The LONE MOTORCYCLIST’S secret: What he knows that you DON'T!

[00:00:01][music] [music] >> Hey up. Right, podcast style video today. I weren't very well yesterday, so I didn't do any filming.

[00:00:18]>> [music] >> Uh And as you know, I live on a main road and a lot of motorcycles go past my house, especially on the weekend. Now, during the week, uh you know, it it's guys traveling to work, etc. But on a weekend, it seems to be predominantly groups of bikers. It's either groups of adventure style bikes or with all the you know, rally style [music] gear on. Uh or it's groups of sports bike riders in the one-piece leathers. Now, I'm not saying it never happens, but it always seems to be one style of bike or the other. You never seem to see or at least in my area, a group consisting of different styles of bikes. Seems to be a sort of group mindset with each of these groups of motorcycle riders. A sort of a a group think, the need for a group identity, the need to fit in and be part of something. Now, during the week, you can attribute lone riders as guys that are just commuting to and from work. But on a weekend, they're much fewer and far between.

[00:01:26]The lone riders tend to be on, you know, all sorts of bikes from vintage old British iron to modern classics or just workaday utility bikes, even small capacity bikes, sort of you know, 125s, 250s, that kind of thing.

[00:01:43]And I notice these things because I'm a motorcyclist and you know, in the summer, you hear these bikes coming and I can't help myself. I go to the window to see [music] what it is that's making that noise as it goes past.

[00:02:00]Now, one thing is very, very clear with these lone motorcyclists. You know, they absolutely do not fit into these group rider mentalities. You know, they're completely individualistic sort of personalities. You can tell that just from the way they dress and the choice of bikes. And this has fascinated me for years. Statistically, a lot of these guys are I don't know, in the late 30s, they're in the 40s, or even older.

[00:02:32]And I know that everyone's sort of lifelong motorcycle journey is different. We all come to bikes for different reasons.

[00:02:40]Statistically, the vast majority of motorcyclists now, these are guys that have reached a certain age. You know, they've brought a family up, kids have flown the nest, or about to fly the nest, and they've decided it's time for me to do something I've always wanted to do. I'm going to get a motorcycle. Now, the group riders, they're like the social side of motorcycling. They tend to align themselves with other like-minded guys, and that dictates the kind of bike that they ride through sort of peer pressure, and the kind of gear that they ride, and you know, off they go into the sunset with their posse of motorcyclists. But the lone rider is hardwired differently. Right, before we take a deep dive into the psychology of what these makes these guys differently, first of all, can I ask you to leave a like if you enjoy this video.

[00:03:33]Like this video if you have like button available to you. And if you're new to the channel, consider becoming a subscriber. I would appreciate it. Now, I just want to point out, although, you know, I do ride alone myself, I don't necessarily put myself in this group. My journey was different. You know, when we When I school, myself and my mates, I had two sort of best mates, we motorcycle mad.

[00:03:56]They got apprenticeships as soon as they left school, and you know, the parents got them a 50cc motorcycle straight away. I I took a different route. I went to university. I didn't have the money for a bike. Uh it was a year later by the time I got my first bike, a Suzuki 185, and we had one glorious summer of riding together in groups, you know, traveling into town, buying records and clothes, traveling to the coast. You know, it is one of my my best memories of motorcycling. But, when they hit 17, um they took different routes with the transport. You know, the parents talked them into, you know, getting a car license, and then rewarded them with four-wheel transport. So, I had to ride alone because of the changing circumstances, really, not by choice.

[00:04:50]And I suppose I just got used to it, that mindset, over the next 20 or 30 years. So, when it did come to the opportunity for me to ride with groups, which I did try, and typically these were guys that had got their licenses late in life, I didn't like it. All of the reason I didn't like it is for much the same reasons that lone riders choose to ride alone from the start today. Now, the group rider mindset has that mindset because, you know, they're looking for camaraderie, they're looking to belong to something. The lone rider is quite different.

[00:05:30]To anyone standing on the outside looking in, riding a motorcycle alone looks like a reckless [music] gamble.

[00:05:37]They see the statistics, they see the weather, the vulnerability, and they think we're escaping [music] reality.

[00:05:44]But, here's the brutal truth. We aren't trying to escape life.

[00:05:48]We're trying to keep life from suffocating us.

[00:05:51]When you look through the visor of a lone rider, you're not looking at someone running away. You're looking at a brain [music] desperately trying to fix itself and using a motorcycle as a tool to achieve that fix. As someone with psychology qualifications, I want to pull back the curtain on what actually happens to your mind when you leave everyone else behind. You see, in modern life, the time that we're living now, uh your brain is under constant siege.

[00:06:21]Uh as you watch this, part of your brain called the default mode network, uh or the DMN, it is likely active. In psychology, the DMN is what fires up when you're daydreaming, worrying about the future, or replaying past mistakes.

[00:06:38]It's the engine of human anxiety and overthinking. It's that uninvited and often intrusive sort of string of thought processes that force their way into your head when you're trying to concentrate on something else. [music] Our ancestors didn't have to deal with endless digital noise, notifications, social performances, [music] but your brain does, and it's exhausting. The brutal truth is that most people have completely forgotten what it feels like just to exist in the present moment. They need a distraction just to survive their own thoughts. But when you drop a motorcycle into gear and pull away from the curb alone, something incredible happens. The DMN is instantly forced to go completely quiet.

[00:07:32]Now, I know a lot of people love group rides, and they absolutely have their place for social connection, but a group ride will will give you that psychological decompression. When you ride with others, your brain is still carrying a massive social cognitive burden.

[00:07:51]You're constantly monitoring the rider ahead, checking your mirrors for the rider behind, matching paces, worrying about group dynamics. Your brain is still performing for an audience. Riding solo strips all of that away, forces you to into what we call a flow state, a psychological condition where the difficulty of a task perfectly matches your skill level.

[00:08:16]Because a mistake on a bike is a real-world consequence, isn't it? Your brain enters a state of hyper-presence.

[00:08:23]The multi-limb coordination, the weight shifting, the throttle control, it acts as an aggressive forced mindfulness. You cannot ruminate on your mortgage or your job when you're actively managing your own survival. The bike forces you to exist in the moment and strips everything else away.

[00:08:46]In psychology, there's a neurological concept called optic flow. As as you move through space, the landscape rushes past past your you know, your peripheral vision.

[00:08:57]Your eyes are constantly scanning left and right, checking mirrors, reading corners, and watching the horizon. In psychology, we know that this specific lateral eye movement coupled with forward motion has a direct calming effect on the amygdala, which I've spoken about before in other videos.

[00:09:15]The brain's threat detection center, it it literally signals to your nervous system that you are moving past trouble, lowering your cortisol levels and dampening stress. And this is the ultimate brutal truth that non-riders never will understand. The bike isn't an instrument of danger. For a lone rider, it's a psychological baseline [music] creator. It's the one place where you have absolute autonomy. No one can call you, no one can text you, no one is expecting anything from you. You're entirely responsible for your own direction, your own pace, and your own survival. In a world that constantly strips away our control, that absolute responsibility is incredibly freeing.

[00:10:02]For group riders, the default mode network continues to run. You're effectively stepping out of one mental cage into another mental cage. You know, you're watching the guy in front of you, you're worrying about the guy behind you getting too close, you're concerned about that overtake that you need to make in order to keep up with the head rider. You're constantly performing to others, and it goes even further than that, you know. You're under pressure to have the latest and [music] greatest bike because some of the other group members have just bought new bikes or, you know, the best leathers or the best rally gear or the best helmet. You're under constant assault still. You may think that you've achieved freedom by going out on a bike, but when you're in a group ride, you're effectively just putting yourself into a different cage, and you never achieve that reboot or hard reset. You might come home from that ride feeling good about how the day went, but it's not the same thing. You're not achieving what you would achieve [music] as a lone rider. The lone rider doesn't have any of that. He knows exactly what he's doing. He can wear what he likes, he can ride what he likes, he can go wherever he likes, and he can travel at a pace that suits him. His default mode network is well and truly switched off. Now, I know as a lone rider myself, you're constantly under pressure from other people. You know, you you've got friends trying to talk you into riding with them and their friends and calling you unsociable because you don't want to. Or you have other people that don't ride bikes, you know, sort of questioning why you ride alone. My advice is never [music] give in to it. The next time someone asks you why you ride alone or tells you it's too dangerous, you don't need to argue or explain. Just know that inside your head you are doing the hard work of resetting your [music] mind. You ride alone so that you can return to the world as a better partner, a better friend, a more grounded human being.

[00:12:12]If this resonates with you and your time on the road, leave a comment below. What is the most important mental breakthrough you've [music] ever experienced while riding solo? Right, once again, thank you so much for taking the time to watch this and my other videos and helping to support this channel. I really appreciate it. I'm of course going to be back next week with some more adventures of the Bumblebee.

[00:12:35]So, until then, please ride safely and I'll see you soon.

[00:12:40]>> [music]