Why All The Questions?

Originally published in Southeastern Rider Magazine, June 2016

Most of us have had to state this answer: “If I have to explain it to you, you wouldn’t understand.” I have said it, and I know a lot of fellow riders who have made it their go to answer for the question: “Why do you ride a motorcycle?”
I have been riding since I was five years old, so the answer listed above is as good an answer as any. I do remember that the freedom, and the thrill I feel today was not there. It could have been that my parent’s front yard didn’t offer a lot of freedom, and the thrill was replaced with the amount of concentration I needed to just stay upright. I remember trying to perfect the art of turning. I would go straight across the front yard, turn the handle bars, lean over, and fall right on the ground. I didn’t waste time with embarrassment or wiping off the new grass stains, instead, I would just pick up the Honda Trail 50, turn it around, kick start the engine and head back across the yard. I don’t know how many times I repeated these steps.
I got really good at right turns, and was pretty proud myself. My father soon came out issuing his version of the white flag, his index finger held up in the sky. My pride disappeared when I realized to get into the garage meant I would have to negotiate a left turn.

Though I had ridden other motorcycles prior to the Kawasaki 90 Two-Stroke,
I felt like this was my first real bike.

During my first dozen years of riding or so, I rode in my parent’s yard. Eventually, I graduated to the
back yard, more trees to avoid, and onto including the driveway in my laps. The laps were longer, and with my skill, speed became more of an element. I soon learned that speed can be dangerous, and that leaves on grass are slippery. After going down trying to take a corner too fast, I got some of the best advice from my father: “You can learn a lot about riding a motorcycle while lying on your back.”
When questioners are not satisfied with my answer, they are quick with another question, one of whether I prefer to ride alone or with someone else. This is actually a double question since I can ride on the same bike with someone else, or ride with other people on their own bikes.
When I was young, in my teens and twenties, I did all my riding alone: one bike, one rider. This is odd to me today, since I followed my father, who started riding as a teenager, and my older brother, who also started riding at a young age. We had ridden together some, but no trips, or just day long adventures.

At about the same point the three of us decided rather than buy and sell fixer upper motorcycles, we all got ones we would keep and ride for a while. Then the idea of taking a trip on the bike came about. Not sure who came up with the idea, but our first trip was not a long one, but we had a lot happen in those few days. The two wheeled trips became a yearly tradition.

A few years later, I had the chance encounter with someone who was in the Indianapolis Chapter of Cruiser Club, USA. I was helping a friend, and new motorcycle owner, by riding his new purchase home for him. I was invited to come along on a ride. This was my start with group riding.

I had little idea how to ride in a group, my sibling and father and I made a “group”, but this was going to be more than three people. The size of the packs has ranged from around five to over ten thousand. I will admit a preference, I like to ride with people I know.

I have now been a member of Cruiser Club, USA for over a decade and half. Group Riding has taken me on roads I may have never gone, and seen places I may have never seen. I was led all over the state of Indiana while in the Indianapolis Chapter. With people I met from the group, I have cruised along the Rio Grande in Texas, and rode through the Big Apple to see the Statue of Liberty. The mileage I put on a bike doubled when I joined Cruiser Club, USA Family.

So to answer the question, do I favor one or the other? I find enjoyment in both! First off, I get to ride, so it’s hard to find any fault with that. I have also found that I get as much happiness from discovering new things following behind someone else as I do leading someone else to something new. After riding with the group several times, I became one of the leaders of the pack.

Charity Rides could be described as Extreme Group Riding. This photo is from the Annual Miracle Ride for Children. It
ends with a lap around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and raises money for the local Children's Hospital. This is just
a part of the 15,000 to 20,000 motorcycles that showed up.

There is another kind of riding that could be brought into this question: riding solo, or with a partner. Of course it depends on who is sitting on the pillion. For the last eight years, I have been graced with a great riding partner.  There are times I think she enjoys the ride more than I do! Nearly every ride we can see something, and share it without saying a word.

These are far from all the questions I get asked, a lot of them I ignore, or only think about them in the solitary comfort of my helmet. I’m not going anywhere near the debate on which brand of bike one should ride, and we all dread the oil debate.

It may be an answer to a question that never gets asked, but I see an advantage to a hobby that several people can enjoy and not be able to ask questions. Pardon my bluntness, but sometimes, you just have to shut up and ride.