When I joined Facebook just over a year ago, a buddy of mine from Junior High had a number of Youtube videos posted to his profile which I watched with awe.

The only way I can describe these videos is "porn for adrenaline junkies."

If you go on Youtube, and search around... you'll find these videos.  Guys on motorcycles... going 160, 180, 200 miles per hour on busy freeways and roads.

I'm conflicted when I watch these videos.

On one hand... the stench of excitement is so thick you can nearly feel the bugs hit your face.   I feel like I'm riding along -- but I don't have to endure the road rash if we crash.

On the other... what these guys are doing is highly illegal, highly dangerous, and incredibly stupid.  I feel dirty for having enjoyed the video.

Like one commenter in the thread on the above video says:

All it takes is one dumb person ... on a cell phone changing lanes (at) the wrong time...

In Saskatchewan, the 'crotch rocket' is as omnipresent as deer on the road.  You see them blazing down Albert Street, the Ring Road and Lewvan Drive in Regina... and on Circle Drive and Idylwyld in Saskatoon.  Not only are young guys going fast... they're often doing it wearing nothing more than a t-shirt and shorts or t-shirt and jeans.  (Some - I'm guessing - would even ditch the helmet if they had the choice.)  While some guys ride responsibily, it's hard to be out for a summer night's drive and not see a guy blaring past you on his bike.

For those of us with a Y chromosome, the need for speed is genetic.  However... we express it in different ways.  I prefer to keep my street racing confined to the virtual arenas of my Xbox... but for some guys that's not good enough... and that is dangerous (not just for them, but for all of us.)  These videos are almost like a form of exhibitionism for the most extroverted of the bunch.

John Himpe is Program Director of News Talk Radio.