Monday, November 8, 2010

Why I Ride

I know, I know.  Riding a motorcycle is dumb.  It is dangerous, stupid, and selfish.  Your are hurtling down the road at 70+ mph surrounded by other vehicles ten times your size being driven by drunk distracted people talking on their cell phones and putting on their makeup.  Why in the world would any thinking person decide to ride a two wheeled donor mobile "for fun"?  Yes, I understand.  I get it.

Why then did I decide to dive back into the two wheeler pool?  This after my experiencing an "unplanned dismount" of my own a couple of years ago in Colorado that totaled my beautiful FJR and put me down and out for some number of months of recuperation. One might think that after that experience even for someone as dense as me the light would come on and say OK, you survived that one but what about the next time.

The simple answer might be as the old sage said "If I have to explain it you wouldn't understand".  It's sort of like asking people why they climb mountains.  It's miserable, boring, dangerous, and when you get to the top you still have to get down and when you get down what have you really done and how have things changed?  You just spent a ton of time, money, and energy not to mention exposing yourself to unnecessary dangers that can maim and kill you so why do it?  Climbing mountains and riding motorcycles are not for everyone -- indeed, they are not and shouldn't be attempted by most people for all the obvious reasons.

So, why do I ride?  The simple answer is it's fun.  I like it.  Riding gives me a feeling of freedom and makes me feel good. I like the power, sound, wind, and exercising the skills to operate the machine.  It focuses my attention on the immediate moment while using the required concentration to make the ride as safe as possible.

The quick come back to this is hell, golf is fun and requires skills and gets you outside, yada, yada, but golf usually doesn't put you into the hospital or worse so why not play more golf instead of getting on a motorcycle? 

If I have to explain it you wouldn't understand.