RoadieFF wrote:
Judge not lest you be judged yourself.

He answered honestly, there's really no need to be making judgmental or belittling statements.


AMEN, brother. None of us is perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

I have yet to drink and ride my scoot. Rarely do I drink at all, but enjoy a few every once and a great while. (Quitting smoking cigarettes after 30+ years has been my greatest life challenge ... that and staying married.) I had some rough times when younger in a car after the bar just like everyone else. I learned not to drink too much while working my way thru college at a brewery. I once clocked a Hi-Lo driver at 68 cups in an 8 hour shift, punch out and hop in his car to drive home like it was nothing. Talk about building up a tolerance ... all I knew was I wouldn't end up like him which really motivated me to make the Dean's List.

Just this past Monday at the company Christmas Party, I had 3 drinks prior to dinner and left about 4 hours later to drive 1.6 miles to the hotel in my car. I do not consider that 'being under the influence' and would have denied drinking at all if ever pulled over. (I would ALWAYS refuse a breathalyzer under such circumstances, deny everything and take whatever the judge could make stick at that point - but that's just me.) Only my God can judge me and he knows I don't abuse alcohol.

If we're on an all day ride with friends we usually stop at "selected watering holes" where I alternate - one beer at the first place then a pepsi at the second, beer at the third, etc. I weigh 220# and feel no effect from the one beer.....it's usually hotter than heck out & i usually sweat it out before I get back on the bike. This method seems to work for me, although I know for a fact even one beer effects your judgement and motor skills.

not judging him as a bad person. But he may have a problem. Also he may not really relize about possibly hurting someone else and think the only one who would die would be him. He may not really think about the people around him that care about him either. Look at his sig pic if you can look beyond the girl , there's a bottle of jack daniels .

I know far to many HD riders that go to the watering hole to get plastered. Not saying its only HD riders, nor am I saying its all HD riders, or only HD riders; just the folks I know. I don't ride with them. Not my style. I ride to ride, not ride to drink. They know every watering hole on a ride and usually stop at all of them.

I don't think though that a few drinks is of any harm.

I may have an occassional drink while out, but I'm not intoxicated. I'm the type of person that will buy a case of beer and still have 6 bottles in the fridge 3 months later. I also have enough sense to walk home, catch a ride, wait a bit, or call a cab if I did drink to much; but that doesn't happen. If I go to a bar, its usually to sing karaoke or watch a football game. Never go out "to drink". I may have a few beers and some wings and I'm there usually well over two hours. After 3 or 4, I switch to water or soda. Its what I do and it works for me. I go out so infrequently. Once or twice a month if I'm lucky.

Think its a matter of self control and knowing your limits.

Drinking hasn't been a problem for me since the mid-80s and back then only really did because my friends did. I did some foolish things back then.

I normally order a rum and coke ... hold the rum when I ride.

imtopgun1 wrote (Quitting smoking cigarettes after 30+ years has been my greatest life challenge ... that and staying married.)



amen to that bro, started smoking about 4 years old, stayed with my granny, she smoked 1 cig every day after lunch, whatever gandyoungan stayed with her, got to smoke one to that is not a lie, got kicked out of kgarten, carried a pack of marlboros flip top to school quit 9 years ago, cant stand the smell of them now, i am allergic to them

RoadieFF wrote:
Judge not lest you be judged yourself.

No offence intended here, RoadieFF. This is usually a door slammer on any good discussion. One of the things that separates us from our pet dog, the common criminal, etc., is the fact that we are challenged to judge situations and others on a daily basis. How else would we determine right from wrong (now we can debate what's righ and wrong ). We're all at different places in our lives, and I too have had MANY nights as described by some in this thread. At the time I was young, single, in good shape, and playing softball three nights a week. When Friday night rolled around, we shut down the ball park (which served beer by the pitchers), then went and closed down our favorite watering hole.

I was searching for something, and as I said earlier, it walked right into my office one day. Now, I'm on a different trail. Here's hoping God sees all of us through where ever we are on life's trail.

No offense taken.

To elaborate further, there's no way you guys are going to change anyone's behavior via an internet site. I could just as easily preach to the smokers here the health dangers inherent in the practice, the foul smell, etc., but there's little point since they're not going to quit because an anonymous internet person told them to. This is a site for technical Road Star info, if a question is asked and a member honestly answers he shouldn't be subjected to people in turn jumping all over him for it whether he's right or wrong.

You got that right. Life changing events come in many shapes and forms. Some hurt, some are ugly, and some are mind blowingly sexy. The trick is to heed them.

If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s we’d probably grab ours back.

I learned long time ago that even one drink dramatically reduces my riding abilities.

Everyone's tolerance varies.

There was a video played during the MSF course which showed the effects of drinking and riding. They had a LEO and some other people who had to run a course of swerves, curves, and stops. What they actually found was that one drink made them ride better. Now understand that this does not justify drinking and riding but it took just enough of the edge off the nerves of riding a controlled course that they relaxed and performed better. After the second drink, things started going downhill fast. Even the Officer who had extensive rider training was all over the place. Basically here's how it works. Don't drink and drive or ride. If you do drink, know that it takes time for it to go through your system. I've done it but I stick to one drink per hour religiously.