A Ride Not Taken

[Zola]

Contemporary neuroscience research strongly suggests that the less experience someone has in an area, the greater their confidence in their abilities - and that the greater their experience, the more likely they are to recognize and admit that there are others more expert. Counter intuitive, you say. Just consider any inexperienced rider, and 40 years ago, this one included.

Spring 1971, I had never been on a motorcycle and all I knew about them, besides the obvious - two wheels, motor, clutch, brakes - was that I wanted one. The movie Easy Rider was claiming another victim. My wife, LT, and I were completing our second year of real jobs, teaching school in Central Square, NY. We looked forward to our first real summer vacations. No grad courses, no summer painting jobs, just ten weeks of time off. The plan? Ride to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. My choice of bikes? A 350 Suzuki. In 1971 a 500 was considered a big bike so a 350 should be just dandy. Sure.

The dealer was unable to get delivery on a 350 but was able to get a 500 Titan. Probably best, I thought, for a long road trip even though the Titan was one of the ugliest machines Suzuki ever manufactured. I didn’t have a license so my friend Dan Butterfield picked up the motorcycle from the shop and gave me my first lesson – curbside. I had been driving standards, so how hard could it be? I found out the first time I cracked the throttle to pull away from the curb and spent several terrifying seconds laid out on the tank and seat hanging on for dear life. The good news was I was able to stop without crashing, learning a valuable lesson. Inexperience can kill. Over the next several weeks I rode every day with my friend, passed my road test, and was deemed competent by the great state of New York.

By the end of June and the end of school I had logged almost 1,500 miles on the road and had learned several other valuable lessons. When riding a 2-stroke like the 500, always carry spare spark plugs, and when riding in Oswego County, be aware that there are morons who will chuck pumpkins at you off the back of a pickup truck when your riding a motorcycle. How could I possibly be more prepared to make a 2,500 mile round trip, two-up ride to the eastern end of the North American continent?

For the past several months LT and I had been looking at houses, our first, she more avidly than I. I was learning to ride! The evening before we were set to leave on our road trip, LT saw a listing for a three bedroom A-Frame on six acres of wooded land and suggested seeing it the next day before leaving. Not happening, I thought. The road is calling my name. Smart woman that she is, she had a Plan B. If it rains tomorrow, lets go see the house. I agreed. No need to start the trip of a lifetime riding two-up wet.

Fortunately for everyone, we woke up to a hard, driving, all-day rain. We went to see the house, put in an offer, sold the Titan to add to the down payment kitty, and Nova Scotia, for the moment, remained a dream.

That rainstorm saved me from what was likely to become a disastrous trip. I had nothing like the experience needed for that adventure, the bike was only slightly more competent for the task than its rider, and gratefully, in this case, reality triumphed over imagination.

Patience, however, is a virtue, and maybe a lifesaver in motorcycling. After we moved into our new home we bought two Kawasaki enduros and spent the next three years learning to ride in the dirt and woods. My next bike was a Bultaco 250 that you could wheelie to a stop, and execute a 360-degree turn before dropping the front end - never dabbing. Several years in the dirt taught many lessons. Low speed control is just as important as control at speed. Crashing can be expensive and can hurt. While experience is a great teacher, so is learning from the experienced, and there is always someone more experienced than you.

Is there a happy ending here? Oh, yes. We returned to the road in 1976 (another story) and each has had our own motorcycles since. We’ve done Nova Scotia, twice, and were lucky enough to ride Cape Breton on one of the four sunny days that they get each year.

When I read the frequent posts from new riders I always remember The Great Nova Scotia Trek from 40 years ago. Bottom line, time does fly, and regardless of how long, or especially how short, we’ve been riding, there is always someone we can learn from. Keep the shiny side up.

[jstrain]

Thanks for sharing that. My dad and I did a few days of riding around Nova Scotia a few years ago. It was such a great experience. Absolutely gorgeous scenery up there.

[alex.s]

great post. i know i definitely get over-confident in my riding at times. and you're definitely right about experience leading to less confidence. seems like the more i ride the more i realize how badly i suck at riding compared to some.