Did you feel
that? Riding season has begun
again. It starts slowly, with a day of
agreeable weather here and there and then WHAM!, spring is here. Hope springs eternal at the start of a new
riding season. Like the start of a new
school year when anything is possible, your weekends and time behind the
handlebars feel unlimited. After a long
winter or, in our case, a mild winter, the warm weather encourages thousands to
gas up and go. Anywhere.
And that’s
what riding is all about, isn’t it?
Freedom. The freedom to choose
your destination and point your bike towards it. It almost doesn’t matter which direction you
choose, as long as the roads are smooth and there’s an open lane in front of
you. What to choose? The seacoast or the mountains?
Living in
New England provides a lot of riding opportunities and challenges. If you ride a sport bike and want to test
yourself, there are many difficult back roads with lots of switchbacks. If you have a cruiser or a touring bike, you
might enjoy a milder pace and endless vistas.
We have it all, here in New Hampshire, some of the best riding in the
country.
For our
first ride, I picked a familiar destination about 2 hours from home. We know the place and the roads there take
you through rolling hills and winding twisties.
With the aforementioned mild winter, the signs proclaiming Frost Heaves
were lying. The road was smooth most of
the way, until a route change put us onto a road in need of repair. No worries.
After blasting along for most of our trip, it was okay to slow the pace
and to pick a line on the bumpy pavement.
We stopped
for lunch, to talk and to drink coffee.
The company was better than the coffee but even bad coffee is welcome at
times. We ran into some friends, eating
in the bar at the restaurant and enjoyed seeing other bikers out enjoying the
day. The parking lot was filled with
many different types and brands of motorbikes, all of their owners reveling in
the day.
It’s nice to
have company on a ride but, as always, someone has a deadline. Two of us took the fast way home; the others
returned from the direction we arrived.
With a highway return, we rode as fast as sense and traffic would
allow. The bikes love the cool, dry air
at this time of year and we wasted no time on the road. Our return was almost half of the time that
our outbound trip took but was equally enjoyable. There is nothing like a fast bike on a smooth
road!
I shot
through a tollbooth and was not at all surprised that my EZ Pass transponder hadn’t
worked. I noticed it last year on the
few passes through toll areas. A phone
call should set that right, as it has worked for me in the past. Arriving home at
a decent hour, I still had time to enjoy the setting afternoon sun with my
spouse, grateful to her for allowing me a day to myself.
A first ride is like a first kiss, you never know what to
expect. Today was a good one and I look
forward to many more this year. Most of
the riders I know say that they will “ride more this year”. Somehow, life, work, other obligations get in
the way.
We’re
fortunate to have this personal freedom and to live in a country as large as the
United States. From my door, I can look
west to thousands and thousands of miles of undiscovered adventures. All I have to do is plan one (or not).
Get out and
ride. It’s what you need. It’s what the world needs, more freedom.
A low, slow
wave,
Joe Rocket
