Discovering Solidarity

Well, as stated previously, my first lesson in motorcycling was actually two lessons: the technical aspects of riding a motorcycle and the love of a rider for his bike. So as Norm picked up his bike and I picked up myself, a relationship was born.

And thus in spite of my bruised backside and the discovery that I was not as important as a machine, I had $300 saved up and a couple of months later sans the blessings of my mother, I bought a Honda CL 70 and got my first dose of mobility and freedom. But with freedom comes responsibility, and before my girlfriend would be allowed to ride double with me, her parents had to check me out. So they came over, watched me ride up and down and all around, and feeling quite accomplished, I decided to do a quick u-turn in the driveway. Unfortunately said drive-way was dirt, and I promptly dumped the bike.

The third scooter lesson: over-confidence is a vicious mistress.

Later that same day, downcast and passenger-less, I took a ride. I headed along Ocean View Blvd (a name reflecting more of a dream than a reality) in Jensen Beach, Florida and coming towards me I saw a guy on a chopper. Long-hair blowing in the wind, with loud pipes roaring, he was for me the epitome of cool. And there I was riding a single cylinder bike that could do only do fifty miles an hour going downhill in a hurricane. But as the gap between us closed, I saw his face break into a smile as his arm rose from the handlebars and his left fist clenched in the motorcyclists sign of brotherhood.

To me.

I was a just a skinny kid riding a scoot that most good athletes could outrun on foot. But I was riding two wheels, and I had just been accepted into the fraternity. For a boy seeking identity (and wondering if he would ever get his girlfriend on his bike), in those few seconds that act by a complete stranger had taught me my fourth lesson in riding: solidarity.

This was a pivotal moment for me, not just as a rider, but as a human being, and a fourth lesson from motorcycles remained: little acts of kindness can change a persons’ life in ways we will never know.