h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...when you're out and about at night time, riding your motorcycle, picking out the twists and turns in your headlights, revelling in a kind of sensory deprivation at 60 miles an hour, think how much more excitement could be squeezed into every second of your ride if your headlights were to suddenly fail for no readily apparent reason. I mean, OK, you lose the sense of speed, but the fear of iminent death is greatly heightened and - assuming survival - it is something you will remember with some reluctant humour for many years until something else successfully makes you stop living. I would recommend one of two pre-ride checks:

1. Check all of your earths thoroughly to ensure that this never, ever happens to you.

2. Check all of your earths thoroughly and with your headlight circuit, maybe slightly disconnect it, or leave it dangling idly, held against the frame (nearly all vehicles - and cars - have a system whereby the negative part of the circuit necessary to make your lights work is earthed to the frame or chassis) by maybe a piece of adhesive tape or some other recklessly inadequate means of completing your headlight circuit. (This is a means of systematically repeating a real-life incident for your enjoyment. In reality, there was absolutely no warning that the lights were about to go out...)

After completing one of the above, head out on the highway (or more preferably about 10 miles north of Corbridge on the A68) in the dead of night at anywhere approaching the 'National Speed Limit'. If you chose option (2) above and return in one piece, it will in all probability have been one of the most exciting rides you will have ever had.