I rode the big Triumph into work today. It was raining cats and dogs this morning; has been since last night.
I thought of Randy and Dave -- a couple of riding buddies -- as I rode in, splitting lanes between the stop-and- go traffic.
I was wearing a pair of Columbia rain pants that Dave gave me a long time ago. They still keep me dry in the heaviest rain.
But that's not why I'm thinking of those guys or writing this today. What those two really gave me was the ability to ride confidently in less than ideal weather conditions.
Boy, do I remember that first long ride! Rain, snow, hail, wind, sand...we saw it all.
Anyhow, these days I don't "tolerate" bad weather, I actually enjoy it. And that is the true gift those guys gave me.
I was a fairly new street rider and the two guys who invited me on that 8-day ride back in the summer of 2000 were experienced motorcyclists. I learned so much from that ride and enjoyed it immensely.
Dave would say, "I'm a rider, not a collector." And Randy was never in a hurry, never too concerned about weather.
"We don't have a lot of vacation time," he would say. "We gotta ride when we can ride, weather be damned."
And so it is.
Big thanks, fellas. I miss riding with you very much.
My old riding buddy Brian would push me to limits like that as well, taking our Harleys up and down muddy roads, over ice and snow, and yes rain too. And as much as I felt nervous managing an 800-pound motorcycle in such conditions, he proved to me I could do it.
ReplyDeleteOh, you might want to resize that photo.
We have a saying in Oregon - "If you don't ride in the rain, you don't ride."
ReplyDeleteRain, hail, mist, wind, sunshine, fog, we've got it all. The elements sure don't bother me like they used to, hubby made sure of that when he got me into riding.