Gratitude For the Biker Attitude

By: Jeanette Tran

In the spirit of Thanksgiving this month, I wanted to use this article to express how grateful I am for my friends in the motorcycling world. I have never seen or known a greater group of people than the group of friends I have made over the last three years I have been riding. All forums are usually considered places where an abundance of knowledge comes together allow for people to meet and discuss a common interest. In the motorcycling community, the motorcyclist not only comes together to discuss their experiences, and share their knowledge, but it is surprising a place where I have found my second family.

Ever since the first day I started even thinking about riding there was a myriad of people willing to lend a helping hand to a potential new rider. Everyone was very welcoming and everyone was sharing their own stories and voicing their own experience in hopes to lead in the right direction. I was constantly given words of encouragement to sign up for my MSF and the amount of advice on different gear I should try out never stopped. After passing the MSF and by the time I was ready to venture off on one of the many group rides of the forum, I was already familiar enough with the different faces of the forum and felt comfortable enough to be around the people before me. Being able to read people's thoughts and flip through pictures on the forums, I felt as if I was being let into the lives of these strangers and getting to know them better.

The friends that I was able to meet and go on group rides with slowly started to grow and develop into something so much more. On the forums, I always found it kind of weird, the sense of trust that some people were willing to it people were not afraid to invite others into their world. But I came to discover that the majority of people who even bother logging into the forums, and eagerly inviting other riders into their lives are 1: living with a lot of trust in man kind and/or 2: have such a strong passion for motorcycles that they want to share that passion with anyone and everyone.

We all come from different walks of life and are all of different ages but yet at the same time we all share the one passion for riding. Even though the majority of us only have that one thing in common that pulls us together, we some how manage to grow a strong bond based on that one common interest. It is as if we see the world as 'If anyone out there shares this same passion for riding that I have, then they must be a cool person to be around.' And due to this strong developed passion, I slowly start to see that it transfers over to different aspects of their lives, and I find myself being invited to join them on different social events and I start seeing these people on more occasions than just group rides.

Motorcycling did not end up as just some kind of hobby that I do on the weekends, it eventually became a whole other part of my life that I never would have expected to develop. I am thankful for my motorcycle not only for allowing me to venture off on adventures that not too many other people have the opportunity to go on, but more so because it has also allowed me to surround me with a great group of people who I now consider my closest friends.

Published: Nov 27, 2009

Leave Comments