The Call of the Road: Explaining Motorcycling to Those WhoDon’t Have It

When I saw Giulia after years, I could barely recognize her. We were in a café, she was wearing a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and sneakers, and I dressed with my motorcycle gear and helmet in hand. We started chatting, and as expected, I began to talk about motorcycles. She was very curious to understand what was so fascinating about motorcycles. “They’re noisy, they go too fast, and in the end, you even risk your life!” At these words, I fell silent. I didn’t know how to respond because my world is made up of people who love or at least respect motorcycling. She didn’t. I reflected on it and wanted to write a few lines dedicated to those who aren’t motorcyclists, to explain how this “piece of iron” is ultimately a metaphor for life.

M as Motivation

When I first got on a motorcycle and started to understand how it worked, I had one thing on my mind: improvement. I remember the first safe riding courses, the desire to perfect my riding, the happiness of successfully taking a turn the right way. The satisfaction of feeling more and more worthy of this magnificent two-wheeled vehicle. Motivation is an essential trait for everyday life. It moves us to do, to commit, it’s pure fuel for the engine that drives our lives, it helps us win a challenge, fight for self-determination, and reach our goals.

O as Objectives

Life has always been marked by the objectives we set for ourselves. We start from a young age trying to satisfy ourselves and those we love, and then we set increasingly ambitious goals. Motorcycling has always set new objectives for me, ever since I first rode: passing the license exam, covering the first kilometers alone, the first bends, the first group ride, the first time on the track, the first step in the Dolomites. Many first times, many obstacles, especially mental ones, the more or less paralyzing ones that if you don’t face, you’ll never know who you are and what you’re capable of. But to do all this, an important ingredient called tenacity is needed.

T as Tenacity

I looked up this word in the dictionary, which is too little used, and found a perfect definition: a tenacious person is someone “endowed with a strength capable of facing adverse situations that require great physical, spiritual, intellectual strength”. How much does the motorcycle test us? A lot. We have to fight against many fears. One of the strongest is the fear of facing everything alone. Yes, because when we ride a motorcycle, our life depends entirely on us.

We mustn’t dwell on adversities, otherwise, we wouldn’t leave our homes anymore. We must do our best to handle the situations that the world out there throws at us. Fears are to be faced, always, and once overcome, it will be extraordinary to see all the opportunities that open up in front of us.

O as Opportunities

Motorcycling has improved me as a person, I’ve always thought so. I gained awareness of who I am, stripped of everything while I reflected for hours in my helmet, seeking solutions to my small and big problems. Opportunities don’t come out of nowhere, we build them for ourselves. They offer us the possibility to surpass doubts and anxieties, taking us on less rugged roads, presenting us with opportunities for change on a silver platter.

C as Change

The human being is not static, they are constantly moving. Every person who undergoes a journey changes. We return different after a journey that led us to immerse ourselves in other realities, we change after clarifying a discussion, we change after facing a difficult path that we never thought possible. Change doesn’t have to be sudden, but if we want it to be more lasting, it must be slow, a slow ride where you look around and realize what surrounds you, internalizing and enjoying every single step (or kilometer). This process can lead to something indispensable for every woman: independence.

I as Independence

Independence is not such an obvious thing for many. I’ve already talked about the thousand fears of facing what scares us, but we can hardly do it from the passenger seat of a motorcycle. To be independent means to think for oneself, it means having the power to ride, stop, take a thousand-kilometer journey without anyone telling us it’s not okay. And if we find other people like us on our way, then it’s pure joy and becomes perfect sharing.

C as Sharing

“Happiness is the only thing that multiplies when shared,” said Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer. And I believe he is absolutely right. Finding someone to share the kilometers, the emotions, the small achievements on our motorcycle is something special. Sometimes, a nod is enough to understand each other, and when we stop, a profound ritual is celebrated, a feeling of fullness and euphoria that’s hard to explain. However, sharing must not be obligatory, it’s the result of mutual exploration and maturation. We know how difficult it can be to share a piece of life with someone who is not in tune with us, who doesn’t have the same rhythm, the same speed. It becomes a constant waiting or chasing, something that doesn’t bring us joy but rather a sense of inadequacy and frustration. True sharing allows us to savor the meaning of the word freedom.

L as Freedom

The motorcycle is synonymous with freedom, how many times have I heard this phrase and how convinced I am of it. Being free to express ourselves, to leave, to decide, to be ourselves on our motorcycle is the greatest gift we can give ourselves. It’s precisely freedom that offers us the opportunity to experience so many emotions to the fullest.

E as Emotions

Emotions have a color, I read that a long time ago. So I can say that the motorcycle, like life, gives us an emotional rainbow to experience. Sometimes the colors are brighter, other times more muted, but they are always there, you just have to pay attention.

I think of the joy of reaching the top of a mountain pass, the fun of riding a mountain road, the ecstasy of feeling fully part of it all, the satisfaction of doing my best, the tranquility of being immersed in a landscape rich in history. And then all the possible shades, from the sensation of the air on us, of being inside the elements like rain and wind, of being above the clouds, of seeing the wonder of a sunset. I think back and tell myself that I would never have experienced such emotions if my path hadn’t been so winding.

T as Winding

Life is not a straight road but a path made of ascents, descents, curves, wide turns, and steep slopes. These are the obstacles that terrify most people who start riding a motorcycle, and it was the same for me. One step that all of us have in mind to take or have already taken for the thrill of the challenge is Stelvio. We’re talking about 48 hairpin bends that test us and our motorcycles severely. But when we reach the summit, the joy is immense. Work, children, responsibilities, difficulties, they are all curves,

 more or less difficult, that make us slow down, shift gears, get used to balance, weights, clutch, brakes, and throttle. There are trajectories to follow to do everything correctly, but there will be moments when we will be taken by surprise both by the road and by the unexpected behavior of others. There’s only one certainty. We will reach the top, we won’t pay attention to how long it took us, we will relax, and with a chest full of joy, we will say to ourselves, “I did it again!”

T as Time

There are moments when time seems to slow down, but when I’m riding, it almost seems to stand still. It’s that state of “flow,” of being completely immersed in what we’re doing and love. It’s something that often happens when driving, writing, creating. It also often happens when riding a motorcycle once you’ve gained a bit of experience, changing, accelerating, braking, balancing, and leaning become automatic. You’re in a state of total immersion, effortless concentration, control, and pleasure. You savor every adventure, every meter, every sensation is amplified, and everything else fades away, even time.

A as Adventure

Motorcycling is an adventure, one of those things that take your breath away and make your heart beat faster. Sometimes you hold your breath, sometimes you get scared, but then when you arrive, you feel richer than when you started. A journey, even a short one, can be an adventure to tell, a story in which we are the protagonists, we feel alive and free. It’s perhaps the small details that make a short motorcycle ride something extraordinary. It happened to me when a deer was in the middle of the road and looked at me, when a bird of prey flew just meters above the head of the motorcyclist I was following, when I found a closed road and by changing my route, I discovered an incredible itinerary. You don’t even need to go so far to find an adventure, often it depends on how we see things, how we approach life. I assure you that if you’re curious and open, you can live incredibly exciting stories, especially on a motorcycle.