Soon after launching his career as a clinical psychologist in 1992, Dr. Barnes merged his interest in people with his life-long passion for motorcycling by writing about the human dimension of riding and working on bikes for enthusiast magazines. He settled in as a regular contributor to Motorcycle Consumer News in 1996; since then, 200 (and counting) of his monthly columns have explored wide-ranging psychological aspects of the motorcycling experience. Mark has also written almost as many gear and accessory reviews, technical/how-to articles, and feature stories about motorcycle-related events and destinations, and he presented his own research on the multifaceted appeal of motorcycling at a Popular Culture Association conference. Having ridden extensively both on- and off-road, sampling racetracks and virtually every type of bike in the process, Mark has amassed a wealth of observations and insights over four-plus decades of involvement. That personal history, coupled with his training as a scientist, clinician and communicator, has allowed Mark to capture in words the elusive physical, emotional and interpersonal elements that make the world of the motorcyclist such a rich and exciting place

Table of Contents

Preface

PART ONE: WHY WE RIDE

Introduction

The Survey

Category One: Engagement

Category Two: Autonomy

Category Three: Mastery

Category Four: Exhilaration

Category Five: Transcendence

Category Six: Relaxation

Category Seven: Practicality

Concluding Comments

PART TWO: SELECTED COLUMNS

From the GARAGE

The Joy of Maintenance

Perfect Imperfection

Just Say No

Necessary Evils

Your Rite to Ride

Making it Personal

Necessity is a Mother

Garage Fever

From the ROAD

Human Relations 102

The Verdict

Can't Live with 'em, Can't Live without 'em

Feels Like the First Time...Again

The Call of the Open Road

Get Lost!

What Should Be vs. What Is

Doh! Brain Fade and the Perils of Fatigue

From the TRAIL

Dirty Thoughts

Half the Fun

Back to School

Near-Life Experiences

Experts

From the TRACK

Concentrating on Concentration

Learning Curves

The "Trust Me" Line

You Just Can't Get There from Here

From the COUCH (Freud goes for a ride)

Twin Brain - Part One

Twin Brain - Part Two

Moto-Voyeurism

Linkages

Spiritual Motorcycling

Self-Diagnostics

Shifting

Riding in the Zone

Motorcycle Camping

Moto-Connoisseurism

Safe Distance

Displacement

Black Boxes

The Voice of (In)Experience

Loud Pipes Do What?

Top Ten Reasons...

Moto-Placebos

Oh, What a Feeling!

Getting in Touch with Your Inner Cartographer (or not)

From the HEART (personal favorites)

Wrecks

Sensory-Motor Satori

A Cure for What Ails Us

Riding Through the Valley of the Shadow

Giving Ourselves a Hand

Milestones

PART THREE: FLOW FOR RIDERS

Introduction

Aspect One: Challenge-Skill Balance

Aspect Two: Action-Awareness Merger

Aspect Three: Clarity of Purpose

Aspect Four: Clarity of Feedback

Aspect Five: Present Task Focus

Aspect Six: Paradox of Control

Aspect Seven: Absence of Self-Consciousness

Aspect Eight: Transformation of Time

Aspect Nine: Autotelic Experience

Concluding Comments