Why Do We Ride?

Tony Lewis of EuroSport Cycle sent out a newsletter this month with a short article on the front page challenging readers to answer the question, Why Do We Ride?" Here's how I responded:

The answer is likely as diverse as the people who routinely venture out on two wheels. For me, it is an addiction.

Back in May of 2009, my wife told me if I quit smoking I could buy a motorcycle.

That very moment I removed the final pack of cigarettes from my shirt pocket, crumpled it in my hand, and performed a perfect three-pointer from ten feet away into the corner trash can.

"Nuthin' but net". I've not lit up since.

The deal was that I had to have quit smoking for six months before I could buy a bike.

It had been 14 years since I'd owned a motorcycle, but I'd longed for another since the day I gave in to financial responsibility and sold my old Yamaha XS1100. Robin knew that was the one thing I longed for that
could convince me to finally give up my two-pack-per-day smoking habit. Thoroughly convinced I wasn't ever going to light up again, Robin soon gave in to my pleas early and by July I was searching the DFW area high and low for a good deal on a used Triumph Rocket III.

I made several offers and counter offers, but soon realized that good used Rocket IIIs are hard to come by, and their were no "good deals" to be had on the used ones that were out there.

I finally found a stunning deal on a brand new 2008 Rocket III Classic at EuroSport Cycle in Fort Worth and by the end of the following day Tony and Martha Lewis had me outfitted and ready to ride. I cannot express the pride and excitement I felt as I rode that beast home, my worried wife following along in her Avalanche under the fresh revelation that her husband hadn't just bought a new motorcycle, he'd bought the largest factory made hot-rod cruiser available anywhere on the planet.

Over the next several months I realized that riding these days is more challenging than ever before. My previous riding days had been in the dark ages when mobile phones were only carried by the rich and famous, and required batteries the size and weight of bricks and a tether from the handset to a bag of transistors, wires, and circuit boards that did the real work of connecting to the nearest cell tower. Today, you're lucky if the cager rolling beside you is just talking on the phone and
not texting or updating their FaceBook status.

Despite the inherent adrenaline rush in the challenge of distracted cagers and negotiating curves so close that the floorboard scrapes the pavement, there's a stress relief in riding a motorcycle that transcends the worries and fears arising from our daily routine.

When I'm on my bike my world shrinks and expands at the same time. The office, the chores, the walls all disappear and my mind is focused upon the wide open world, the road, and the power of that bike which seems to be an extension of my body. It is primal and modern at the same time, and it has more than replaced the nicotine habit I sacrificed for it.

I've often joked that my wife got me to trade my cigarettes for a motorcycle because the cigarettes weren't killing me fast enough; I think that in truth the relaxation and joy I get from riding is extending my life. Even if I'm wrong about that, I know it's extending my joy in life. What good is living longer if you're not spending some of your time having the fun of leaning hard into a curve on two wheels?

Motorcycling is my addiction...and for me it's the "new drug" Huey Lewis was longing for in that 80s song.