My First Ride… All Over Again

This weekend I got a couple of rides on our “new-to-us” motorcycle. We suited up yesterday afternoon and took a very leisurely route to the local airport for lunch. Along the way I couldn’t help but think about how much this ride was like my first ride on our 2000 BMW RT 1100. It was May of 2000. We had passed a motorcycler who waved at John, and he waved back. When we got to a stop sign, I lifted my visor and asked “do you know that guy?” That’s when he explained that motorcyclers just wave at each other — no matter where they are, or what they’re riding. They just wave. And so I did from that point on.

We pulled out onto Route 75 yesterday afternoon and passed a motorcycler who waved, and John waved back. And I thought “Oh yeah, I’m supposed to wave!! How could I forget that?” Luckily, I hadn’t forgotten much else. John says that he barely ever felt me back there. That was really good to hear. We had a great lunch and then took a very long time getting home. Even explored some new roads.

Back in 2000, I was wearing a leather jacket and a pair of jeans; a helmet that was two sizes too large. While I was wearing a leather jacket and jeans yesterday, my jacket was a real riding jacket with armor; I had leather chaps over my jeans; my helmet was brand new and fit just right. Just as in 2000, we don’t have any gadgets or gizmos on this bike yet. No GPS, no intercom system. All communication was done with pats, hand signals and a nod or two — oh, and some shouting with the visors up.

After dinner we went back out on the bike — our first trip to Hoffman’s (an awesome local ice cream joint) since we had sold the RT in 2004. I think we did a total of around 110 miles yesterday. Not much by our former standards, but a nice start to the season. It was good to have homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream again. It was good to hear the wind whistling by again; to feel a cool breeze through my jacket. It was good to smell flowers and cow poop and freshly cut grass again. And even to feel every bump in the road.

It’s good to be back.

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