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| 1.Q |
Tell me
about the first time you can remember being thrilled. |
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| 1.A |
Airplane
ride from Uncle. This is where you get swung around in circles
by your hand and foot. |
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| 2.Q |
What's been your most frightening
thrill ever? |
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| 2.A |
Diving
off a cliff and having my foot slip on a wet rock when I pushed
off. I came inches away from splitting my front side open on
jagged rocks on the way down. |
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| 3.Q |
What's the smallest or slightest
thing to have thrilled you? |
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| 3.A |
A waitress
touching my hand unexpectedly. |
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| 4.Q |
Tell me
why you're not a sensible person. |
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| 4.A |
Other than
owning a 190mph motorcycle? Not having a job? |
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| 5.Q |
What were
you doing the last time you were really bored? |
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| 5.A |
Waiting
for repairmen. I’m a landlord. I do this a lot. Repairman
think it’s really clever to just blow you off and claim
they were really busy. |
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| 6.Q |
What's
the most uninhibited thing you've ever done? |
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| 6.A |
Stealing
candy from a store in grade school. |
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| 7.Q |
What things
have you considered doing for thrill, but were too concerned
about the risks? |
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| 8.Q |
I
always dreamt about being a paramedic, driving an ambulance
and saving lives; what about you? |
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| 8.A |
Who wants
to be around sick people? Strange blood can kill you. |
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To answer
these next 14 questions, you should think about a particular
time you were thrilled. |
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| 9.Q |
Describe
this thrill in a nutshell, in one sentence. (there's time to
expand later) |
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| 9.A |
Overcooked
a corner entry on a motorcycle. |
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| 10.Q |
Where and
when did it take place? |
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| 10.A |
Sunny afternoon
about 3:00pm, southern California mountains. Downhill, decreasing
radius right hand turn, slightly positive camber, some choppy
pavement. |
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| 11.Q |
Tell me
a bit about yourself around this time. |
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| 11.A |
I was still
employed. Looking back, being an employee is so secure (guaranteed
income, healthcare, 401K retirement plans etc.) that taking
risks on a motorcycle is compensation. I still notice at moments
of financial risk, I am less interested in going out for a ride.
Between selling big chunks of stock and buying rental property
I handled very large checks frequently for a bout a year. Stocks
can and do go up or down 25%, a week after you sell. You only
need so much risk and tension in your life. |
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| 12.Q |
How did
the moment arise? Was it planned? |
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| 12.A |
I thought
I had one more constant radius curve before I got to the decreasing
radius curve. Just a misidentification. |
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| 13.Q |
List the
sequence of events leading up to your thrill, and how you felt
at each stage. The smallest detail could be important (this
is your chance to expand). |
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| 13.A |
Moved over
to the outside of the curve. Counter steered at the corner entry
perfectly. Then realized the road was turning too sharply for
my speed. There was a moment of disorientation before I figured
out what had happened. Time to silently say Oh ****! Down hills
are a pip. If you hit the brakes too hard, you slide it down
and off the road. If you don’t hit the brakes there is
a good chance you’ll go off the road on the outside of
the turn or get whacked by a car in the oncoming lane. Standard
procedure: Look de ep into the turn , counter steer harder and
really lean it over. I did and lived. Every cell in your body
is screaming “the tires are going to slide”. They
didn’t’. Modern tire technology is quite good. Two
relevant quotes: “It’s like traveling on a fast
train, it’s easy to see far away, but right up close it’s
all just a blurry haze.” and “You go where you look”.
Stare three feet in front of the front tire and die. |
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| 14.Q |
At the
exact moment of thrill, how did your mind and body feel? |
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| 14.A |
I think
there are bio-chemical reactions in the brain at the moment
of intense fear, not dissimilar from a drug rush. If you are
2 seconds away from being dead your body wants all systems on
full input and output. It’s not a co-incidence that people
talk about being hooked on speed or hooked on drugs. Give up
high speeds and you go through real physical withdrawal. No
more of those real chemicals being produced in your brain. That
time slows down thing is also true. |
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| 15.Q |
What thoughts
were going through your head? |
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| 15.A |
Intense
fear that I was going to smash my body to pieces. Throw a rock
straight up in the air as hard as you can and wait for it to
come down. Something like that. |
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| 16.Q |
What did
you do immediately afterwards? |
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| 16.A |
Slowed
down and got my breathing back. Set up for the next corner.
No rest for the wicked. I was terrified and elated at the same
time. |
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| 17.Q |
What were
the most likely things that could have put you off going through
with it? |
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| 17.A |
Correctly
identifying the corner. |
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| 18.Q |
How
were other people important to your thrill? |
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| 18.A |
Not at
all. It was nice that nobody was in the oncoming lane. The last
thing I needed was distractions. |
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| 19.Q |
What do
you imagine other people were thinking throughout your thrilling
episode? |
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| 20.Q |
Some people
probably don't understand how such a thing can thrill you; explain
it to them. |
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| 20.A |
Unlike
an amusement park ride, riding a motorcycle can maim you, kill
you, cause you to lose your job, house , (wife,) life savings
and just about anything else you can think of. The risks are
real. Ever bet $1,000? |
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| 21.Q |
Why were
certain objects or equipment important to your thrill? |
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| 21.A |
1995 Kawasaki
GPZ1100 (since sold) |
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| 22.Q |
If you've
done something like this before, how does the last time compare
to the first time you did it? |
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| 22.A |
As you
develop more skill you go even faster. The amount of damage
you will do to your body goes up. Kind of like an alcoholic
that has to drink more and more even though it is making him
sicker and sicker. |
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| 23.Q |
If
you did it again, what things could be added or changed to make
it even better? |
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| 23.A |
All you
need is a bike and an empty road. Track day is the ideal situation.
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Is there
anything you want to add? |
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You
hardly needed to spend this much money to find out about a
thrill . I’m sure the editors of Fast Bikes or Superbike
would have put you on the back and woven in an out of traffic
at 250kph for a six pack of beer. The adrenaline rush of doing
this is it’s own reward. Cheers.
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