Working on more lyrics ...
March 23, 2024 6:51 AM Subscribe
You are woman, you get on your motorcycle and ride.
Tell me everything .. How do you feel? Where are you going (physically and emotionally)?
Best answer: It's an amazing feeling. I feel utterly autonomous, yet at one with the machine. I dance on my bike, ride hands-free and do those wavy hand moves through the wind rushing by. It's a feeling of total competence (I've been riding for a couple of decades). I've taken solo trips and group trips; ridden to the grocery store and work and MeFi meetups; ridden in pouring rain among 18 wheelers (probably my only really bad decision) and out west with no other vehicle in sight; ridden to the beach, the woods, dirt roads and sand roads and off road. Mine is a bigger bike (650cc, and I'm short) and it took me months to feel comfortable on it, but once I did, it was very reassuring to have the power, grip, and maneuverability of something that size. My bike is old enough that I can do some basic maintenance on it, which is also something that makes me feel good.
It's also freeing to be presumed male while I'm riding. There's no knee jerk contempt, no (gender) harassment, no infantalizing, no assumption of incompetence. But once I'm off the bike, and certainly once the helmet's off, that all simmers up again around me.
Emotionally, I'm going... nowhere and anywhere. There's so much physical & mental focus and sensitivity you need to give to riding, that I find it meditative. It allows my consciousness to quiet and hover somewhere outside of my body. It's weird. You have to feel the bike hit an oily patch on the road and not freak out, while also seeing your path through the cars ahead of you and to the side of you, while also sensing the engine --when to shift, when to gas it -- while also gauging the direction of those rain clouds up ahead. It's a very diffused mental state that condenses into a constellation of very precise physical actions. All that interrelationship lets some deeper consciousness be heard. I have thoughts and conversations with -- just a different regard for -- a more essential, peer version of myself than when I'm driving a car or even riding a bicycle.
posted by cocoagirl at 10:56 AM on March 23 [4 favorites]
It's also freeing to be presumed male while I'm riding. There's no knee jerk contempt, no (gender) harassment, no infantalizing, no assumption of incompetence. But once I'm off the bike, and certainly once the helmet's off, that all simmers up again around me.
Emotionally, I'm going... nowhere and anywhere. There's so much physical & mental focus and sensitivity you need to give to riding, that I find it meditative. It allows my consciousness to quiet and hover somewhere outside of my body. It's weird. You have to feel the bike hit an oily patch on the road and not freak out, while also seeing your path through the cars ahead of you and to the side of you, while also sensing the engine --when to shift, when to gas it -- while also gauging the direction of those rain clouds up ahead. It's a very diffused mental state that condenses into a constellation of very precise physical actions. All that interrelationship lets some deeper consciousness be heard. I have thoughts and conversations with -- just a different regard for -- a more essential, peer version of myself than when I'm driving a car or even riding a bicycle.
posted by cocoagirl at 10:56 AM on March 23 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Like I'm dancing on two wheels, dancing with the road. Curving country roads where I am shifting my hips, shoulders and head to almost show the bike where I want to go gets me in rhythm with the world.
Look where you want to go said my instructor which became a mantra for life.
The smells! The perfume of life as I pass by at speed through a grove of lemon scented gums, cow paddock, a brewery.
Sneaky snaking through stalled traffic, following the lane divider lines to get to the front of the jam.
Colour coordinating my camping gear with my red bike, blue seat and yellow vintage motorcycle jackets made by Mars.
Custom made knee high bike boots: check. Thick black leggings: check. Fluttery skater skirt: check. Heavy duty jacket, protective gloves (manicures are expensive, fingers are precious) and quality helmet ( heads are priceless): check. Lipstick matches the tank colour. Yes, I am female, watch me ride! Other days it's all business of getting from A to B alive.
Remembering, as I move continents, who drives on what side of the road.
An incredible sense of the present moment, staying grounded while the ground moves underneath at 70 miles per hour. Trusting myself and my bike to respond in that split second of need. Confidence and delight.
posted by Thella at 2:25 PM on March 23 [6 favorites]
Look where you want to go said my instructor which became a mantra for life.
The smells! The perfume of life as I pass by at speed through a grove of lemon scented gums, cow paddock, a brewery.
Sneaky snaking through stalled traffic, following the lane divider lines to get to the front of the jam.
Colour coordinating my camping gear with my red bike, blue seat and yellow vintage motorcycle jackets made by Mars.
Custom made knee high bike boots: check. Thick black leggings: check. Fluttery skater skirt: check. Heavy duty jacket, protective gloves (manicures are expensive, fingers are precious) and quality helmet ( heads are priceless): check. Lipstick matches the tank colour. Yes, I am female, watch me ride! Other days it's all business of getting from A to B alive.
Remembering, as I move continents, who drives on what side of the road.
An incredible sense of the present moment, staying grounded while the ground moves underneath at 70 miles per hour. Trusting myself and my bike to respond in that split second of need. Confidence and delight.
posted by Thella at 2:25 PM on March 23 [6 favorites]
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Add to this the looks of small girls and other grown women, be it admiration, envy, irritation, they all filled my cup.
posted by Iteki at 8:12 AM on March 23 [7 favorites]