Riding Anniversary

End of August marks the first year of my revived hobby, or call it passion, of motorcycle riding. A year ago I was impatiently waiting for my mail-ordered gear to arrive, the bike already sitting in her new home… and then I was too nervous to actually get out on the road on the twenty years old but new to me Honda named Lady Hawk.

Eventually I overcame my anxiety, and began riding in the early mornings and late evenings with low traffic, often shadowed by my fellow traveler in the car, protecting me from Calgary cagers.

I lost my training wheels circling around in a community that was yet to be built; only the infrastructure with a nice and shiny blacktop was already set up, and finally I found myself ready for the open road.

Much too soon a new job and other obligations plus really crappy weather reduced my chances to discover the vicinity of Calgary on two wheels to zero. My Lady Hawk was put into hibernation, but the desire to get the right bike for touring plus reading blogs with two-wheeled content kept me going through the long dark winter hours.

After six months I was so fed up with the ‘white shit’ and the cold, that I decided that it was time to find a better and warmer place to live and ride, hence the move to the We(s)t Coast back in March, and moving on to another job.

I got my new bike, Nella the yellow beemer, in May and together we rode into the sunset.

The End.

No, the encounter with my perfect two-wheeler did not mark the end but rather the beginning of a wonderful friendship between (wo)man and machine, and so we keep on sharing many sunsets. I try to take her out every other evening as work and life allow, and go on longer round trips in the lower Mainland (300 to 400 km distance) on the weekends, rain or shine.

Thanks to a fellow rider, you might know him as bobskoot, I did not have to explore the area aimlessly. And it got better: in July we had the opportunity to travel south of the border, and went on a five days trip through Washington and Oregon.

After this my appetite for the grand tours has become insatiable. Nowadays my little escape routines are merely satisfying my needs for distances, but as such are valuable as preparation for the next epic journey. Maybe next year… vacation days and moneys are long spent, and fall and winter are closing in soon.

At least there will be many more days for riding through fall foliage, and maybe the occasional trip on a sunny winter day.

See you on the road, my fellow readers and riders. And let’s all keep the shiny side up!