My Little Honda . . .

I wrecked on an ATV at the end of July (still having a fair bit of pain in my hand), then was in a car accident a few weeks later where my Jeep Liberty rolled and was totaled. Luckily I was not hurt at all in that accident. So I figured that the universe was trying to tell me something.

"Go buy a motorcycle."

I did my research and ended up wanting either a Honda Rebel, or a Suzuki GZ250. Due to the gas prices being higher, and these bikes getting 80+ mpg, this type of bike is pretty hard to find around my area and one of the dealers that I spoke with even had a 9 person waiting list for the Suzuki for 2009. So, I ended up finding a used Honda Rebel from 2006 that had 135 miles on it on Craig's List.

After the money exchanged hands, I sat on the machine gripping the throttle and feeling the wind flowing through my hair. When I was done relishing the feeling and being ready to go, I dropped the clutch a bit to fast and ended up half a second later a few inches from the neighbors mailbox across the street where I managed to reign in the bike sans any scratches. I think my wife who was in the car watching all of this probably had to restart her heart at that point.

After riding for a while now and learning to appreciate the feel and experience of riding a motorcycle, I have a few requests:

1. Please do not tailgate me - My wife and two kids want their hubby/dad to get home safely and if anything happened where I fell of the bike you could not stop if you are within 5 feet of my back wheel.
2. I do not want to race - Just because you are compensating for something with your car does not mean that I am doing the same thing by riding a bike. That and I do not want to waste my gas.
3. Please do not cut me off - Driving in Atlanta is pretty hectic sometimes and some areas are death traps for anyone. I leave space between the car in front of me and myself for safety reasons, not to have people go around me and cut me off. Trust me, the two seconds you save will probably be lost at the next stop light so do not place yourself and me in danger for that quantity of time.
   

Any cooperation with these items would be much appreciated. Other than that, I love riding.