The reason behind the ride

It’s a simple question, why do people ride motorbikes? What drives them to leave the safety of a warm box and replace it with the mercy of mother nature? Why choose two wheels and the risk of toppling over above four? Are we crazy?

And still, why are so many people intrigued by riding motorbikes, even non-bikers? I’m not saying that everybody really wants to ride, but even people who couldn’t care less about motorbikes, when given the opportunity, understand the excitement and the thrill.

Sometimes I think it all stems from an urge to truly feel alive, to take life into one’s own hands and experience the idea of risk, something that is taken away from most of us in daily life. We are surrounded by so much safety and comfort that sometimes it is suffocating. First world problems? Definitely! But not less true because of that. People are becoming less resilient, psychological problems are on the rise and stress is destroying people from the inside out.

Maybe instead of trying to feel alive we ride to forget? Within our helmet there are no reminders of what to do, no emails, no social media, no clutter except for our own thoughts. Yet, at the same time, in our helmets, we meet ourselves. We confront our fears, we experience our doubts, we feel our desires and forget about the existence of time and loneliness. With nobody around we can face ourselves in brutal honesty. We evaluate our strengths and weaknesses and continue our journey from there.

In the end, maybe we don’t ride to forget, we ride to live life on our own terms.