Patience is the ability to idle your motor
when you feel like stripping your gears.
-Barbara Johnson
Patience, n. A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.
- Ambrose Bierce
As a motorcycle rider we can choose to be patient, or not, with many aspects of riding. Should I head through that intersection on the very amber yellow? Or not? Should I speed up to pass this slow cager in front of me at the next available pass opportunity? Or not? Should I hang in this guys blind spot? Or should I speed up? Slow down? Should I get on the throttle a little in these twisties that I know really well, but haven't ridden yet today? Or not?
Answering any of those questions will result in either less waiting, quicker gratification, an adrenaline rush, delayed arrival time, relaxed sightseeing, depending on how "patient" you want to be.
However...there is ONE thing we motorcyclists have no choice over and we are forced to be patient...
ITCHES!!!
What can we do if our foot itches? Nothing. Yeah, we can try moving our boot on the peg and see if we can satisfy the itch. Similar to amputees scratching the phantom limb/itch. Sometimes the psychosomatic scratch will work with that.
What can we do if our arm itches while we are properly attired? (Meaning armored jacket and gloves.) "Scratching" might actually work but can be unsatisfactory with gloves blunting and expanding our finger "footprints". It might work, but nowhere near as satisfying as fingernails would be.
Same thing goes with torso or legs...if the spot can be reached.
But what about those of us wearing helmets? (I am hoping that we all know the benefits of helmets and are wearing them.)
Facial itches are annoying, but are usually OK. Sure it's difficult stuffing sausage sized fingers through face shield space to scratch the tip of your nose. But it does get the job done. It's that itch on the top of your head that is not going to be satisfied! Wearing a full face helmet I'm able to gab the chin bar and wiggle the helmet around in a limited fashion. Unfortunately it rarely does any good.
It seems that our options are to "patiently" ignore the itch or patiently ignore the itch while safely finding a place to stop the bike, patiently remove gloves, patiently unthread the strap through the impossible D-hooks, patiently remove the helmet (and any scull caps or hair holders), then impatiently scratch the damn offending itch that has just disrupted your concentration!
