My parents berated me for ages on this one.
Gear: I SAY I'm fully geared at all times. I'm a liar. Sometimes I don't wear my jacket (no excuse). Always gloves and helmet, but that saves my life and not my skin.
Training: MSF BRC, ERC, trackdays, riding with non-squids, and all the material I can find about riding (this site, keith code, nick ienatsch, etc etc). not only about riding, but about mindset, traction control, where I should be looking/pay attention, bike repair, ANYTHING.
Style: I speed AWAY from cars. most of tx is hwy driving. My objective on the road is to stay as far away from other cars as I can. God knows what the hell they're doing. Sure, I speed, but not excessively. Once I'm in a patch of open highway i take it damn easy. have yet to attack twisties.
riding mates: nobody who competes or acts like a total jackass. i don't want to crash, nor do I want to stop and pick up somebody who does
Basically I show people that I do everything I can to minimize risks. There are people who ride weaving through traffic on unknown roads with a cellphone, sandals, and basketball shorts, flying hard on an R1 they can't control.
I know my limits, and push them GENTLY when I ride. 'Cause I have to develop better skills to stay alive. Don't push that envelope too hard, though!
And I make sure I have fresh underwear on at all times. Nobody's packing me into a meatbox with skidmarks on my drawers.
/squeaky clean since '89