Quote:

The flip side of all this is that my heart almost jumped completely out of my throat 3 or 4 times on the way home from NJ today in the cage... Close calls happen everywhere!


Boy you said it. I try to remember that no matter what I'm driving/riding I'm merely seconds away from diaster. The moment you relax, that's when tragedy strikes. Having said that, I'm a firm believer that when your time is up and your number is called you are going, no matter what vehicle you are piloting.
I also think it pays to visit the big man's house once a week or so and say "thanks" for keeping me safe. I drive over 50k a year on every major turnpike. Riding the bike locally is like a god-send to me and gets me through those long days/nights in the car.
This time of the year, most riders don't typically have many miles of seat time yet, give it another few weeks/miles of riding to get your confidence up, perhaps by May the weather has allowed for enough practice to shake the winter lay-off.

Al