Tag Archives: motorcycle

general-post, motorcycle

Riding along

2 Comments

image My husband got a new toy recently. He got a motorcycle. Specifically a Honda VTX 1300.

I know, that means nothing to most of my readers. Frankly, it doesn’t mean a lot to me, either. It’s a motorcycle. And I am still getting used to having it around.

See, I never had any experience with motorcycles at ALL until I met my husband. And I’ll me honest, the stories that stuck out to me in our “getting to know you” days were the ones of his accidents on bikes back in the day. Specifically the one that left him being life flighted with horrible injuries.

So, when my husband would talk about wanting a motorcycle again, my stomach would clinch. Can’t we talk about a hot rod? Or how about a boat? Maybe a horse? But no, he wanted a motorcycle.

I had never ridden on one. It wasn’t really something that was even on my bucket list. But last November, he got me on the back of a friend’s bike for my first ride. And I had fun. I did. But it didn’t really put, “Go get a motorcycle” on my to do list.

A couple months ago, though, an offer fell into our lap to get a motorcycle, and I had absolute no reason to say no, outside of fear.

We took possession a few weeks ago, but we were too busy to ride it. Plus, it needed new registration stickers and it didn’t have a backseat for me.

So, over the last week, all those things were remedied and as I write this, I can say I’ve gone of more than one ride with my husband… and, yes, I do have fun every time. But its still going to take awhile before I get excited about it. I’m trying, though. I am.

My hesitations come from fear of an accident. I trust my husband’s abilities, but I don’t trust other drivers. Not as far as I could throw any of them. I give cars and trucks the evil eye from my backseat perch of the bike. Don’t you DARE hit us!

But my hesitations also come from my constant fear of running out of money. When you’ve lived with $10 in the bank that had to last days, you have this intense need to watch every single penny. The bike needs a lot of parts to be replaced that were removed by the previous owner. It needs a windshield, saddle bags, side panels (really!?), the back turn signals returned to stock, and a crash bar.  Not to mention we want to invest in good leathers, and other riding gear. Oh and I want to outfit it with LEDs so we are seen easily at night. So, yeah, as I joke to my husband, “Money just flying out of here!”  But, that will all come in time as we can afford it. It’s fine as it is; we just want to make it even better.

I’m enjoying it. I am. Honey, see? I said it! I’m enjoying it. It’s fun to ride, and I can’t deny the gas savings! Plus, it gives us a second “vehicle” that we’ve been needing again. So… I’m going to focus on the positive, and the excitement will come with time.

about-me, fears, friends, husband, Uncategorized

Facing a fear

4 Comments

If you’d asked me before this weekend if I was afraid to go on a long ride on the back of a bike, I’d have probably not given you much of an answer. Or, I’d have given you a much longer answer than you wanted.

I’m not afraid. Its just not high on my list of things to do. As in, not even on my bucket list to be knocked off it.

HOWEVER.

I married a man who happens to love motorcycles. Who has had bad accidents on them, and yet still wants to get right back on. There’s something admirable about that… not letting anything stop him from doing something he loves.

Not even a wife who practically wanted to burst into tears over plans to go riding yesterday. Because that “just not interested” turned out to be, “Scared to death.”

When a friend offered us his bike for the afternoon, my husband became more excited than anyone’s kids after Halloween, staring at a big bowl of candy. I couldn’t not go. I couldn’t deny him this excitement. He wanted to share this big part of himself with me, and I appreciated that more than I could share under the quivering, shaking, terrified child I became.

We went to pick up the bike. We got bundled up (since even though it was upper 60s, it would be chilly on the bike), my husband plopped a helmet on my head and… I swung a leg over and had a death grip on my husband as we took off.

We hooked up with some friends to go riding together, and off we went hitting back roads around Nashville. It took awhile, but I slowly released the death grip I had on Hubby’s jacket. I even got confident enough to dig out my phone and take a few photos.Out riding

Half-way through our travels, we stopped to have a light lunch together. Fighting daylight, we didn’t linger long before we took off again. Getting back on the bike, I figured out a more comfortable way to sit, and my confidence went even higher.

As the sun started to set (darn time change), it started to get chilly. We stopped to stretch our legs for a moment and come up with a plan. We headed for a local bar for a post-ride drink before calling it a night.

I faced a fear, and I conquered it. I have to thank my husband for being so adamant we were going, despite my fears. I didn’t fall off. We didn’t crash. We only  had ONE vehicle ignore a Yield sign and pull out in front of us — but then, that happens ALL THE TIME here, so it was just annoying versus scary. I didn’t freeze. And… dare I say it? I had fun.

Yes. I had fun. There. I said it.

I. Had. Fun.

And I will be happy to do it again sometime.