I had that same observation after I started riding a few years ago. It's not as much a matter of my being more cautious than it is my being so much more aware of everything around me. I notice everything now.

And I always wear a full helmet. For safety sake and as a practical matter. The wind bothers my eyes a lot, even with goggles (which make me look stupid as hell). Couple that with the fact that, so far, I've killed three birds. One hit my mirror and the other two bounced off of my helmet. I'm lucky that all I lost was control of bodily functions.

__________________
Though I am different from you,
We were born involved in one another.

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

Complete surrender should not just come at moments in which one faces overwhelming odds, but in the calm when it seems one is personally in complete control of one's life.