I have been asked several times, what’s the difference between driving a car and riding a bike? My response when driving a car You are Watching A Movie, when you are riding you are In The Movie!

How did this all start, good question actually? As I was 43 years of age when I got my first bike, I will go through the events that brought this to fruition. Basically, a friend of mine by the name of Steve (the individual holding his daughter) talked me into getting a bike as well as a few other of my classmates. Below is the culprit to so many thrills and adventures.

At that time I was taking classes at Rogue Community College (RCC) at the Table Rock campus. Being as I have wanted to get a street bike since I was a little kid, this was just the push I needed. Below is my 1986 Yamaha Maxim X or XJ700X. At the time of the picture she only had 43,500 + or – 500 miles.

 

Before this, I had attended the mandatory Team-Oregon basic rider training. Probably the best thing I had done to teach me how to actually ride a street bike. The difference between driving a car and a motorcycle is like night and day! Once I had completed the Team Oregon course, I looked on craigslist and really didn’t see anything that I could afford, as my budget was thirteen hundred dog hairs (dollars). Steve suggested that I place a want ad, so I did, and within two hours a received an e-mail stating this seller had a bike for sale. I followed up and made an appoint to meet in Grants Pass that following weekend. Everything went well, and the deal was made. I became the proud owner of the 1986 Yamaha XJ700X.

  Within just a few weeks I went on my first big adventure and rode from Medford, Oregon to Grants Pass, OR and down the Pacific Coast to Fortuna, California. What a fantastic ride six hundred miles round trip, one can’t truly understand the sights and smells that you are afforded by riding on a bike. The aromas of the flowers, trees and the Pacific Ocean are force feed up your nose through your helmet, Just amazing.

 

Over the last five years, I have had the pleasure of putting close to 75,000 total miles on her. I have added 30,000 miles as you can see by the odometer. If you look close you can see the the the trip mileage is the same 59.3 in both pictures, that was just a fluke. Yet It brings a smile to my face when I gaze upon the images and I reflect upon all the places that I have been able to visit. I have far to many pictures to share yet I will share a few from my beginnings over the last few years to help you to see what I have seen.

I would like to say that riding has been great and wonderful and for the most part it has. The reality is that there is a learning curve, particularly with corners. Any rider can go fast in a straight line! It is the dynamics of cornering that gets most riders injured if not killed. From the beginning of my riding experience, I have learned that one has to ride as if everybody else on the road is out to run you over. I can’t tell you the times that I have had other motorists (cars/trucks) change lanes or pull out into traffic as if you were not even there. This has been proven by my own experience many times, to combat this I just ride defensively and always leave myself an out!