To me it's not that big a deal. It's recreation. Riding a Harley is fun, but it's not my life.

 

I ride to get away from everyday life. I usually will make time for a 20 minute ride, that turns into 3 hours because I figure if I spent the time to get the gear on I might as well use it. I ride about 5mph over the speed limit if there is little or no traffic. I even give the Harley wave to cagers who don't kill me.

 

Some years ago I came home from a business trip to find all my stuff stolen in my house. I called a friend up instead of going nuts, over my stolen stuff. He said they had just come back from breakfast, I asked where they had gone, he said Ashville, I expected the answer of Denny's we both livedaround Raliegh, NCand Ashville was about 2 hours away. I questioned why he would go to Ashville for bacon and eggs.. and then he told me he and his girlfriend rode and they had friends that got together to ride about 10 or 12 guys and couples. Man that sounded fun.

I asked myself one simple question: What do I do for fun? I asked him if I could join them, he said buy a bike andcome on.
so.. two answers now to the why I ride:
one to eat breakfast
I know what I do for fun now

to answer why a Harley, the honest answer is two parts.. at first I thought it was the only bike you were "allowed to have" and I could not afford one. So I bought a Honda, thinking and hopeing one day I could afford a HD. I also asked if I bought a honda would I be "allowed" to ride with them. He laughed and said it was about the ride not what I rode.
I loved my first Honda, but got tired of explaining why I did not ride a HD. Somehow I believed in classics and HD seemed to be one.
Now that I have had a HD.. I guess the notion that I had one became un important. But it is the same reason I bought wooden blocks for my daughter, there seems to be a classic toy for all ages.

To me riding is about finding out about myself. I meditate on it, it relaxes me, I pray and enjoy life without conflict when I ride.
Peace of mind, that feeling of taking a turn, or seeing a hawk on the back roads I travel or reaching back to pat my wife on her thigh, I can feel her smile.
Then days like the other day when I pulled up in a local cafe and met a man 78 years old that smiled from ear to ear and told me about his harley he brought home from the war. He talked I listened. And to many times when riding seeing that look of awe from children as I pass or they pass me.. they wave and I smile and wave. And knowing as the bikes pass and we wave at each other the common bond of "oh yeah".. I understand.

 

It's about being American, loving America, and appreciating how good we have it. I'm currently in Iraq and my bike is stowed away back home. I went home on leave recently and only got about 60 miles in do to weather and a very busy 2 weeks. However, those 60 miles were so much better than all my previous miles combined because I have a new appreciation for what we have in America. I've seen things that no man or woman should ever have to see here in Iraq. In America I can get on my bike with no destination in mind and have the freedom to ride wherever and whenever. A nice slow ride through the country sporting a smile and a set of lungs filled with fresh American air is what it's all about.


SGT Neil Bailey
07 Super Glide