Why Do You Ride A Motorcycle?

 

 

 

The Third Mile
by Michael Murray

 

Why do you ride a motorcycle?

Have you ever asked yourself this question?

Here's why I ride...

Late this Friday night I got a voicemail from a friend - he had a spontaneous idea and asked if I wanted to ride with him at 6am the next morning.

Now, I've been riding since I was very young, and I ride a lot… and yet, like a kid on Christmas morning, I was up at 4:30am getting my gear ready, and before the sun came up, I was ready to ride. Where we were riding to didn't really matter to me. The destination is rarely as fun as the ride getting there.

The planned 6am route was a familiar ride for me - I've enjoyed the Colorado canyons on countless rides before. But this morning felt different to me.

 

At 6am the sun was just making it's way above the horizon.

At 6am there are hardly any cars on the road.

At 6am, the long SHADOWs cast on the landscape

make it surreal and spectacular.

At 6am the AIR smells fresher… cleaner… crisper.

 

Am I over-romanticizing this mornings ride?

Maybe.

But this is my actual experience of my ride. And that's partially my point. It's not about the destination for me. And it's not necessarily all about the motorcycle for me.

 

It's about the many moment-by-moment experiences

that I appreciate most

 

It starts the moment I lift my leg over the seat for the first time since my last ride - a silence comes over me as I settle in to the bike, gripping the handlebars and scanning the gauges.

With a turn of the key and a twist of the throttle, she starts right up… and then sometimes stalls.

She starts up again and putters for a bit in the cold morning. But after some time the engine relaxes and a melodic purr at idle sets in, a sound that I know and love.

As we ride off, the first mile or two is the adjustment time for me. The bike's mostly warmed-up and responsive - but I'm not.

After about the third mile the bike's fully warmed-up and fully responsive, and now, so am I. I feel energized and fully ALIVE!

 

there's a zen-like quality that comes over me

when I'm riding my motorcycle

I'm at peace

I'm in the "zone"

I'm very present

 

We ride beyond the edge of town where the road opens-up and now we're on the "fast" roadway. We both automatically and organically TAKE OFF, twisting the throttle more and opening her up. My bike responds quickly and with precision and the familiar rush of adrenaline kicks-in as my bike wants to launch out from under me - leaving me to squeeze the grips just a bit tighter with a reaffirming hold that says YEAH! Let's GO!!!

As the bike gets up to speed, the landscape in my peripheral vision now becomes a blur, and my sights of the road ahead becomes super-focused. And although the wind-noise is now greater than the engine-noise, my memory of this moment is in total silence... and sometimes played back in my mind in slow-motion.

I settle-in to the faster pace, choosing carefully and quickly the lines I'll take leaning into the next corner. And even on the straightaways, my mind is on the bike and the road, and on me. I'm not thinking about work. I'm not thinking about much of anything, and there's a zen-like quality that comes over me. I'm at peace. I'm in the "zone". I'm very present.

As much as I'm focused on my ride, it always amazes me how I notice the simplest of things while riding; the scent of the grass as I ride past a field; the change in temperature as I ride in the shadow of trees, and then out in the open where the sun beats down, or the coolness when the sun hides behind a dense cloud.

And one of the random things I like about riding - waving two-fingers below the handlebars as another motorcyclist rides by.

 

The camaraderie I have with other riders

is unlike any connection I experience with other people

no matter what their bike

or their background

or their nationality

I consider them friends

 

So, as we return back into town, I'm somewhat tired from the intensity of my focus after about two-hours in the saddle.

And yet, as tired as I may be… I'm ready to top-off the tank, get back on, and ride another 2-hours!

So when you hear someway say "It's All About The Bike", there certainly is some truth in that for me - but on a much larger scale, it's all about the ride, and all of the above and more.

 

Something happens to me when I ride a motorcycle - difficult to describe in a few words… but who of you motorcyclists can understand what I'm trying to describe here? How to put into words to convey the internal feeling of what it's like to ride.

It's a good question, "Why do you ride a motorcycle?".

I know why I ride. Even if I can't fully articulate in words.

Know what I mean?

--Michael Murray

 

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Why do you ride?

Please leave a comment...

 

 

Ride on!

—Michael Murray
Owner | Rider | Enthiusiast

michael@motorcycletraveldvds.com

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