Tag: motorcycles

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Taking the long way home

I have been meeting my buddy, Jim, for coffee on Wednesday morning since 2008. Eighteen years. Meet for coffee then head home. We used to meet on the motorcycles and then ride out for breakfast, but we have not done that in years. Our thirdsome passed away last year, and Jim stopped riding a year or so ago. I alone still ride.

When the weather permits, I will still ride to coffee. Every now and then, I decide to take the long way home, and today was one of those days.

The weather has been incredibleyhot and humid lately. The afternoons are miserable, even on a motorcycle where you’re making your own breeze. Mornings have been better, and even pleasant.

So, after coffee, I took the long way home. It was perfect.

See you on the highway.

Brent

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Sometimes you just need helmet time

There comes those moments when you need to get out of the house, or away from work for a bit of time. To think things over. To relax. To just get out. That’s a good time to get some helmet time. Choose your wheels and go.

You may feel like you’ve run into a roadblock, or even a dead end, but there are always options. You just need to figure them out. A detour may lead to a better road. In the process, you might find some thing interesting.

There’s nothing like a little helmet time to clear the mind.

See you on the highway.

Brent

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Riding with wind in my face

Why do we ride motorcycles? The freedom? To be one with the environment rather than enclosed in a cage? Euphoria or adreneline? The wind in our face?

I wanted to take a photo of my Guzzi at the entrance to our neighborhood. It was Memorial Day and the flags looked so impressive. I wanted that photo.

It a very short distance from my home to the entrance to our neighborhood, but it was just enough to send me down memory lane.

Sixty years ago, I started riding on a Lambretta scooter that my dad brought home. I was 15. In 1965, there was no ATGATT. I did not even own a helmet, but I rode that scooter all over the place with wind in my face. It was liberating and exhilarating.  The same was true of my first owned motorcycle, a 1963 Harley Davidson Sprint 250cc Scrambler. I was 17 and recently graduated from high school. I can’t remember exactly, but I think I bought a helmet–it would not have been a full face helmet.

Over the years, I came to realize the importance of riding gear–helmets, jackets, pants, gloves and boots. I also recognize the time to gear up to go for a ride. Even if it’s to run an errand to the grocery store.

But that short ride to take the above photo without even a helmet …. That brought back the memories and feelings of riding with wind in my face. It was liberating and exhilarating. 

See you on the highway! With the gear on, of course.

Brent