Ride to NOWHERE My first ride
I sat on the seat of the black Road King in the parking lotand the bike had a completely different feeling once the paperwork was done.Mystery, freedom, and thrill were replaced by WTF did I just do! The big blackmetal thing with shiny chrome, engine running, and vibration felt ominous. Ireached out and rotated the throttle and the bike became a monster beneath me, Iquickly found the off switch. Mark thesalesman who now became my first biker friend said, “You riding it home.” Itwas like a doctor slapping a baby. Ahh that’s what you do, you buy a bike, lookcool, get on and ride off into the Harley land of Freedom.
“What did you do all weekend” Joe said. I sheepishly grinnedand said “I bought a Harley.” “You bought a Harley. You can’t ride that thing!!!”He said it so matter of factly we both started to laugh, it would have hurt mypride but at that time my pockets were empty and I had to admit it was freightenlytrue. “I know! I need someone to ride ithome for me.” The shop exploded withlaughter from the guys that were listening to our dialog. Harley people aresome of the best people you want to meet and most of the time when you meet anice person you find out later they own a bike. Towder has been riding bikessince before I was born and he chimed up, “I’d love to take the first ride on yourbike.” Not only did he save me from further humiliation but he made lemonadeout of lemons.
Everything has a place in the garage there is some resemblanceof order that is comfortable even in the messiest of garages. The big blackRoad King had its own presence in the garage that was unfamiliar to me and thekids. The bike conversation was like someone had cancer in the family and itwas in the garage. It sat there gleaming with any light that shown through thesmall windows in the garage door almost to say, I dare you to ride me! It satthere all week and I couldn’t help but think of the Steven King thrillerChristine.
Sunday, June 20th 2010 Fathers day. The girlsalways make cards and write special notes in them about how lucky they are tohave a father like me. This year the cards were more meaningful and thepictures so much better than when they were younger, but this year was like noother. We ate breakfast, opened cards and took some pictures in my bedroom thatI was decorating. This was supposed to be a great day but we knew divorcechanges everyone and this was weird, soon we all got into our own routine andlife was back to abnormal. I wascleaning out the old dresser when I found a suicide note from my wife. Howironic that I would find this note on Father’s day. Every word in the English language would beshort of describing this moment; I’ll leave it at that.
The bike sounded good in first gear as I rolled down Main Street.First gear has a winding mechanical noise, vibration, and a snappy throttle. Itwas scary as hell but I needed to ride the bastard, the taunting was nothingcompared to staying at home. I rolled on to the highway and let her rip, nofear, no second thoughts, nowhere to go.

 

Going nowhere on a Harley usually leads to somewhere, but it all starts with putting her in gear and easing out on the clutch.

 

When I got my first bike in March,'69 (a tiny little Honda 175) I had never ridden a powered bike. I didn't know anyone at that time who rode or owned a bike.
I lived in the city and lived a very short distance from work so my riding for the first few months was basically learning how to ride and probably within a five mile circle around my neighborhood.
In June,'69, I felt I had "mastered" (oh,boy!) the art of motorcycling and moved up to a 750cc BSA Rocket III and then my "circle" started to expand.


With time and miles comes experience, confidence.
Take your time, ride safely and you'll know when you're ready to expand your "circle" too.


My advice to any new rider would be to pick a destination (not too distant), set a time and date, and go for it.


I've been in all 50 states (mostly via motorcycle, and only rented one in Hawaii).
I've been asked many times how I can take such long trips on a motorcycle, and don't I get tired?


My reply has always been the one from the old joke about "how do you eat an elephant"? ONE BITE AT A TIME!


Ride at a pace (speed and distance) that you enjoy.
It's not about how fast you can get somewhere, it's how much you can see and how much fun you can have.

 

You ought to be writing a novel, touching, but now you know where you can find some solace, therapy. Good luck.

 

Excellent prayer time on the back of my road king. Me, bike, the road and God. One mile at a time. You can do it!!

 

Now where to go? Time to go EVERYWHERE! Have fun, keep us up to date, soon you'll find yourself somewhere, somewhere great.

 

Great story. I was 59 years old when I got my first BIG Ride. I had ridden for many years, but small stuff. When I got the new 07 Ultra classic, I was real happy, but asked myself what did I do. I decided I didn't want anything but a real ride. Best thing I ever did. Enjoy, and you can never be lost on a bike, any direction leads to somewhere.

 

Again, Congrats !...I typed a post in your other thread. Will never forget the day I first drove my Sporty off the Dealer Lot as I actually cried. So moving, So loud, So shifting through the gears in Wind Therapy got the best of me. I became a better man every day just because people other than my ex really had shown that they do care.


Enjoy your Road King,


Thorey

 

It's not the destination that counts, It's the Journey!

I find it quite amusing when we decide to go ride. I do try sometimes to put some thought into, Where should we go? But I don't always commit. Sometimes it's just a matter of taking a right or a left out of my driveway that determines where we wind up. Have fun with it!

 

I did the same thing about a month ago when I paid my last child support payment. I bought a used Fatboy and when I got home with it thought to myself, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO AND WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!! Then came everyone's horror stories of chrashes they witnessed or "knew someone who knew someone" who had been in a bad crash. Luckily it needed about 30 hours of cleaning because it had been sitting so long. After that, I hit the road and now have about 700 miles on it.