girlfriend are very strong. My advice to you, to begin with, is don't rush in to anything. Now, I think her dad is very reasonable, but I'm not sure. Let's assume that he is not. It's good, you know, her parents are worried that in general, you know, and it's good that they don't want her to be with somebody who is potentially abused. abusive, prone to violence, and overall bad influence.

Why they think that about you? I have absolutely no idea. It sounds like you have a long list of character references that would say the opposite. But who's to say that somebody else also wouldn't be abusive, prone to violence, and overall bad influence? That's like saying because I had, you know, I stopped at a stop sign and I got rear-ended that every time I stop at a stop sign, I'm going to get rear-ended. So I'm just not going to stop at them, right? That's a very flawed view to have, just like if you have a relationship with somebody and let's say that individual cheats on you. Does that mean that everybody is going to cheat on you?

No. It means that that person was a piece of shit. And they shouldn't have done that. And it's probably going to make you more sensitive to that in the future, but it doesn't mean that it's going to happen. So I can appreciate where the mother is coming from. She doesn't want her child to be abused. She doesn't want her to be with somebody who's prone to violence or somebody who overall. is a bad influence. But good luck finding a human being, you know, so let's say it's not you,

who's to say that the next person, like I said, isn't going to be that way. In her words, you're not a faithful Christian. Well, you know what? There's some faithful Christians out there that are doing some really horrendous shit. And I dislike personally when people try to put a value judgment on religious beliefs, as if those religious beliefs are a hard left and right to their behavior outside of church. It has been a very good. in my experience that there are some devoutly religious people who live up to every ounce of what people would think from somebody like that. And there are those that portray themselves to be devoutly religious and are doing anything but in their real life. So the whole faithful Christian

thing, I am not religious. So what I say largely shouldn't matter when it comes to religion. but I worry when people are going to judge the character of somebody off of their religious beliefs absent all the other data that they can uptake process and deliver to their brain. Yeah, Google is an interesting tool to find out church leaders and some of the most faithful Christians or any religious leaders for that matter who should be the most faithful straying from the belief of those organizations. So we'll just leave it at that. What I would recommend for you is to be the absolute best version of yourself. And that is the advice that I would give you whether you were 18, 28, 38, 38, or 48, and whether or not this woman's mom was saying anything at all.

The best thing that you can do is be the best version of yourself. And I don't want you to change your behavior to try to prove this person wrong. I want you to be the best version of yourself because you know that's how you're going to get the farthest in your life by telling the truth, by having integrity, honesty, work ethic, empathy for other people, caring for this woman's daughter. That's the best thing that you can do. And you may never be able to shut her mother up. And at some point in time, your girlfriend is going to need to choose between what's being put into her ear from her mom and potentially her dad, because we don't know, and what she's, is objectively seeing in her own life and the interactions and relationship that she is having with you.

Later on down the road, if it becomes incredibly problematic and she's having a difficulty making that decision, man, that's a different conversation, but she is the one who is going to have to decide. And she's going to have to decide at some point in time to live her life, as opposed to living life through the lens of her mom or dad, for that matter. And it's tough as a parent. And I say this from my own experience. You want to be overbearing. You want to protect them from everything. You don't want your kids to make mistakes, especially when there's consequences.

And in my opinion, that's the fastest way to ruin your kids and to not prepare them for the world outside of your home. Because outside of your home, nobody really gives a fuck in the grander scheme of things. The real world is going to continue to go on. And business is going to be business and people are going to be people. And if you have a close personal relationship with somebody, they might care. But your neighbor is probably not going to. The business down the street's not going to. They may talk about it and make a nice social media post on particular days of the year,

depending on what kind of points they're going to gain societally. But at the end of the day, people are too busy and wrapped up in their own shit. So, fuck them. Let them do their shit. Do the best that you absolutely possibly can be the best boyfriend that you could be. And if you end up getting married, be the best husband that you can be. And hopefully at some point, her mom shuts her trap. And if she doesn't, like I said, that's a different conversation.

You'll have to decide what you want to do. And that will largely be based on your girlfriend or wife at that time's ability to manage and mediate the information coming from her mom. That's the advice I'd give you. Last one, changing gears, talking about motorcycles. Here we go. What are your views on motorcycle rider education? I'm a motorcycle instructor teaching people how to ride motorcycles to both beginning and advanced riders. I'm not talking about track days, more streetstrikes.

strategies, cornering and breaking, looking ahead for dangers and not hiding in traffic. It's not near as sexy as sliding a knee in a corner, but it can save your life. Totally agree with you there. Multiple studies show that around 70% of motorcycle accidents are single vehicle and are from either ineffective cornering or bad braking inputs from the riders. The studies don't specify if alcohol was a factor. Different studies tell that portion. The big focus has always been cars are what's killing motorcyclists.

Look twice for motorcycles was a great campaign. and has helped the community, but I do worry that this takes responsibility away from riders and allows riders to think that they are great riders. I can count how many times I have been told a story about how the riders sold their motorcycle because someone pulled out in front of them, so they laid their motorcycle down to avoid an accident. Yes, you heard that correctly. They caused an accident to avoid an accident. The problem I see, and is reinforced with speaking with the public, is nobody is talking about how bad some riders are and how much they could benefit from taking a class.

Once riders get their endorsement, they feel they have mastered the art of two wheels. Throw on some flip-flops, strap their helmet to the back for the bike, and hit the road. I recently attended a safety conference that showed a Marine Corps study, and more soldiers died in motorcycle accidents state side than the Iraq War. I am getting the information from the guys that did the study soon. Currently, the military does require anyone that rides on base to complete their rider education class, I believe, every three years. This would never work in the civilian world, but it did reduce the military deaths in motorcycle crashes. The only way I see modern riders to take rider education seriously would be for celebrities that ride to start campaigning about taking riding classes. Excuse me.

Just think. John Wick could save American lives while killing Russian mobsters just by telling people to take class. The only other option I see working is insurance companies giving discounts to riders that complete advanced classes. What are your thoughts, Andy? How could the motorcycle industry convince endorsed riders to take riding seriously? Huh. Fascinating question. I don't talk about motorcycles that much, but I am a huge fan of two wheels. I have ridden dirt bikes for quite some time. And I have a hell is the name of it. Dual sport. Dual sport bike. I have a KTM 890 Adventure R, which is average good on the street. And then I'd say average good off road. It can't be great at both. because that would be a really weird design and you would need a different set of tires. But, and then I have a street bike as well. So I love riding, but I also, I do my absolute best to recognize the risk associated with riding, right where you ended. How could the motorcycle industry convince endorsed riders to take riding seriously?

I do believe that that is a huge problem. You get a motorcycle endorsement, so for like me, my Montana license. I had my motorcycle endorsement in California. And to get that, what I needed to do was take a written test at the DMV. And I did not have to take a practical because I did a motorcycle safety course, which was a two-day course. I believe it was a Saturday and Sunday. I pretty sure it was like six to eight hours on both of those days. And it's a crawl, walk, run course where you start with, hey, this is a motorcycle.

This is how, you know, clutch, front brake, rear brake, shifting, you know, is it going to be, however you know one down five up you know explaining how to go up in the gears down on the gears the brake pad braking engine braking and then hey here's how you start the bike here's how you use the clutch here's how you put it in first gear cornering cones uh i think there was a stopping drills where you accelerate and stop obstacle avoids fill in the blank everything that you would think would be at a rider's course. Because I did that course, I didn't have to go and take the practical at the DMV, which I actually have heard is quite a pain in the ass, but I'm not even exactly sure what it is. But that was it. I took a test that I didn't study for. It wasn't vastly different

than the written test for regular driver's license. I did that course, and then there I was with my motorcycle endorsement. And this is well over 10 years ago for me. When we moved to Montana, since I had my endorsement on the back of my California license, it transferred over to Montana. boom I have my Montana motorcycle endorsement does this make you an expert in riding a motorcycle fuck no it doesn't make you an expert in riding a motorcycle this is like cracking the door when it comes to knowledge on a bike because let me tell you what you don't do in any motorcycle safety course that I'm aware of get up to freeway speed merge into traffic talking about the different type of braking at speed whether it be front brake rear brake how to avoid a high side

How to avoid a low side. And for people don't know what we're talking about. High side is where it flips you over the top of the bars. It is gnarly. The low side is largely where the back end washes out and the bike will slide and you slide as well. If I had to choose between the two, I would choose option number C, which is neither a low side or high side. I'm going to stay the fuck on my bike. And having said that, I laid down my KTM the last time we were riding.

It was being a total jackass. I watched the squirrel run across the dirt road. My least favorite riding surface hard packed dirt with a little bit of gravel and dust on carry too much speed into a corner, knew I wasn't going to make it, stood the bike up straight, evenly applied the brakes, and then hopped off when it went into a ditch. That's, I wish I could say that I had saved it, but I fucking didn't. Didn't hurt the bike, didn't hurt myself, picked it up, continued on the ride. Wasn't that big of a deal because I had bled a bunch of speed before I got there.

Had I smashed the front brake, man, probably would have a high-sided it. Had I smashed the rear brake, probably would a low-sided. Instead, I went straight-line braking, did the best that I could. And a good thing we do forward rolls in jiu-jitsu when we're warming up because maybe I did one with helmet on. Maybe I didn't. I digress. How do you get people to take it seriously? You know, I don't know.

You would think inherently that you would recognize the crazy differences between a motorcycle and a car. How about for the first one? You're out in the middle of, you're in the elements. You can feel the wind and rain and rocks hitting you. And sometimes it hurts like a son of a bitch. Like I don't know how people ride without helmets. In Montana you don't have to have a helmet on. The number of bugs that I wipe off of my helmet and visor when I'm riding is unbelievable.

Like we're talking, it seems like dime-shaped bees. Why somebody would want to take one of those right in the face is beyond me, let alone a rock coming up from a semi-truck. So for me, my theory has always been you need to dress for the wreck, not for the ride. So I wear riding shoes, riding pants. I don't wear like a riding t-shirt, but I wear a riding jacket. I wear riding gloves. I wear a helmet. If I'm going to have a backpack on it specifically designed for riding, it clips a little

bit more towards your sternum. It takes a lot of the pressure off of your shoulders. It makes me much more comfortable on a bike. It's not going to change my riding position. And I do all that because I recognize how fucking dangerous it can be. You're right out there in the elements, at least in a car. You have crumple zones. You have airbags.

you don't have any of that on a bike. And why people don't recognize that? I don't know. And I don't know that John Wick would save many American lives, killing Russian mobsters by telling people to take a class. Because like I said, you go to a class and maybe, and you said you teach advanced riders. I don't know what you teach advanced riders.

The courses that I have been to never have gotten up to freeway speed, the things that I talked about had mentioned that weren't taught in a class. that weren't taught in a class. I have yet to be to a course that offers those. I'm sure that they probably exist, and I wish that people would go to those things. But most people are doing exactly what you said. They're getting their endorsement.

Then they get their license or they get their learners permit. Obviously, you have to have a driver's license to have a motorcycle license in my knowledge. Then they get that endorsement, and then they never really seek additional training. It doesn't surprise me that 70% of motorcycle accidents are single vehicle. They're really easy to go faster on than you would think, and it's really easy for you to think that you're a better rider than you are, especially if you've never been put into a corner where you went in and you carried too much speed into a corner. And you've almost gone off the edge or you've almost had to ride right at the limit of what you're capable of. In my experience, when I find that limit when I am riding and I avoid it at all costs, it backs me off for a really long period of time. I think what you brought up, insurance companies giving discounts would probably be the most effective way.

Because for whatever reason, people seem to hate things that hit their pocketbook, even more so than the hate things that cause physical damage to their body. I think if you offered 50% off of your motorcycle riding insurance, if you attended an advanced class, people would be much more likely to do that. even if you spent the same amount of time explaining to them the risk and potential damage and injury that could come if they don't do that. They would disregard one because they'd say, oh, that would never happen to me. But if you offered them 50% off, they're like, oh, fuck, that's worth my time. So I think you're on to something there. I just really don't know if the celebrity aspect of that would work. But I do wish that more people who rode motorcycles, And I'm going to go even broader than that.

I hope and I wish that people who decide to do any type of off-road activity or any outdoor activity. It's not like water skiing has the best safety record either or wakeboarding or kayaking down whitewater, fill in the blank. As long as people go into things objectively and they are taking the time to analyze and assess the risk that is involved, I'm all about it. You decide what level of risk you're comfortable with, and then you execute on that. And if things go poorly, at least you know what you're getting into. I'm far more concerned about the people who get that endorsement or get the wakeboard or the kayak and go, you know what? It's never going to happen to me, and I'm just going to send it. Their choice to do that, I feel bad for him.

And I think a lot of that could be avoided if people were just a little bit more realistic about the risk and even more so realistic. about their own abilities. I am not a great motorcycle rider. I am an average motorcycle rider, and I try to ride very averagely. I use, you know, learning to ride motorcycles in California was interesting. Lane splitting was legal. People, you know, the two times I've almost been hit on my bike

were exactly the same thing. I was coming on to the freeway, and I was in the far right-hand lane. And both times there was somebody in the left-hand lane, and we're talking three or four lanes of traffic over. And we were approaching an exit, the next exit. And I suspect that what happened is they realized they were about to miss their exit and they dove over all three or four lanes of traffic. And both of those times I almost got knocked off my bike. And it changed the way that I think about motorcycle riding.

You know, there's defensive riding and offensive riding. I protect myself by riding very offensively. I am the one who makes the move first and I will oftentimes use speed to create space. And then I maintain that space because I want to buffer. and then I stay inside of my riding ability, which is easier said than done. And I'm not even sure that I answered your question, but that's kind of my theory on motorcycle riding. Maybe in the course, you know, maybe one thing in the course that might get people to pay a little bit more attention is a little slideshow. I'm not saying go full faces of death, but perhaps be a little bit more graphic about what happens in the instance after people get over their seat.

skis or over their bars to use a motorcycle term. Hopefully that would give people cause for concern and to slow down, but I honestly feel like at the end of the day, monetarily is probably the best route to go. And that's all I have. See you guys Monday.