Motorcycling: An Experience of Freedom
by Rainer K. Dinkelmann
I believe that riding my motorcycle gives me exactly the freedom I had always dreamed riding a motorcycle would give me. Since I was probably about 7 years old, I had aspirations of owning and riding a motorcycle. Early last year I was finally able to make that dream a reality when I bought an adventure-style motorcycle.
I love my motorcycle. It’s not fast, but then I’m not all about going fast. It’s not the most fuel efficient, but I’ve definitely seen worse. It definitely isn’t the type of motorcycle most people would choose as their first because it is so large. But I’ve gone from being intimidated by its size and weight when I first started riding to loving how sure and secure I feel on it.
Motorcycles clearly aren’t for everyone, and it seems that most people are really scared or worried about them. I regularly receive advice on how and where I should be riding in order to keep myself safe, most often from people who have never in their lives even been on a motorcycle. And when I speak with fellow riders, they speak to the reasons why I always wanted a motorcycle in the first place: the fun of it, to be sure, but mostly the sense of pure freedom.
When I’m on my motorcycle, I have earplugs in to block the wind noise, and I sit and ride. I don’t listen to music, and I don’t get distracted – I sit and I ride. I’m there to be in the moment, to feel the motor and road underneath me, and to sail through the wind. I’m unencumbered by all the steel around me, like in a car, and I don’t have any distractions like music or the radio, or even a passenger. I look forward to the day when my wife will ride with me, but for now I’m enjoying the freedom of being in the moment and spending quality time in the saddle, crushing miles. And one of the best parts of it all is when I ride with some of my best friends through some of the best scenery that Ontario has to offer.
The roads between the south end of Lake Simcoe and Parry Sound just get better and better the farther north you go; the farther north you go, the more twisty the roads get, and the more beautiful the scenery becomes. Mind you, picking the roads you want to take is important. Straighter, larger roads won’t be as fun as narrower, squigglier roads - at least not in my experience. And staying off the beaten path makes things really interesting. This is where you see wildlife you may not regularly come across; where you challenge your riding skills more consistently and because of it develop a much more intimate relationship with your machine; and also where you get an incredible feel for how much is out there that life has to offer.
When I ride, I feel free - not because I’m leaving everything else behind, but because I can so easily be in the present moment with the riding. Freedom is why I ride. And my feeling is that when people think about motorcycling, the focus should be on the open air and road, the feeling of power, and most of all the feeling of freedom.
When I ride, I feel free - not because I’m leaving everything else behind, but because I can so easily be in the present moment with the riding. Freedom is why I ride. And my feeling is that when people think about motorcycling, the focus should be on the open air and road, the feeling of power, and most of all the feeling of freedom.