Riding on my motorbike was for many years my best experience. When I lived in Pietermaritzburg, although I only had a 50cc motorbike, I spent much time with my friends riding through the bush paths pretending we were on big off-road scramblers. I cannot begin to count the number of times I fell off my motorbike with the risk of breaking my neck, even though I wore a crash helmet. When I was alone and I wanted to get away from “things that got me down”, in spite of the fact that 50s were not allowed, I used to take long rides on the highway.
I got a kick out of riding fast on the main roads, riding on the back wheel for as long as possible trying to beat my personal record. What an experience going down slippery steep mountain paths, crawling up smooth grass banks, waggling the back wheel like a duck! And what a shiver ran down my spine when I took sharp hairpin corners by a controlled slide using the accelerator with the throttle wide open, when all the others with more common sense would use the brakes!!
I felt weightless when fending through the wind holding the handle bars with all my strength because the risk of not falling off was only a matter of good luck.
I loved the feeling of traction I got when the accelerator was wide open and the feeling of power was at its maximum when the iron horse was well tuned and it would easily go into the so called “power-band”. Then you held on really tight.
When I had to give up riding my motorbike because of the evident sight problems I was having, it was one of the greatest losses in my life. My motorbike was for me a great companion and a sure ally. It had the ability of soothing my troubled soul. When I was in the saddle of my iron horse I gradually forgot all my anger and worries. I experienced only positive emotions which always made me feel much better: the wind in my face, the feeling that I was a part of the whole, the sensation that I myself was the motorbike, it’s as though I had wheels on my body.
In a blink of the eye it brought me far away from that which I didn’t like and every time it gave me the great feeling of serenity, strength, reassurance and courage for the future that nothing else has ever given me again.
Only crazy people who love motorbikes as I do and spend their time riding as I did can understand and share my efforts to describe the unique sensations and emotions that I felt on my iron horse.
About Mauro
I got my inspiration for this website from the song called “Imagine”, and so I decided to go on this adventure. I have always wanted to put up something like this where my friends and I could express our memories and dreams for the future. Share them with us, because if many people dream the same dream it will certainly come true.
This story brought a tear to my eye as I recalled the wonderful time we had with those little fifties. They were our life and soul and though I had a big Honda scrambler later in life it never really equalled the experience and emotions which we had as teenagers on the fifties. You are right my friend those were the days which should never have ended. But we were still more fortunate than many others who never lived our awesome experiences.