Confidence in the Frightening Moments

We made it back safe and sound. But the motorcycle adventure did have its frightening moments.

Motorcycling is all about confidence. Not bravery or courage or blind faith, but confidence based on your skill and experience. Lose your confidence, and you tense up and become dangerous.

I’ve been riding for over twenty-five years.

For me, motorcycling is all mental.

Before going on a ride, whether running a short errand or a long trip, my mind begins to race. I think about the risks, all the things that can happen. These thoughts melt my confidence. But I overcome these negative thoughts by throwing my leg over the motorcycle. Once I am in the saddle, all those thoughts leave me. I am in the moment, confident and riding.

This cycle of pre-ride anxiousness, followed by riding confidence happened every day on my last motorcycle adventure from Fairplay, Colorado, to Los Angles, California. I think it happened more often because I had Kathy riding behind me. I was not just responsible for my safety but for her safety as well.

To help reduce the first day jitters…

I asked the tour operator to get me out on my rental bike the night before the trip began. 

Kathy and I arrived at the RawHyde Ranch on Sunday evening. I located my rented BMW R1250GS, numbered 19S. Owen, the lead tour guide for this six-day journey, said, “Follow me.” He got on his bike, and I got on mine. I was thinking, “Holy crap, I’m on a dirt and rutted out gravel road with lots of turns. I’ve never driven on a surface like this.” 

In anticipation of this off-road type of riding, I watched a few YouTube videos. That was the extent of my training. I learned I needed to stand-up with my knees hugging the tank while riding on this surface. When going uphill, I should move my hips forward. When going downhill, move my butt back. When going left or right, move my weight to the footpeg opposite the turn. Which is the opposite of riding pavement. It all seemed backward to me. Thus the lack of confidence.

I asked Owen, “How fast should I go on this surface?” 

He answered, “As fast as you want to be going when you fall off.” 

“Did he just say that?”

I followed him down the rutted out gravel driveway. As I looked ahead, there was a hard right turn. My pucker factor was very high. I didn’t want the bike to slip out from under me in the turn. So I did like the video said and leaned the “wrong” way and made the turn. We did a U-turn and headed back to the ranch after a couple of miles. Now I had to do the same track with Kathy on the back. I did it with zero confidence while following Owen. But I did do it successfully. 

“You’ll do fine. You passed the check ride,” Owen told me.

The next morning came.

We suited up. All fourteen of the other riders mounted their bikes. I mounted mine, and Kathy got on behind me. Off we rode down the gravel driveway beginning our 1,550 mile journey!

Three miles of gravel roads and we were on pavement again. My confidence skyrocketed. “I got this,” I told Kathy on our intercom.

About two hours into the trip, we were in a mountainous state park riding easy flowing twisties. As I came out of a turn, I saw the other motorcycles ahead of me pulling to the side of the road. I stopped. “Why did you stop?” I asked.

“One of the riders in our group missed a curve and drove off the road into the canyon,” someone said.

It turned out to be a twenty-foot slowly descending drop. Miraculously, he somehow did not get too badly hurt, but he totaled the motorcycle. Needless to say, this scared the hell out of me. And this was day one.

Every day thereafter had its own challenges. Like the very next morning. It was forty-four degrees and beginning to drizzle. Two miles later, we were on the highway, and it was raining...sideways. We were doing sixty miles an hour. Trucks were rushing past us. I realized I was freezing. My hands weren’t working well. I watched my temperature gauge on the bike move to 42 degrees. Then 40. A few miles further, to 38 degrees. “I am not dressed for this!” I yell into the intercom to Kathy. 

After twenty-five miles, all fifteen bikes pull off under a bridge while on a 70 mph highway. We begin putting on whatever clothing we could find. Duck taping plastic bags to our hands to keep them warm and dry. Anything to survive this ride. 

It all worked out.

I have story after story like this. Including the canyon road. It was forty miles of undulating sharp turns with thousand-foot drop-offs and no guardrails. 

We took our time, and we did it. 

We did it. 

What an adventure. And Kathy and I did it together. A once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Many thanks to my Rabbi of Fun, David Nour! And many thanks to my tour leaders, Owen and Matt. You got us there safely.