Bessie and Me: Shifting Gears

Biketoberfest 2013 I haven’t had this much fun in Daytona in years; its always better when you take a virgin.....as in ‘someone who has never been to a Daytona Bike Event.’ Biketoberfest is one Bike Event that I genuinely look forward to all year; the weather in Central Florida is approaching perfect in October and this event is significantly smaller than the Mother-Of-All-Bike-Events, Bike Week in March. It makes for a more ‘intimate’ experience, if you can consider 150,000 fellow bikers intimate.  I invited my partner Paul down to Daytona to enjoy Biketoberfest with me; he took two days vacation from his annual hunting trip...so it must be love, right?!  I burned two tanks of gas in the OPPOSITE direction of Daytona, to connect with him in Richmond Hill...so it must be love, right?!  We enjoyed a chilly, fog-shrouded ride on one of the best ‘backroads’ in Georgia/Florida - SR17 - as we headed south last Thursday morning. SR17 is one of those roads ‘time-has-forgotten.’

I could hear my girl Bessie calling to me this morning at ‘oh-dark-thirty’ as I slid into my car , ....it was a mournful sound of a woman neglected!  Between work and the weather, the opportunity to ride has been slim; we fixed that this eve!  I couldn’t wait to get away from school today for two reasons - 1.) I have the chance to talk to the new man in my life who happens to be an entire continent away at the moment, and 2.) I promised myself if it was NOT storming when I left school, Bessie and I were riding!  The beginning of this school year has been the roughest start I’ve had to school in several years; great kids, great school, new administration, and lots of changes as we shift to Common Core....Ms. D. has been feeling off center and needed to chew up several miles of asphalt to feel ‘centered’ again. Found Him! A quick ‘good-bye,’ and a quick change of clothes and Teacher Chick was transformed to Biker Chick...I felt almost guilty as I uncovered poor Bessie who

Me and Bessie1 The Riders Edge instructor put his hands on his knees and peered down at my crumpled form on the pavement, then inquired as to whether I was ‘okay?’ Laying very still and mentally checking for damage to my body, I assured him that the only thing harmed was my pride. The instructor was not one to miss a ‘teachable moment,’ he then inquired,  “So, what did you learn about the bike?” I was still in a prone position on the asphalt, right shoulder throbbing, and the 492cc Buell Blast splayed out on the pavement along side of me....I thought about what I did just before going head first over the handlebars. “Never squeeze the brake while the front wheel is turned?,” I offered meekly. “Yep,” he replied knowingly as he offered me a hand up off the pavement. Then he looked at me, gestured at the bike, and indicated I should “pick it up,” and get back on it.  And for the next 48 hours, I maneuvered that Buell Blast all over the Riders Edge course with

If It’s About ‘Inertia,’ Is It Really Inertia? Inertia: a property of matter by which it remains at rest or in uniform motion in the same straight line unless acted upon by some external force, OR:   indisposition to motion, exertion, or change. RELATED WORDS: apathy , languor , lassitude , lethargy , listlessness , sluggishness , supineness ; dallying , goldbricking , loafing , lolling , lounging .  When I started ‘riding,’ five years ago, I started ‘writing’ again (is it any wonder the English language is so difficult to learn?). Something magical happened when I started moving forward on two wheels, the synapses started firing and ideas started to spew out of my head.  I was so astonished when it happened the first time, I had to pull over to safety, grab my ‘Blackberry,’ (that was a long time ago) and send myself a text message with the idea!    After my first road trip on Bessie1, I started a journal, an electronic journal. I would re-read the effort and begin to

Tucumcari New Mexico: The Mother Road '07 As is the case with most notable occasions in my life – some pleasurable, most problematic – this one started with a man.  A man and a motorcycle.  In the summer of 2007, after a frantic, ass-numbing, 6800 mile cross country ride as a passenger, astride my friends Harley Davidson Road King Classic, I climbed off that bike, looked him square in the eye and said, ‘I’m gettin’ my own.’  It didn’t occur to me then that I was making a decision that would affect me so profoundly that I would claim it ‘saved my life’ (and sadly, cost him his).  I made the decision based on travel preferences at that moment... not life saving choices.  I have been hopping on the back of a boys motorcycle since I was sixteen-years-old; not much changed as I got older. I was still attracted to the ‘Bad Boy’ persona of a biker, the thrill of riding, the need for speed.  I had rode ‘two up,’ with my friend ‘Butch’ (of course this isn’t his real name)  fo

July 8, 2013 “Curves Give Me Clarity” Live Outloud I rolled into the driveway yesterday with 3858 miles accumulated on Bessie2; the first thing I do when I end any ride - whether it is 4000 miles or 4 miles - is shut off the engine, and and sit quietly while I listen to the soft ‘tick, tick, tick,’ of the engine cooling down, then I softly say ‘Thank You God for Another Safe Ride.’  When I set out on this journey June 21st, I was seeking to find my confidence again on two wheels. The accident on Bessie1 in April of 2012 had robbed me of that; I have spent the last five months restoring my courage in my ability to handle the motorcycle and squelching the all-too-familiar FEAR that had started to be a frequent flyer with Bessie2 and Me.  I am happy to report that the confidence level is back to ‘Maximum’ once again, and that frequent flyer - Fear - took a backseat for most of the ride.  With each challenging hairpin turn, I was given the clarity for the challeng