“It’s like those nightmares where you try to run but you’re suddenly extremely slow and clumsy.” These were the words used by local motorcyclist, Julia Baker, to describe how it feels to be one of the last ones in a group to start putting on your jacket, gloves, and helmet before the ride departs.
“One moment you’re busy admiring your new exhaust and the next thing you know everyone is geared up, mounted up, and ready to roll,” Julia said. “You see a few other stragglers reaching for their stuff and all you know in that moment is that you can’t be last.”
While putting on basic protective wear may seem easy, Julia assures us that it ‘pushes the limits of human capability’ when done under pressure.
“The issue isn’t the gear itself,” Julia said. “It’s that you accidentally put on your gloves first. Then you debate internally whether or not you should attempt to zip up your jacket with the gloves on. You decide to go for it. You struggle for way longer than it would have taken if you just took your gloves off, but you finally get it. With your newly-found sense of confidence, you move on to the helmet. You fool. It’s impossible to strap a D-ring with gloves on. So you take the gloves off, strap on the helmet, put the gloves back on. But what’s this?! You’ve forgotten to put your phone on the mount and your face ID / thumbprint features don’t work with a helmet and gloves on. Sure, you purchased gloves that are supposed to work on smartphones, but everyone knows those are hit and miss. You look up and everyone is gone.” Julia isn’t the only one who suffers from this fear. It’s so common that medical professionals have named it: Omghurryituphobia.