|
||
|
The sun creeps over the treetops, its warm rays driving the chill from your limbs as you open the garage door and wheel your motorcycle out onto the driveway. You prop up the bike and check to make certain everything is okay, which it will be because you take good care of your machine. You don your helmet and jacket and pull on your gloves, and then start your engine. The beast jumps to life and then settles into a lumpy, powerful idle. You look over the bike one last time, and then mount up and ride away. Now the fun begins. At about the same time, your neighbor, co-worker, friend, or family member is unloading his—or her—dirtbike at a local off-road park. He goes through the same rituals, giving the machine a thorough preflight inspection, donning protective gear, and then mounting up, snicking the machine into gear, and riding away. Now the fun begins. You take it easy at first, waiting for your tires to warm. You shift through the gears, feeling the satisfying mesh of the cogs, and breathe in the cool, clean morning air. The vibration through the handlebars and footpegs feels reassuring, making you aware of your machine's mechanical presence. As you ease out onto the practice track, looking for oncoming riders, you do a warm-up lap. With each lap, you increase your speed, getting air over the jumps. The bike responds perfectly to every weight shift, to every control input. As your tires warm, you start accelerating harder through each curve. You snake through a series of S-curves, settling into a rhythm among you, the road, and your bike, engaged in a dance as elegant as any ballet. This is what it's all about. As your muscles warm, you start riding harder, hitting the triple section perfectly, and taking inside lines where others are taking the longer, slower outside one. You and your bike find the track's rhythm, one that's less of a ballet and more of a break dance. This is what it's all about. It doesn't matter whether you're riding a cutting-edge sportbike, a heavyweight cruiser, a big touring bike, or a powerful but agile dirtbike; the thrill of the ride is what draws you out again and again. Whatever emotional baggage you may have accumulated, you leave behind on the open road. When you're participating in a dance with your bike and the road, it doesn't matter that your boss is a pointy-headed sociopath, that your spouse shouts at you, or that your kids act like juvenile delinquents. There's no room for such worries on a bike because the activity at hand requires your total, undivided attention.
|
|
|
