Why I Ride

Hi! I'm a lady who just bought my first motorcycle. I'm a writer by trade so books were always my first passion; needless to say going really really fast was never in the forefront of my mind.

Luckily, I got my heart broken by a guy who rides. When we broke up, I missed him—but I missed his bike more.

Writing was always my gateway to freedom, but after getting on a bike, I quickly realized the mind cannot be truly free if the body isn't granted that same freedom.

Yes, motorbikes are great breakup cures—I can channel all that churning gut anger and lingering nostalgia into my own sweaty road trips through the desert—but my bike has done so much more for me.

It introduced me to a community of intrepid, selfless people I never would have met otherwise. It led me to steel and rust and grease and oil, winding roads that twist into mountain valleys, tucked-away dive bars, the smell of the pavement, and dreams I never could have conjured without the agency this simple, two-wheeled machine creates for me.

If you already ride, you know all this. If you don't ride, give it a try. There's nothing like it.


Kate Reid
katereid[AT]geist.com
Vancouver

p.s. Pick up The Perfect Vehicle by Melissa Holbrook Pierson: it explains everything.

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