Motorcycle Hypochondria

Lately I have been showing signs of hypochondriasis, or more commonly, hypochondria, the excessive preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness. I get antsy just thinking about it; my knee starts bouncing and I grind my teeth. It is not my health, though, that I fear is failing, but rather I am constantly worried that my bike is going to go kaput.

I can just feel it. Every time I’m riding and the wind whistles the wrong way around my windshield or there is a faint new vibration under my right foot, I just know the bike dying. Then I start self-diagnosing. Did you feel that? That can’t be good. I bet it’s this. My friend Steve, the motorcycle mechanic, is gracious in dealing with my nagging questions. He kindly reaffirms in me that the bike is reliable and that while I am sure to have some trouble with the bike at some point throughout the trip, those events are unpredictable and unpreventable.

Alex on the other hand has no qualms about his bike; he is too busy worrying about what the fishing conditions will be like throughout the trip.