When I first told my partner that I was going to start riding a motorcycle, it’s fair to say that it didn’t go down well.
Of course she’d heard countless horror stories of people falling off their bikes, and the thought of sitting at home worrying while I was speeding down busy roads was something that she just couldn’t stand the thought of. Furthermore, she couldn’t understand why I would feel compelled to put myself in such danger, and to spend so much money for the privilege. What’s the upshot?
Well I wouldn’t say that I’ve quite brought her round to the idea yet, but I at least put her mind at ease enough for her to stop trying to talk me out of it, and we are now generally at an understanding regarding my new hobby. I think I was quite eloquent at explaining the allure and I had lots of arguments to help her see why it wasn’t actually as dangerous as it might at first seem.
So I thought I’d do my bit for the community and share my monologue with you here. Show this to your worried partners and hopefully it will help them to understand a bit about why you feel the need to ride, because I wish that something like this was available when was in the throes of that debate. You’re welcome…
Why We Ride
Watch the opening scenes of Tron: Legacy and that should give you a good idea of why we feel compelled to ride. The hero is alone in a quiet city roaring through the streets on his motorcycle, deep in his thoughts and at one with his surroundings. The scene is poetic and from his perspective it must be liberating, exciting and almost meditative.
And in fact there are many such scenes in movies. Why? Because it’s the ultimate symbol of freedom and of human achievement. The unison of man and machine that allows us to travel at great speeds and liberate ourselves from our usual limitations. The feeling of exhilaration that comes from flowing round a corner and then roaring off into the distance, and the sheer power of the machine that helps us to do all that.
We spend most of our lives these days typing in dingy offices, pushing trolleys round aisles and sitting on the couch – there’s no action, no adventure and no excitement. When you’re on a motorcycle though you get to be a hero, you get to leave all your worries behind and you can go wherever the mood takes you. You shouldn’t stop us from riding any more than you should clip a bird’s wings, we need it to feel alive.
Why You Shouldn’t Worry
But don’t think that we don’t think of you at home, or that we don’t care that you are worried for our safety. We’re touched by it of course, but want to do everything we can to make sure you know it’s safe. Sure, accidents happen, but statistically they’re still unlikely and still no greater than they are for many of the things that we do every single day. Most accidents happen in the home, but it’s impractical to spend all your time in the garden.
And those odds of an accident happening go down even further when you know that we are driving safely and not taking unnecessary risks. When you know that we’re aware of the dangers, that we’re taking every precaution, and that we’ve invested in the best safety gear to protect us even when the worst should happen.
There are always going to be risks, but if you don’t take a few of them then you’ll never really live and you’ll lose the passion that you have for life. We don’t want you to worry, but we need to feel the wind against us and we need an escape.
And maybe one day you’ll consider experiencing that liberating and exhilarating experience with us? Maybe you’ll get on the back and share in the excitement that it can bring and the feeling of empowerment. It’s only then that you’ll really understand…
This post has been contributed by Miley Stevens, a sales executive at Pit Stop Parts And Apparel, a company supplying an extensive range of motorcycle gear in Australia. She works hard and she enjoys cooking and baking when she isn’t busy working.
