Heading out...
Foto by Vanessa Lillian
First Real Ride Of 2016
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Yeah… well I had been thinking about this for a while. We’ve had warm days, we’ve had cold days. Whatever… I always think about riding. Today the sun was out… in a hazy way and the outside temperature was in the low sixties. Not bad at all. I had spent much of the morning recycling stabilized gas into the Jeep and my truck. That way I can fill my reserves with fresh fuel and I get a fill up I paid for last Fall. I put air in the tires of the Ultra Classic, adjusted the suspension, cleaned the windshield on the bike and the face shield on my helmet and got out my leathers and boots. Nice, very nice.
Now motorcycle riding is something I’ve done since I was thirteen. It’s an immense part of my life. Having ridden as long as I have you hear all sorts of stuff from people who don’t ride. They talk about ‘donor’ cycles… accidents… all sorts of unpleasant stuff. Hey, guess what. Motorcycle riding is potentially a life threatening activity just like flying. Those of us who love riding accept this as part of the deal. We’re not risk takers. Life is itself inherently dangerous.
Yeah… screw it. Let’s ride!
So I saddled up and headed into Athens on Old 33. The trees aren’t budding yet, but the pastures are already green. The farmers are mucking out the barns and the early Spring air dances with the hint of manure. Truth be told… it doesn’t smell bad. It’s the smell of Spring in the country. I hit the video store and returned some rentals. I still love going to the video store and browsing through the stacks. I’m not a Netflix guy. It’s like going to an old school record store.
Back on the bike and off through the Appalachian hills… taking fifty miles to get home… it would normally be ten miles. I used to think of my Dad when I took rides. He said at the end of his life he always wanted a motorcycle… Well Dad, this ride was for me, but I thought of you.
Flawless… perfect. What a day!
Home with the girls… the house is filled with the smells of dinner cooking.
Life is good!
Coming back
Foto by Vanessa Lillian
I remember Alan Watts saying something to the affect that by making life safe we take the life out of it. I don’t ride motorcycles. I do ride human powered vehicles. I know it ain’t the same but there’s nothing like being out in the wind.
lol, Jorma !@Jorma
Yes indeed!! tomorrow will be my first ride of the spring,the weather in Charlotte is in the 70s for tomorrow I am closed Good Friday and decided to give myself the extra day to do nothing more than ride and listen to music I am heading up to the Parkway to where NC and VA meet. Got the music loaded and the gear and can not wait to hit the road.
“ROLLING DOWN THE HIGHWAY…..
I bet you know the rest huuuuuuu
Ride safe and enjoy
Wendy and I will be doing same this weekend , checking fuel,tire pressure,changing plugs.
Looking forward to back country rides in the Bluegrass.
We will be at LIVE OAK ,in April for electric Tuna and NMA( they’re a trip),
That back country of Northern Florida would provide some great rides-you could poker run ,spring to spring.
All days on the top side of the grass are good days
I’m thinking about upgrading my mobility scooter with a nice big Twin shovelhead and tear ass around the retirement village…blaring “Yellow Fever”, natchlee!
Feel ya brother,easy breeze in the wind,no destination but my own,let the mind and worrys of life go,kick back,sit back,feet up,hands on the throttle,working on moving a bit more in the sticks with the wife and kiddo to a place as you mention,a place blessed that will bring the quality of life to a place of contentment and happyness,babylon killing folks spirits man,gettin to old for the ways of the world,lol need that starship,always appreciate comming here and brings my spirit up the things you share with us and others comments,thank you as always jorma.
This is exactly I want to learn to ride! I am 50 and for years I have wanted to see if I was able to ride, but listened too much to the naysayers and alarmists. This year I am finally taking the CT DOT rider course and am looking for a small bike to cut my teeth on. Life does indeed get better with age.
Happy Spring!
Beautiful. I took up riding a year ago and I too think about it almost daily. There is nothing quite like meandering around the farms and backroads of rural America. Yes there is risk, but we take precautions with appropriate gear. That being said, I despise the crazies that zig zag thru traffic popping wheelies and generating so much noise. They are dangerous to others and give all riders a bad image.
I used to live in Burlingham back in the 70’s, old 33 is indeed scenic and has lots more character than the new ‘super 2’ lane road that replaced it. Pratts Fork had a wonderful little strip pit where we skinnied, and the little town of Shade with its school… wonderful memories but a hairy road at night or during flood season! That hill going up out of Athens to Pleasant Hill RD(where we spent two years in that big white farmhouse you can see from the new 4 lane)was a real monster in the snow, too.
Enjoy the spring. m
If one can live in a place that makes one happy, and have activities in your life that make you fulfilled, one is indeed blessed.
For me, getting out of NY before turning 60 was, and is, a quality of life issue. Santa Cruz is beautiful, quiet, clean, full of natural beauty.
I get to Frisbee Freestyle still, live a clean life, and I get to play Music.
I feel like the luckiest guy in the world.
Ride on.
There’s just one thing I’ve got to know, can you tell me please if way back in your Northampton Street days there was a time when rather than going around Chevy Chase circle like most folks would do you instead chose to ride your scooter up the curb, across the grounds of the circle and then back down into the street continuing on your way? There are times traffic going around that circle is just crazy and to see you do that on a scooter would’ve been something else.
– A long time fan
I rode my Lambretta Scooter to Woodrow Wilson High School almost every day of my senior year in 1958/59. I never rode across Chevy Chase Circle… but I rode lots of other places motorized vehicles weren’t supposed to go… including the road bed of what we now know as I-495. By the bye… there wasn’t that much traffic back then.
Life is indeed good. And you deserve every speck of goodness that comes your way. You have given so much, and continue to give so much, and not just through your music but by sharing your thoughts and words as well. Thank You.