Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony • Hacker News Board

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#111

Post by ProllyInfamous » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 10:09 PM UTC

HNisCIS wrote: post #107

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #20

Please don't get a motorcycle: A good felon buddy of mine has been out now for 4 years. He slowly built a car repair business, with steady clientele, and got his life back on track – including reasonable sobriety and a steady relationship. He and his girl would cruise around often, enjoying their newfound happiness . Last week he totaled his Harley and his body (destroyed bike, multiple broken bones). Total reset. He…

Motorcycles aren't invulnerable 3 ton steel tanks but the stats and anecdotes are deceptive. They're really not that bad if you're not a moron, even if you're mostly worried about other road users. The stat are wildly bimodal. ~30% of deaths involve drunk riding ~30% of deaths involve not wearing any helmet (let alone full face ECE 22.06 rated ones or any other gear at all) ~30% of deaths involve someone with no moto…

I absolutely love statistics – be careful with inferrences, though.

This rider (I described above) was

~sober

~helmetted (fully faced)

~licensed

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#112

Post by 20wenty » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 10:09 PM UTC

khazhoux wrote: post #44

arthurofbabylon wrote: post #11

“ No part of the prose was machine-generated. You will not find machine-written prose on this blog. I consider it deeply disrespectful.” <3

Writing articles by hand isn’t just smart— it’s important. No shortcuts. No filler. No excuses. Key insight: relying on AI for writing assistance helps neither the author nor the audience.

It was incredibly refreshing to read an honest story, warts and all, written by a human. And equally infuriating to read a comment about it written by AI.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#113

Post by ProllyInfamous » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 10:10 PM UTC

Esophagus4 wrote: post #110

antonvs wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could make a similar argument for bicycles. Apparently the numbers for bicycles are a bit better, even in adjusted terms, but still. They're very unsafe in general.

I lost a good friend, a cycling partner, when she was hit by a car. I think she was a Cat 3 or 4 racer. Talented rider. I haven’t ridden on the road since. Just no joy in riding anymore if it just takes one careless individual on a cell phone… Every so often I think about linking up with a group ride again or even going to a spin class, but I just don’t see the fun in it anymore.

>I haven’t ridden on the road since.

It's laughable how proud some cyclists become when they think a painted stripe will somehow protect them from cellphoned sharks.

Obviously US bicycling infrastructure is laughably dangerous, and nobody deserves full-blame for exercising their legal rights upon roadways -- but e.g: biking up Lookout Mountain's shoulderless 2-lane highway is. stupid.ly common. These are tourist roadways winding through a mountainrange – are you cyclist's suicidal, or just hubric? Nobody knows where they are, and your dumb_ass is in the blindcurve going 2mph.

Your legal right #RIP

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#114

Post by coldtea » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 10:11 PM UTC

qmr wrote: post #80

coldtea wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Billions of people have a motorcycle globally... Some anecdote from a chronically motorcycle adverse culture (US) doesn't mean a whole mean of transport is invalid...

> chronically adverse culture That's the thing. On a bike you can do everything right and still lose. California is one of the safer places to ride given how many bikes are here and I've still had too many near misses as a trained, experienced, and conservative rider. Most people put 1-2k miles a year on their bikes, when I was riding often I put on 2-3k/ month.

>That's the thing. On a bike you can do everything right and still lose.

Same with anything in life.

Same with a car, just less so. Of course you could also stay at home, wearing protective bumper suit 24/7 (and can still die from any number of things anyway).

At some point there's a tradeoff people make. Some people make it where the tradeoff slider says "motorcycle", rather than stop at "car". And I'm not talking a tiny niche, but about 1-1.2 billion people globally.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#115

Post by robobro » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 10:11 PM UTC

embedding-shape wrote: post #104

qmr wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> chronically adverse culture That's the thing. On a bike you can do everything right and still lose. California is one of the safer places to ride given how many bikes are here and I've still had too many near misses as a trained, experienced, and conservative rider. Most people put 1-2k miles a year on their bikes, when I was riding often I put on 2-3k/ month.

> That's the thing. On a bike you can do everything right and still lose. Same with a car, or anything really. The point of parent stands, globally there are billions of people going through their lives with motorcycles as their main vehicles, yet aren't involved in any life-changing accidents. Some places are more dangerous than others, probably places that doesn't have this already motorcycle-heavy culture, like ot…

I live in Indonesia. We have the highest per-capita rate of bike ownership in the world.

I have seen what happens to motorcycle riders when there are accidents and I have seen what happens to car drivers when there are accidents. I won't get into the gory details but I avoid using bikes as much as possible.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#116

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 10:12 PM UTC

card_zero wrote: post #109

cj wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ride maybe 6 with your eyes closed That’s like telling a skydiver to go ride the Drop Tower (or whatever the ride is that drops you straight down). Not only is the experience different, but you aren’t in control. You aren’t controlling what’s happening. For me a big part of the enjoyment comes from being in control of the bike. Personally I would get zero enjoyment riding as a passenger on a bike. The thrill comes…

So an important invention that would save lives is a combined bumper cars + rollercoaster. Like the Witching Waves but faster.

[deleted]

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#117

Post by dylan604 » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 10:17 PM UTC

qmr wrote: post #58

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #20

Please don't get a motorcycle: A good felon buddy of mine has been out now for 4 years. He slowly built a car repair business, with steady clientele, and got his life back on track – including reasonable sobriety and a steady relationship. He and his girl would cruise around often, enjoying their newfound happiness . Last week he totaled his Harley and his body (destroyed bike, multiple broken bones). Total reset. He…

Have you ever been on a motorcycle? Closest feeling you can get to flying and a helluva lot cheaper. Bike costs are line noise, (cheap!) planes I fly are better part of $200 an hour. I get what you're saying though. Barely been on bike since latest baby and wondering if I should just sell them for now. As much as I miss riding and wife misses riding with me, if the worst were to happen, yikes.

I've ridden a bike and I've also jumped out of an airplane. One of these is a lot closer to flying than the other, and it's not the one you suggested.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#118

Post by Esophagus4 » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 10:17 PM UTC

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #113

Esophagus4 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lost a good friend, a cycling partner, when she was hit by a car. I think she was a Cat 3 or 4 racer. Talented rider. I haven’t ridden on the road since. Just no joy in riding anymore if it just takes one careless individual on a cell phone… Every so often I think about linking up with a group ride again or even going to a spin class, but I just don’t see the fun in it anymore.

>I haven’t ridden on the road since. It's laughable how proud some cyclists become when they think a painted stripe will somehow protect them from cellphoned sharks. Obviously US bicycling infrastructure is laughably dangerous , and nobody deserves full-blame for exercising their legal rights upon roadways -- but e.g: biking up Lookout Mountain's shoulderless 2-lane highway is. stupid.ly common. These are tourist roa…

Indeed.

I sometimes lament that I wish I could ride in a group again, but it’s such a hurdle to get over mentally for me.

It is a lot of fun having camaraderie with similarly skilled riders hammering it out in the big ring for two hours, but just never have been able to get back to that place where I’m comfortable enough to do it.

Edit: oh, rereading your comment… my friend was not at fault in her crash. She was a careful rider just out for a spin and happened to cross paths with the wrong idiot who was distracted and veered onto the shoulder. I was expressing sadness that that is all it took to end her life.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#119

Post by ProllyInfamous » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 10:19 PM UTC

Der_Einzige wrote: post #101

antonvs wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could make a similar argument for bicycles. Apparently the numbers for bicycles are a bit better, even in adjusted terms, but still. They're very unsafe in general.

In both cases the reasons often come back to the average motorcyclist and bicycle rider abjectly REFUSING to learn or respect road laws. I live in a non-California state and I'm shocked whenever I see a motorcyclist who doesn't illegally lane split, who maintains a standard following distance (ideally 3 car lengths on an interstate), etc. Plus, most of them aren't even good at choosing leather jackets (not enough sch…

I grew up riding dirtbikes in a non-helmet-required US state.

>Many don't wear helmets because doing so might make them look like "fairies" to their friends in the outlaw biker gang.

I now live in a state which requires helmets for all riders.

This is a good idea – for exactly the reason you stated.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#120

Post by klibertp » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 10:19 PM UTC

newaccountman2 wrote: post #88

coldtea wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Billions of people have a motorcycle globally... Some anecdote from a chronically motorcycle adverse culture (US) doesn't mean a whole mean of transport is invalid...

A fairly large % of those people--I would wager most, personally--would probably rather have cars, but can't afford to.

Probably depends on the locale. In Europe, riding a moped in a big city is a way to drastically cut your commute compared to driving a car. It's not exactly dangerous when all the other road users are moving at 5m/min, and being able to just skip all the traffic jams is a godsend. By car, my trip to the office was about 45min - it was 15min on a moped, a stop at a shop for some snacks included. And that's with riding speed never exceeding 50km/h.

I had two accidents during my 5 years of commuting, and both times I only got minor scratches and had to replace my shoes. Both happened at speeds a determined bicycle rider could achieve, but I suspect I wouldn't be as well protected on a bicycle (both the machine itself and the protective gear tend to be much lighter there than on a moped). If I needed to do that again, I'd buy a model with two wheels at the front, which would have prevented both accidents - though I'm not sure if added stability wouldn't encourage me to ride faster.

So it's pretty specific, but if you're somewhere where driving culture is not too cutthroat, the roads can support single-track vehicles, and the traffic rather than actual distance is the limiting factor - owning a bike can be an objectively better option.