Very few people have actually experienced the life of a biker. Thus I, a biker for 10 years (yes, I know that for some that still makes me a spring chicken, but hey), will now bestow appon you the life and style of a biker. No, not a weekend warrior (a person that owns a bike but will only ride it on weekends if the weather is perfect) but rather the life of a true biker, one that rides day in day out, through rain or snow or gloom of night and needless to say when the mercury drops to Zero Kelvin… okay maybe not then.
The first thing that I would like to address is the stigma around bikers. For some reason people out there seem to think that bikers are mean and nasty people (maybe it’s the leather, but I am yet to see handcuffs and whips). I can assure you that this is by far not true, okay maybe the Hells Angles but I have been out drinking with them and they too are the most awesome people out there. Bikers, in truth, are fun loving people; they ride for the freedom (I’ll address that later) and try and have as much fun as humanly possible. Sure, there is the little problem that if you screw them over, they have a slight tendency to break you but I see that as your fault… after all, you stopped the fun.
For the most part bikers (please note; there are a lot of new bikers out there that have started riding as bike prices have dropped. I do not deem them as bikers, as none of the rules that bikers adhere to are in these people) are extremely courteous people. We the bikers do not see cages in a bad light (okay other than the fact that they crash, catch fire and the driver burns to death). We merely see them as obstacles in the path of our freedom and fun. There are plenty of things that us as bikers do that may cause problems, but that is our problem, not yours.
Anyway, I am sure that you are far more interested in what it is like to ride a bike instead of my rambling about image and life… So let me share it with you (See, I am nice and courteous). First let me state that there are many different types of riding; the freedom ride, the traffic ride, the miserable ride and the utter terror ride. I’ll address each of these in turn.
The freedom ride, this is the ride that bikers live for. It is very difficult to describe the actual feeling but I will try. Firstly let’s define freedom. The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary describes freedom as; "the condition or right of being able or allowed to do whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited". Now let me state that there is, in truth, no such thing as true freedom, we need rules to exist, and one of those rules is gravity (one that can be a serious problem for a biker… I know). Anyway, it is on these freedom rides where the world fades away and life is truly worth living. Remember those dreams that you had as a kid where you could fly? Well that’s it. There are times where the bike just seems to disappear from under you. You look at the place you intend to go and that is where you go. Of course, it’s not as easy as that, there is a lot that happens; changing gears, clutch, accelerator but all these things fade, you do them as naturally as you breathe. In it’s place the feeling of freedom and joy. However, this freedom is also the one thing that makes it so dangerous and it is.
Then there is the traffic ride… Okay, these could be better but they are part of the life we have chosen. So let me try and paint a picture… Ever play those funky games at the arcade where you are the airplane (seen from the above) and have to fly through a canyon while the badguys are trying to shoot you and fly into you? As the stages progress the screen ultimately becomes full of objects and you somehow, even though you have no clue how, survive? Well that’s about it. One very important thing of riding in traffic is that as your experience grows you start learning to listen to your “biker sense”, something spidy wishes he had. This allows one to know what cages are gonna do before they even know themselves. Sure there are tricks and telltale signs that you look out for that can give you hints (see the top 5 worst drivers – a biker’s view for a hint). So basically riding through traffic is; judge, break (front or back… yes, we have both), accelerator, clutch and gears. This combination can of course vary to any one of the 720, different variations available to you. To be honest, it’s not fun but as long as you are courteous to the drivers they are pretty courteous to you.
Next up, the miserable ride; these suck, these are the rides where you just wanna curl up and die, okay not quite but you still never even come close to wanting a cage. They are however, still quite miserable. These are the ones where water is falling out of the sky at a speed of 600km/h, your under garments are soaked through and (in the case of a guy) your balls are lying in a ice cold pool of water (graphic yes, but it gets the point across). Other examples of a miserable ride would be when boulders, the size of bowling balls, made of ice are falling out of the sky, turning your helmet into a bowling pin and of course the odd typhoon that sneaks up on you and turns the entire riding experience into a 45° riding angle affair. YAY! Not what we live for but I guess its life.
Then, the one we all fear, the ride of utter terror. I have had very few of these in my life, and all of them are when your visibility is reduced to the inside of your visor. Now if you take into account that the inside of your visor is about 5 cm from your nose it is, well, terrifying. The first of these wonderful experiences was while cutting through traffic. There was a felt (bush for internationals) fire and the smoke, thick as maple syrup, was blowing across the highway. Now picture cutting through traffic, knowing that there are cars to the left and right of you, knowing that they can see you just as much as you can see them and knowing that there is nothing you can do other than pray. Religion is at times a very big part of biking. Fortunately, the biking god (I think his name is Loki), is for the most part a very forgiving god albeit with a sick sense of humour.
Thus far I have been very carefully avoiding the… relatively large downside of biking that I mentioned before… gravity. You see there is a small problem, as soon as the bike really disappears from underneath you (this is actually quite odd because it always seems that the bike goes one direction and you go the other, the odd thing is when you get up you are right next to each other) is that you are pulled to earth. I can share with you from my experience that earth covered with tar and stones really hurts, for some reason. In my years of riding I have lost a lot of skin, injured a knee and my wrist but this will not stop me. I have had friends who have had their backs broken and an “elder brother” who died. I have had girlfriends and friends scrape me off the tarmac and even cops treating me for shock (who’d have guessed), but still, I will not stop.
But to sum up, bikers “Live to Ride and Ride to Live”. It is the thing that fuels us through this cruel thing called life. I am sure that there are plenty of you out there that can not comprehend this life, but in all honesty there are plenty of others like us; people who jump out of perfectly good airplanes, people who jump off bridges and people that like snowboard down vertical mountains. All of us do this for one reason and one reason alone, it makes us know we are alive.
The first thing that I would like to address is the stigma around bikers. For some reason people out there seem to think that bikers are mean and nasty people (maybe it’s the leather, but I am yet to see handcuffs and whips). I can assure you that this is by far not true, okay maybe the Hells Angles but I have been out drinking with them and they too are the most awesome people out there. Bikers, in truth, are fun loving people; they ride for the freedom (I’ll address that later) and try and have as much fun as humanly possible. Sure, there is the little problem that if you screw them over, they have a slight tendency to break you but I see that as your fault… after all, you stopped the fun.
For the most part bikers (please note; there are a lot of new bikers out there that have started riding as bike prices have dropped. I do not deem them as bikers, as none of the rules that bikers adhere to are in these people) are extremely courteous people. We the bikers do not see cages in a bad light (okay other than the fact that they crash, catch fire and the driver burns to death). We merely see them as obstacles in the path of our freedom and fun. There are plenty of things that us as bikers do that may cause problems, but that is our problem, not yours.
Anyway, I am sure that you are far more interested in what it is like to ride a bike instead of my rambling about image and life… So let me share it with you (See, I am nice and courteous). First let me state that there are many different types of riding; the freedom ride, the traffic ride, the miserable ride and the utter terror ride. I’ll address each of these in turn.
The freedom ride, this is the ride that bikers live for. It is very difficult to describe the actual feeling but I will try. Firstly let’s define freedom. The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary describes freedom as; "the condition or right of being able or allowed to do whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited". Now let me state that there is, in truth, no such thing as true freedom, we need rules to exist, and one of those rules is gravity (one that can be a serious problem for a biker… I know). Anyway, it is on these freedom rides where the world fades away and life is truly worth living. Remember those dreams that you had as a kid where you could fly? Well that’s it. There are times where the bike just seems to disappear from under you. You look at the place you intend to go and that is where you go. Of course, it’s not as easy as that, there is a lot that happens; changing gears, clutch, accelerator but all these things fade, you do them as naturally as you breathe. In it’s place the feeling of freedom and joy. However, this freedom is also the one thing that makes it so dangerous and it is.
Then there is the traffic ride… Okay, these could be better but they are part of the life we have chosen. So let me try and paint a picture… Ever play those funky games at the arcade where you are the airplane (seen from the above) and have to fly through a canyon while the badguys are trying to shoot you and fly into you? As the stages progress the screen ultimately becomes full of objects and you somehow, even though you have no clue how, survive? Well that’s about it. One very important thing of riding in traffic is that as your experience grows you start learning to listen to your “biker sense”, something spidy wishes he had. This allows one to know what cages are gonna do before they even know themselves. Sure there are tricks and telltale signs that you look out for that can give you hints (see the top 5 worst drivers – a biker’s view for a hint). So basically riding through traffic is; judge, break (front or back… yes, we have both), accelerator, clutch and gears. This combination can of course vary to any one of the 720, different variations available to you. To be honest, it’s not fun but as long as you are courteous to the drivers they are pretty courteous to you.
Next up, the miserable ride; these suck, these are the rides where you just wanna curl up and die, okay not quite but you still never even come close to wanting a cage. They are however, still quite miserable. These are the ones where water is falling out of the sky at a speed of 600km/h, your under garments are soaked through and (in the case of a guy) your balls are lying in a ice cold pool of water (graphic yes, but it gets the point across). Other examples of a miserable ride would be when boulders, the size of bowling balls, made of ice are falling out of the sky, turning your helmet into a bowling pin and of course the odd typhoon that sneaks up on you and turns the entire riding experience into a 45° riding angle affair. YAY! Not what we live for but I guess its life.
Then, the one we all fear, the ride of utter terror. I have had very few of these in my life, and all of them are when your visibility is reduced to the inside of your visor. Now if you take into account that the inside of your visor is about 5 cm from your nose it is, well, terrifying. The first of these wonderful experiences was while cutting through traffic. There was a felt (bush for internationals) fire and the smoke, thick as maple syrup, was blowing across the highway. Now picture cutting through traffic, knowing that there are cars to the left and right of you, knowing that they can see you just as much as you can see them and knowing that there is nothing you can do other than pray. Religion is at times a very big part of biking. Fortunately, the biking god (I think his name is Loki), is for the most part a very forgiving god albeit with a sick sense of humour.
Thus far I have been very carefully avoiding the… relatively large downside of biking that I mentioned before… gravity. You see there is a small problem, as soon as the bike really disappears from underneath you (this is actually quite odd because it always seems that the bike goes one direction and you go the other, the odd thing is when you get up you are right next to each other) is that you are pulled to earth. I can share with you from my experience that earth covered with tar and stones really hurts, for some reason. In my years of riding I have lost a lot of skin, injured a knee and my wrist but this will not stop me. I have had friends who have had their backs broken and an “elder brother” who died. I have had girlfriends and friends scrape me off the tarmac and even cops treating me for shock (who’d have guessed), but still, I will not stop.
But to sum up, bikers “Live to Ride and Ride to Live”. It is the thing that fuels us through this cruel thing called life. I am sure that there are plenty of you out there that can not comprehend this life, but in all honesty there are plenty of others like us; people who jump out of perfectly good airplanes, people who jump off bridges and people that like snowboard down vertical mountains. All of us do this for one reason and one reason alone, it makes us know we are alive.
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