Out of the Garage and Into the World
It was a cool, gray day in my little part of the world. Somehow it feels a little different than it did just two months ago when I parked the scooter and motorcycle.
I don’t know how those of you who retire from riding in September and don’t return to it until spring manage. After a six-week riding hiatus due to pandemic restrictions in Pennsylvania I was experiencing no-moto cabin fever.
Still, I felt restricting myself from riding the Vespa and K75 was prudent considering all the unknowns at the time and my own unique immune system quirks which squarely place me in the high-risk category of humanity. One day before the stay at home order was to expire in Pennsylvania I pushed the motorcycle out of the garage and into a new world.
It seemed like an eternity since my last ride.
I tentatively returned to the road riding a motorcycle. My BMW K75.
Why the K75?
The motorcycle is more serious. Mechanical. Heavy, Challenging. Always reminding you that you’re piloting a machine. When I’m riding the BMW I tend to ride with a focused intent on continual motion forward. I don’t look for pictures and almost loathe stopping when I feel compelled to do so. It’s as if I’m captaining a sailboat and have caught a brisk wind. It’s all about moving forward.
I ride the motorcycle. It’s different with the Vespa. I wander on the scooter, look around, turn around, stop, start, and make photographs. On this first ride re-entering the Moto World I wanted to fly.
An instant exhilaration swept over me as I mounted the motorcycle, started the bike, tapped into first gear and moved out on to the road. As the RPMs increased so did the grin on my face. My heart beat quickened and the sheer thrill of riding enveloped my pandemic constricted psyche.
Oh how I love to ride. The therapeutic effects are tangible. I feel serene and probably more important, I let go of most, if not all of, my expectations of having “things” my own way.
Riding delivers for me a lightness of spirt that I can only find otherwise through meditation.
Re-entering the Moto World has been a gift.
I’m grateful for the quiet paths and byways in Central Pennsylvania that afford me the opportunity to ride with fewer risks to manage that if I were in a Metro area. Dumb luck on my part that I sort of stuck around the area after college.
It’s good to be riding again. The pandemic has changed how I perceive the world and has expanded my appreciation of the landscape, riding, and my life. It’s so easy to embrace denial and distraction to a level where I can wander mindlessly through life. The slap up alongside my head by the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the world.
Motorcycles generally don’t go backwards. You ride forward. I won’t be riding backwards towards the good old days of a pre-pandemic world. Things have changed and I’ll change with them. Time will tell how riding has changed.
Regardless, it feels damn good to be riding again.
Glad you r back in the saddle,yesterday is history tomorrow a mystery..Today matters more than ever now..Thankful for you Steve one of the few I don’t think I have ever disagreed with .Keep riding ,writing,and stay safe and thank u again for Scooter in the Sticks●
It’s good to be back on the road. Clears the cobwebs and darkness from my mind. More important now than ever. Just need to make sure I use good sense, skills, and strategies while riding. Still don’t want to tempt fate with a stay in a hospital.
I’m sure there must be something going through my head that you would disagree with. I steer clear of a lot of topics that seem to do little more than generate bad juju. So I’ll just keep riding and posting!
Thanks for taking the time to comment and sharing your thoughts. I appreciate them Don.
I haven’t gotten back on yet but I know everything will finally feel ok again when I do. We’ve had the sidecar out a little to give the adventure dog some thrills. That’s been fun but it’s nowhere near the same experience as dancing with the GS. Cheers!
It surprised me how quickly everything felt “right” Val. I hope you get to the point where it makes sense for you to get back on the GS.
Adventure dog. My dogs have no adventure spirit in them when it comes to sidecars. They’re far too skiddish.
Be well.
A few years ago you said that riding the scooter made you feel like a bird. I replied at the time that riding my motorcycle made me feel like a fighter pilot. Welcome to my world.
While I don’t quite feel like a fighter pilot on the K75, probably because of the relaxed speeds I embrace, I do feel I am piloting something powerful and mechanical. It’s fun to step from one world to the other.
I saw your opening statement: “The world I stepped away from two months ago is different now upon my return riding a motorcycle”. Then I saw your opening picture and my first thought was: “Well yes………..the world 2 months ago had trees”!
Jim
Hah! Trees. There were some noticeable trees in the last picture!
It’s just nice to be riding again.
“ It’s different with the Vespa. I wander on the scooter, look around, turn around, stop, start, and make photographs”
I have been riding once a week on average throughout this social distancing exercise and perhaps a wee bit more often since the weather has improved. The quote above struck me in that I have hopped on and off large and small platforms over past several weeks and those rides have reinforced this same sentiment. Love the big bike and it’s seductive attributes to which I am too often smitten by. Riding either of the sub 250cc motos has provided a more immersive and well rounded riding experience.
Thanks once again for a timely post Steve … Enjoy your outs and abouts 👍
The smaller machines just open a door to a different experience, don’t they? I’ve come to love the motorcycle but find the Vespa entirely satisfying in many different ways. I have space in my mind, and my garage, for both.
Stay safe during all your rides. As someone shared with me this morning regarding how they feel when asked I’ll now share when I’m asked how my ride went — “I feel blessed.”
I don’t miss riding oddly enough. I think about being in the hospital now, wrecked as I then was, surrounded by coronavirus and I wonder at the temerity. Thus it is easy for me to set aside two wheels and find new means of expression. Good luck and definitely don’t break a leg. I’m looking forward to my new road trip adventures in a box.
Your experiences on two wheels, especially your decision to stop riding, have taken up space in my head as I consider my own situation. While I don’t feel temerity in my own decisions to ride or how I behave on two-wheels, still the heightened risk remains. And I wonder of alternatives. Who knows where the road will lead me.
I’m looking forward to your new adventures on the road. Your wit and skill with the camera should, if you chose to do so, provide some compelling vicarious experiences for those of us not in a situation to make those journeys.
Hope all is well with you and your keeping your head beneath the swing of the COVID-19 virus!