We had a pretty good ride this weekend. We took off on a south-easterly route as opposed to a south-westerly route like we normally do. I had ridden part of this before and knew the road would be good with lots of beautiful scenery.
It was cool on the ride, but not cold. Just about right as long as you had some gear on which is to say that you would have been cold without it and you weren’t hot with it on. I always ride with gear on, but my friends often do not so it was good to see them sporting jackets, chaps, etc.
It’s springtime here in Texas and though it’s significantly cooler than normal the flowers are out in bloom and just about everything has greened up nicely. The bluebonnets are out, but not in mass numbers like they usually are. Sometimes, it’s a sea of bluebonnets as far as the eye can see. I think the cold has kept them at bay, though.
There are all kinds of reasons why we ride and I’ve read some very good summaries of why people ride. I am not sure that I care to list all the reasons I ride as there are many. Sometimes that reason is very simple – I am one of the small percentages that can actually ride a motorcycle whether that is because of the ability to actually ride, or because I am not afraid to ride. Not many people ride bikes and that makes us (riders) a small close-knit community.
Other times, it’s the little kid in the car next to me waving at me as he eyes my bike. They are already realizing there is a something different about riding a bike that goes beyond being stuck in a cage just as I knew there was a kid. I wave back and their face lights up even if the mom is cursing me in the front seat.
Then there are all the people that I meet when I ride. People just seem to be friendlier. “Hey that’s a cool bike, what kind is it?” at the gas pump. Stopping for lunch might yield a “What a gorgeous day to be out and about. I wish I was out there.” I am not sure if riding bikes turns you into more of a social being, or if we ride bikes because we are social beings. I think it’s the latter.
And when you are riding you get to experience the world. You are in the world and a part of it. Not stuck in a cage where you are isolated from sound, the smells, the sight and the feeling that the world has to offer. You might argue that you can get that in a convertible and I’d argue that there is still a big difference between having 2 tons of metal wrapped around you with a windshield and riding upon a machine that exposes you to the elements.
And yes, I can twist up the throttle and run through the curves harder and faster than most people ever would in a car. As I lean the bike in I am aware that my contact patch with the road is a mere ½-inch per tire and I get to physically work my motorcycle through the corner as I feel the g-forces push on my body and my bike. Knowing that at any moment an error in judgment or traction could wind me up in the ditch, or worse. Enter the corner too hot or simply realize that there is something in the road and you will find the pucker-factor quickly kicking in. For some reason I find all of this simultaneously exhilarating and oddly fascinating at the same time.
And through it all, it’s my peace….my zen….my chi. It is not only unwise, but very difficult to think about anything else but the sheer effort of riding in this manner. I often find that I am very relaxed during the ride as well as at the end of it. One of my friends told me that while on the back of my bike they zoned out to the extent that they couldn’t remember sections of the ride. How often do you get that relaxed without falling asleep?
But I also am mystified by some people and their preference of riding just as they must be by mine. In the motorcycle world you have a few basic categories of riding: Street, Off-road, and Stunting. If you ignore the fact that stunting and off-road is illegal on the street that means most people ride to commute, or ride for pleasure, or both. In any case that gets us down to two basic categories – cruisers and sport-bike riders. And though there may be a whole plethora of sub categories those are the two main ones.
And somehow, those are two worlds apart in the motorcycle community. If I put aside all of the animosity between the two camps I still don’t quite understand cruiser riders vs. sport riders. I’ve done both. I had a cruiser. I always wanted one and I finally got one. And then I realized that it was not conducive to my riding style. After a ride in New Mexico and grinding my pegs down (by leaning into corners) I realized that my style was more aggressive and I gave it up for a sport bike.
And what I’ve found since riding a sport bike is that the entire reason we ride is different. You can analyze why that reason exists but it’s there. Sport bike riders apparently live for the twisty road. The one that curves endlessly and offers the sights, smells, sounds and feeling that one cannot get from a highway.
Cruiser riders live for the interstate and the long slab down a well traveled highway. Put your feet up on the highway pegs and drone endlessly down the highway as mile after mile unfolds.
One might say that I am generalizing, and I am. But let me put it to you like this – when I get out and ride the roads I like to ride I rarely see cruisers. I see other sport bikes from time to time, but not many cruisers….until I get on a major highway and then they are all over the place. I could probably note every bike and factually cite that cruiser riders are on the major highways 80 or 90% more than on the back roads. Seriously, on one ride I counted about five motorcycles for nearly 100 miles. Then I got on a major highway and quickly racked up over 100 motorcycles (almost all cruisers) in only 20 miles.
And that’s what I don’t understand. Why is there such a huge disparity between where sport bike riders like to ride and where cruiser riders like to ride? Granted, the bikes themselves are made for different purposes, but it’s clearly not the machine that forces you to do one or the other as both machines are capable of either one. If you want to ride the back roads, you buy a sport bike. If you want to ride the highways you buy the cruiser.
But I take almost no pleasure at all from putting my bike on an interstate and slabbing it down the highway. I’d rather not ride the bike than be forced to endure this for hours on end. Turn the tables, though, and some of my cruiser rider friends would say the exact same thing about the roads that I like. It’s that different.
So while I don’t get understand the difference it’s why I ride that counts. It’s not about the destination. It’s the journey that lies beneath my tires and for me that is not found on the interstate.
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