Please don’t drink and ride.

Sounds obvious, right? But I’m not even talking about being inebriated. This is just in case there’s anyone here that needs to hear a story on why I think this. This story doesn’t end badly, luckily.I was as smart as I could be about it. Meeting up with some friends, light traffic, <4 mile ride, wasn’t going to drink a lot or quickly, and stuck to the plan. I slowly drank 24oz of lagers over the course of 2 hours while eating some dinner. For what it’s worth; 4.2% alcohol content. In the background of having fun, I’m keeping tabs on my cognition. I’m in a great mood, but my motor skills do not seem impaired. I have been drunk, tipsy, all over the spectrum before, but tonight I just feel like my normal self having some fun. They decide to go bar hopping, and I decline because I know my limits and the situation I’m in. I know that if I have another beer or drink that it would be the start of loss in confidence in my ability to ensure my safety or someone else’s. I then part ways and head home.But even though I felt “normal” before and after the ride, I was shocked at how many mistakes I was making. This is on a street that I ride just about everyday and know very well. I didn’t stall, but I definitely misjudged my clutches release point multiple times and minority jerked around. I misjudged my brakes and put my feet down just a fraction of a second before the bike was coming to a complete stop that caused difficulties. I got a nice burn mark on my boot soles from my exhaust pipe (my header is close to the brake side peg anyway, but I’m usually cautious of that) Luckily, I didn’t see a single car on my short commute.I’ve been riding for about 13 years and alcohol has never been in the mix with it until tonight. I’m not opposed to drinking in general, but I hardly drink at all and that is mainly how I’ve avoided mixing the two. I’m not trying to over dramatize what happened, but at this point I’m super confident in my capability to ride my bike and I cannot stress enough about how completely normal I felt before riding home. The only crash I’ve ever been in was my first year when a deer ran in front of me, but tonight was a sobering reminder that you shouldn’t half ass it on a motorcycle; put your whole ass into it. I was making minor mistakes that are second nature to me, but disaster is always just around the corner and you can’t afford to make those mistakes.Apologies if my thoughts are all over the place, I’m no George Orwell.Stay safe! via /r/motorcycles https://www.reddit.com/r/motorcycles/comments/f0nroz/please_dont_drink_and_ride/?utm_source=ifttt