I believe the question is deeper than what the question, "Are you a real biker" connotes. It is true the term "biker" carries a cultural implication, you know, tattoos and studded leather, etc. and if that's your thing that's fine with me.
It is my hope that motorcycling is for each rider exactly what he or she wants it to be regardless of the label anybody hangs on it. Whether it is measured by the hours of polishing chrome and waiting for mild sunny days to ride to
the ice house, or redline revs and track day knee dragging, or odometer clicks and calendar years, or campfires and mountain views, adrenaline or solace, camaraderie or solitude, it's whatever we do on two wheels to capture the euphoria we crave. Our passion for riding is what's "real".
It's never having to look back and say: I wish I had ridden today, I should have taken that trip, the weather wasn't all that bad, or I wish I could ride like that, or someday I'll . . . . . .
You shudder to think of or simply cannot imagine being without a motorcycle. You know you're "one", whatever one is, when your visor is clean and you twist the right grip and you look out at the sky and the sun or the moon and the stars or you see your headlight illuminating the fog or the mist and you love the smells and the thermal air currents and it revitalizes you and gives you that something beyond description. But if you know, if you understand this, then you're one.
It is my hope that motorcycling is for each rider exactly what he or she wants it to be regardless of the label anybody hangs on it. Whether it is measured by the hours of polishing chrome and waiting for mild sunny days to ride to
the ice house, or redline revs and track day knee dragging, or odometer clicks and calendar years, or campfires and mountain views, adrenaline or solace, camaraderie or solitude, it's whatever we do on two wheels to capture the euphoria we crave. Our passion for riding is what's "real".
It's never having to look back and say: I wish I had ridden today, I should have taken that trip, the weather wasn't all that bad, or I wish I could ride like that, or someday I'll . . . . . .
You shudder to think of or simply cannot imagine being without a motorcycle. You know you're "one", whatever one is, when your visor is clean and you twist the right grip and you look out at the sky and the sun or the moon and the stars or you see your headlight illuminating the fog or the mist and you love the smells and the thermal air currents and it revitalizes you and gives you that something beyond description. But if you know, if you understand this, then you're one.
nice writeup Ken....and yes, I are one....
ReplyDeletea motorcyclist, that is....
ReplyDeleteGravy are one too
ReplyDelete