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It seems like Ive always had a motorcycle in my life in one way or another. My brother had a bike when I was little and one of my sisters boyfriends rode a bike and would take me on rides. When I started dating, I was attracted to guys who rode, and eventually married a motorcyclist.
It never occurred to me that I could ride my own bike until I worked with a woman who rode. She was a tiny person and managed fine on her own. The thought crept into my mind that if she could do it, I could, too. I passed the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course offered through the DMV and bought an older Honda Shadow. Within a few months, I moved up to a larger bike. After riding for two years, I wasnt sure I liked it. I did fine as long as I rode regularly, but whenever I didnt ride for a month or two I was nervous about getting back on the bike. I was ready to give up when I watched a documentary on the Discovery Channel about five women who rode their bikes to Sturgis together. After watching I decided to give it one more year before I called it quits.
That year I worked harder at the things I wasnt good at, like stopping on hills or u-turns. The more comfortable I became on the bike, the more I liked it. I finally got to the stage where I didnt dread getting on the bike after a few months absence. Rather, I started going through withdrawals. Eventually I became interested in sportbikes. My brother-in-law loaned me his Yamaha FZR for a summer. I decided sportbikes were the way to go. I test rode a Yamaha YZF600R and liked it. Later that week, my husband went back to the dealer and bought it for me.
Since then Ive owned several different sport bikes. Currently I ride a Yamaha R6. My husband and I ride about 15,000 miles a year. Five years ago, in 2001, we talked about quitting our jobs and traveling on the bikes for a year. The first year, 2002, we didnt take our plan seriously. In 2003 we started talking about it more frequently and decided we really could do it. In 2004 we started planning out different scenarios. In 2005 we started setting dates. In January of 2006 we gave notice at our jobs that we would be leaving in May of 2007. We put our house up for sale and surprisingly sold it in only four days and moved into a small apartment.
In May of 2007, we will embark on our “grand adventure.” Weve set up a daily budget for ourselves that should allow us to travel for a year. We have a “no plan” plan. We are going to travel to places weve heard of and would like to see. We will visit people weve met on the Internet through different motorcycle groups and attend rides in places we wouldnt normally be able to because of time constraints. Well also go up into Canada.
We have had many people tell us how jealous they are that we are going to be taking this adventure. We dont know for sure that well like it, but we figure it will be easy enough to cut the trip short if we dont. Wed rather be able to say we tried it and didnt like it then wonder “what if” for the rest of our lives.
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