[burkbuilds]

Alan, my guess is that you are neither irrational nor slow on the uptake but that you live your life in such a way that you can enjoy it. I think that's good. My dad was a CPA and when he died some of the people who came to his funeral told me how much they loved it when he came to their businesses to do audits because he'd come in the door and say something to the effect of "If we've got to be here doing this, we might as well have a good time while we are here" and he was able to make that time as "fun" as possible. I guess what I'm saying is that living a lot of years but not enjoying that time is not the way I want to spend my life. All of us will die eventually from something and it would seem like a wasted life if I made 100 years but hadn't done anything much along the way and hadn't enjoyed myself because I was afraid something "fun" might shorten my lifespan. I hope you enjoy riding for many years and I hope you continue to do it without getting hurt but I also hope you never stop doing something you love to do out of fear that you might die from it, cause one of these days you (and I and the rest of us) will all die from something and it would be a shame if we let fear stop us from having a good time while we were here.
"Do all the good you can, to as many people as you can as often as you can" quote from somebody. And, (I'd like to add) enjoy your life while you can. You sound like you do and I think that is great!
BTW, I'd LOVE to have temps in the 60-70 range here right now! I was riding in this morning and it was 32 degrees here in "HotLanta, Georgia", kind cool for the south.