ATGATT

ATGATT = All The Gear All The Time, the concept which protects your vital parts while you cruise around on your motorcycle and leave yourself exposed to potential hazard. Maybe ATGATT is easier to follow in chilly climates such as our own, though we still have our days of summer and feel the heat even while riding. When things finally do heat up enough to warrant, I'm just as guilty of peeling off my leather jacket and not wearing gloves even though I know what can happen if I come off the back of my bike.
It would be too nasty to show you what happens when the largest organ on your body, your skin, gets abraded on some asphalt or gravel and we certainly don't want to see any photos of that. But, keeping that in mind, check out the last photo in the post and see just how far you can slide along the blacktop in a mere 1.4 seconds. This photo was taken by a red light camera in the U.K. and shows a rider who obviously lost it, maybe while making a hard stop. It's undetermined how fast he was going but considering the distance he slid in that brief time, probably no less than 30km/h. Regardless, he'll have a bit of road rash to make sitting on his bike not so pleasant for awhile.
Certainly we go out on our bikes with the attitude we will be safe and have fun, and we use our defensive driving skills to prevent accidents, despite the action or inaction of all those other drivers out there, but accidents can happen. Gear up and get home in one piece!

Tank top and flippies

Lots of exposed skin here

Red light camera catches 1.4 seconds of skidding on  hands and butt! Ouch!