Sunday, April 13, 2008

Motorcycles

When I was growing up my dad had a motorcycle. My grandfather had a motorcycle his entire life. He used to tell me stories of how he raced them down Grenville Avenue in the 30's, 40's, and 50's. I loved listening to his stories but at the same time I was glad my dad was already around in the 40's. Grandpa always rode Harley Davidson's. My dad seemed partial to Honda's and the Gold Wing's. At one point both of my parents rode Honda's. I look back at it and I still cannot believe my mother had her own motorcycle. I used to LOVE IT when Grandpa would come out or Dad would ride to Grandpa's and we would ride the motorcycles. Well I used to love riding with Dad. Grandpa was always a little scary. He would go through all of his gears it seemed like within 50 yards of the light and I remember just hanging on to the back with a death grip on the motorcycle seat. Grandpa always had that small little seat on his Harley's like the ones you see on bikes from the 40's and 50's. I literally held on to the bar behind me and prayed. Now after we were going it was fun because Grandpa HAULED on that bike. Dad was easy. Sometimes he would take off quickly but you always had a strap to hold onto or I held on to dad. The perfect time of year was from the middle of March to the summer nights. I have some fond memories riding with my dad. In the late 80's dad sold his motorcycle because he became increasingly scared of riding in traffic. He never had to lay a motorcycle down but he did have to take evasive maneuvers a couple of times with my mother on the back of it.

Tony from Tony's Tidbits is about to get a motorcycle and it is a beautiful bike. About 7 years ago I was about to buy a motorcycle. At the time we did not have any kids and our cars were paid for so I was SERIOUSLY thinking about it. We even went out one night and peaked through the windows. About two months later we found out we were expecting and that was the end of motorcycle talk. I think all guys have something in them, however small, that dreams of owning a motorcycle. I might even buy one someday but it will be WAY DOWN the road when my kids are in high school or college. I dream of riding a cruiser. I never have been a fan of the racing bikes or crotch rockets as I like to call them. It will probably be my midlife crisis purchase. Tracey has never road on a motorcycle so it will probably be just me but who knows for sure really. I know my mother would shoot me now if I bought a motorcycle or heaven forbid put one of her grandchildren on it so it is best to leave it alone and live vicariously through TONY. The only thing that bothers me is if you have to lay it down usually the concrete wins in a one on one battle between man and concrete.
Going through all of this medical stuff has taught me life is short so maybe in a 3 or 5 years after my car is paid off. Hmmmm. For now maybe I will just get one of those scooters ro ride around the nieghborhood. BEEP, BEEP!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice post. Hope you get that bike someday! Stop by and see us some time at http://www.cyclepedia.com/

Tony Rosenberg said...

The idea is not to get yourself into a situation where you have to lay it down, Hoss :)

The MAN Fan Club said...

Hope you didn't learn to ride from your grandpa........