Monday, September 17, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Transcendental Wisdom
The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this? -- Henry David Thoreau
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Comedic Wisdom
"I’VE GIVEN UP on the whole human species. I think a big, good-sized comet is exactly what this species needs. You know, the poor dinosaurs were walking around eating leaves, and they were completely wiped out. Let the insects have a go. You know, I don’t think they’ll come up with sneakers with lights in them, or Dust Busters, or Salad Shooters, or snot candy. . . . I only wish there were some way I could live out on the moon and watch it all on CNN. . . I just want to describe the mess. But life is dual. If you scratch a cynic, you’ll find a disappointed idealist."-George Carlin, comedian, writer, The Progressive (July 2001)
Friday, September 07, 2007
Monday, September 03, 2007
just a quick note...
to let you all know
that I have tendinitis
and am trying to save my "posting time" for
when I'm at work....one does have to eat ya know....
I have every intention of being back when
working at the computer doesn't hurt...or hurts less
in the interim....here's a quote for you...
Life is like a rose . . . more exquisite and precious, when shared with others - Jane Oechsle Lauer
that I have tendinitis
and am trying to save my "posting time" for
when I'm at work....one does have to eat ya know....
I have every intention of being back when
working at the computer doesn't hurt...or hurts less
in the interim....here's a quote for you...
Life is like a rose . . . more exquisite and precious, when shared with others - Jane Oechsle Lauer
Friday, August 17, 2007
British Author Wisdom
Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon - Susan Ertz
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Lithuanian Violinist Wisdom
No matter what side of the argument you are on, you always find people on your side that you wish were on the other. - Jascha Heifetz
Monday, July 30, 2007
Holly daze...
Hello faithful readers.....
I'm leaving on the 2nd on holly daze
will be back on the 16th ish
so I'm giving myself a wee break to prepare
for the grand exit
and the even grander return....
stay tuned!
ya know I'm too mouthy to stay quiet for long
LoL
I'm leaving on the 2nd on holly daze
will be back on the 16th ish
so I'm giving myself a wee break to prepare
for the grand exit
and the even grander return....
stay tuned!
ya know I'm too mouthy to stay quiet for long
LoL
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Amazon Wisdom
Never pack a rain suit AND sunblock.
Murphy will get confused and make it snow. - Amazon Tee on the White Rhino
Murphy will get confused and make it snow. - Amazon Tee on the White Rhino
Friday, July 20, 2007
Scottish Novelist Wisdom
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant – Robert Louis Stevenson
Friday, July 13, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Irish Wisdom
All that is necesary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. - Edmund Burke
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
German Philosopher Wisdom
The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others. - Friedrich Nietzsche
Friday, July 06, 2007
Countess of Westmoreland Wisdom
Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are...you need one. - Jane Howard
Thursday, July 05, 2007
British Wisdom
It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust. - Samuel Johnson
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Caliph Wisdom
He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare,
And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere. - Ali ibn-Abi Talib
And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere. - Ali ibn-Abi Talib
Friday, June 29, 2007
Self Improvement Wisdom
You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. - Dale Carnegie
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
British Theologian Wisdom
We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique. - Benjamin Jowett
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Biker Poet Wisdom
Biker Style
by
the IronHorse Rider
12/21/03
In LifeCertain things are black n white
No room for compromise
Straddlin’ thunder, feels good down under
Nirvana for the thighs
You see
There exists no sure fire methods
Grand schemes may take awhile
So, take a hint, a leather blueprint
Do it ‘Biker Style’
Dance abreast a well endowed chest
Accept all it may entail
Gettin’ slapped, feelin’ trapped
Knowing when to bail
Take your time, make it rhyme
Leave ‘em with a smile
Better to be, a fond memory
All due to ‘Biker Style’
One must
Always be the gentleman
Stopping short of being en vogue
Enjoy the dance of circumstance
Ladies prefer a rogue
Take not
Unless freely given
Be grateful for having the chance
In life, to succeed, one must take the lead
Be willing to try, the dance
And thus
Dance abreast a well endowed chest
Accept all it may entail
Gettin’ slapped, feelin’ trapped
Knowing when to bai
lTake your time, make it rhyme
Leave ‘em with a smile
Better to be, a fond memory
All due to ‘Biker Style’
by
the IronHorse Rider
12/21/03
In LifeCertain things are black n white
No room for compromise
Straddlin’ thunder, feels good down under
Nirvana for the thighs
You see
There exists no sure fire methods
Grand schemes may take awhile
So, take a hint, a leather blueprint
Do it ‘Biker Style’
Dance abreast a well endowed chest
Accept all it may entail
Gettin’ slapped, feelin’ trapped
Knowing when to bail
Take your time, make it rhyme
Leave ‘em with a smile
Better to be, a fond memory
All due to ‘Biker Style’
One must
Always be the gentleman
Stopping short of being en vogue
Enjoy the dance of circumstance
Ladies prefer a rogue
Take not
Unless freely given
Be grateful for having the chance
In life, to succeed, one must take the lead
Be willing to try, the dance
And thus
Dance abreast a well endowed chest
Accept all it may entail
Gettin’ slapped, feelin’ trapped
Knowing when to bai
lTake your time, make it rhyme
Leave ‘em with a smile
Better to be, a fond memory
All due to ‘Biker Style’
Monday, June 25, 2007
Comedic Wisdom
Love yourself first and everything else falls in to line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world - Lucille Ball
Friday, June 22, 2007
Poet Wisdom
We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend. – Robert Louis Stevenson
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Biker Wisdom
You will not feel the need to go to the restroom until after you have put on your rainsuit.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
News Anchor Wisdom
An intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overtrure and not think of the Lond Ranger. - Dan Rather
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Wrinkles and Roads
Wrinkles and Roads
I've faced my demons, more than once
I've faced my demons, more than once
Spit against the wind
Walked on water, so I thought
Ventured into sin
Moved the Earth, a time or two
Moved the Earth, a time or two
Ate my share of dirt
Spurned the gift of life itself
Death whispered its flirt
Wrinkles travel upon my face
Wrinkles travel upon my face
As lines from a weathered map
Roads destined to end at fate
Time, the eternal trap
Wisdom sprouts from failed seeds
Wisdom sprouts from failed seeds
Lessons to be learned
Still waters, run deeper still
When bridges have been burned
I'm not one to dwell upon
I'm not one to dwell upon
Choices left behind
I choose to see what lies ahead
For hindsight can be blind
Wrinkles travel upon my face
Wrinkles travel upon my face
Reflecting roads of past
I pray to ever taste the wind
The roads, to ever last
Ironhorse Writer
Ironhorse Writer
© 1/03/2003
Monday, June 18, 2007
Canadian Self Help Author
Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy. - Brian Tracy
Friday, June 15, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Biker 101
Biker 101
What is a Biker?
Is it someone who's clearly defined?,
or a perception, merely a state of mind?
Who is a Biker?
One portrayed in movies, through hype?,
or entrapped within a stereotype?
When is a Biker?
24/7 from head to boot?,
or the weekend warrior, who sheds his suit?
Why is a Biker?
Fulfilling a preordained legacy?,
or simply indulging fantasy?
Where is a Biker?
As for me, it couldn't be clearer,
all I need do is look in the mirror.
by
The Ironhorse Writer
8/10/2002
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Ancient Greek Wisdom
It is easy when we are in prosperity to give advice to the afflicted. - Aeschylus
Monday, June 11, 2007
Chinese Wisdom
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” - Chinese Proverb
Friday, June 08, 2007
Left or Right
By Wild Bill © 2005 all rights reserved
Simple sounds this day of spring
Cold steel turning warm
Rhythm sets my mind to roam
Direction starts to form
With not a thought my foot descends
A click and kick is felt
Hand relaxed, gears engage
Power takes the belt
Motion starts in a roll
Butterflies descend
Colors bright, shoulders tight
Feeling starts to blend
Left or right is on the mind
Decision is defaulted
A cage is rushing up on me
All the motion halted
Familiar turns are easy
Follow an older trail
Dare I take another track
Where shadows are not stale
Left or right is in the air
Heads or tails the gamble
Fate then takes its proper place
And down the road I amble.
By Wild Bill © 2005 all rights reserved
Simple sounds this day of spring
Cold steel turning warm
Rhythm sets my mind to roam
Direction starts to form
With not a thought my foot descends
A click and kick is felt
Hand relaxed, gears engage
Power takes the belt
Motion starts in a roll
Butterflies descend
Colors bright, shoulders tight
Feeling starts to blend
Left or right is on the mind
Decision is defaulted
A cage is rushing up on me
All the motion halted
Familiar turns are easy
Follow an older trail
Dare I take another track
Where shadows are not stale
Left or right is in the air
Heads or tails the gamble
Fate then takes its proper place
And down the road I amble.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Dirt Tracker Wisdom
“Why are motorcycle dealers closed on Sundays? Because Sunday is for worship... Catholics go to church, Motorcyclists hit the road.” – Justin Skalka
Monday, June 04, 2007
The Biker Code - Wisdom for the Ride
Ride for the love of it and all that goes with it. Don't try to explain matters of the heart. Get lost in the moment. Expect the unexpected. Be aware and always prepared to ride. Know when to come home. - John "Reb" Everett
Friday, June 01, 2007
American Novelist Wisdom
"And I to my motorcycle
Parked like the soul of the junkyard
Restored, a bicycle fleshed
With power, and tore off
Up Highway 106 continually
Drunk on the wind in my mouth
Wringing the handlebar for speed
Wild to be wreckage forever." - James Dickey
Parked like the soul of the junkyard
Restored, a bicycle fleshed
With power, and tore off
Up Highway 106 continually
Drunk on the wind in my mouth
Wringing the handlebar for speed
Wild to be wreckage forever." - James Dickey
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Motorcycle Daredevil Wisdom
"Riding a motorcycle on today's highways, you have to ride in a very defensive manner. You have to be a good rider and you have to have both hands and both feet on the controls at all times." - Evel Knievel
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Planet Earth Wisdom
Hope doesn't come from calculating whether the good news is winning out over the bad. It's simply a choice to take action - Anna Lappe
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
British Comedian Wisdom
"People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs." - Alexei Sayle
Monday, May 28, 2007
Japanese Wisdom
When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends. - Japanese Proverb
Friday, May 25, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The Biker Code - Wisdom for the Ride
"For some there's therapy, for the rest of us there's motorcycles.Years ago I found myself dangerously close to depression. I had 2 options: spend the next 5 years and thousands of dollars in therapy, or take a "nonconventional" approach. I bought an 1987 1100 Harley sportster. The Best Therapy Ever! - "Amazing Grace Veradossa - The Biker code, Wisdom for the Road
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
The Biker Code - Wisdom for the Ride
Never snub any rider no matter what he rides. Someday we will need every brother and sister we can to fight off the man trying to outlaw us. - Thomas "RoadKill" Anderson ( The Biker Code - Wisdom for the Ride)
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Scottish Poet Wisdom
Friendship! mysterious cement of the soul, Sweet'ner of life, and solder of society - Robert Blair
Friday, May 18, 2007
Cartoonist Wisdom
Not being able to sleep is terrible. You have the misery of having partied all night....without the satisfaction - Lynn Johnston
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Biker Wisdom
Everyone crashes. Some get back on. Some don't. Some can't. ( Pray You Have the Choice )
Monday, May 14, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
Motorcycle Wisdom
Learning to ride at 41 is better than never learning to ride at all!
Great motorcycle quotes and wisdom...
Great motorcycle quotes and wisdom...
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Cookie Elf Wisdom
Life is just a mirror, and what you see out there, you must first see inside of you. - Wally "Famous" Amos
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
American Presidential Wisdom
A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done - Dwight D Eisenhower.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Author Wisdom
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. - William Arthur Ward
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Science Fiction Writer Wisdom
Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself - Lois McMaster Bujold
Monday, April 30, 2007
Jewish Novelist Wisdom
Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.- Elie Wiesel
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Educator Wisdom
Trust yourself. Think for yourself. Act for yourself. Speak for yourself. Be yourself. Imitation is suicide. - Marva Collins
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Ancient Greek Wisdom
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. - Cicero
Monday, April 23, 2007
French Intellectual Wisdom
Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom - Marcel Proust
Friday, April 20, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Presidential Speechwriter Wisdom
Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care. - William Safire
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Author Wisdom
The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary, men alone are quite capable of every wickedness - Joseph Conrad
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Western Actor Wisdom
The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory - Paul Fix
Monday, April 16, 2007
Inventor Wisdom
Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless - Thomas A. Edison
Friday, April 13, 2007
Motorcycling Author Wisdom
That's all the motorcycle is, a system of concepts worked out in steel. - Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Old Guy's Biker Wisdom
Motorcycles don't insult you if you are a novice. - Old Guy's Motorcycle Quotes
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Old Guy's Biker Wisdom
If your motorcycle is boisterous, you can buy a muffler. - Old Guy's Motorcycle Quotes
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Old Guy's Biker Wisdom
If your motorcycle smokes you can do something about it. - Old Guy's Motorcycle Quotes
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Motorcycle Wisdom
Your motorcycle will let you know if something is wrong. - Old Guy's Motorcycle Wisdom
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Presidental Advisor Wisdom
We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems ~ John W Gardner
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Science Fiction Writer Wisdom
The two most common elements in the univers are Hydrogen and stupidity - Harlan Ellison
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Lebanese Wisdom
If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees - Kahlil Gibran
Monday, March 26, 2007
US Presidential Wisdom
How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four; calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. - Abraham Lincoln
Friday, March 23, 2007
Parental Wisdom
My dad always used to say, "If you're falling off a cliff, you may as well try to fly. You have nothing to lose." -- Captain John Sheridan
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Danish Philosopher Wisdom
Life can only by understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards - Soren Kierkegaard
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Human-Computer Interface Expert Wisdom
Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining. - Jef Raskin
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Western Author Wisdom
For one who reads, there is no limit to the number of lives that may be lived, for fiction , biography and history offer inexhaustible numbers of lives in many parts of the world, in all periods of time - Louis L'Amour
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Got a questionnaire from Old Biker Hen....
she's compiling info for a book - Here's my answers.....
Karen aka WyzWmn©
Nickname? And if there’s a story behind it, would you share it?
I am called WyzWmn….an anagram meaning Wise Woman although I have close friends that continue to pronounce it Wiz as in Wizard (I’ve never been able to figure that one out) Wyz started out as a nick name given to me as a joke – because it was opposite to the person I was as a very young woman – originally I was called “PMS365” and that evolved to “Aunty Kranky” by family….although why anyone would name me cranky is beyond me *snicker snicker*
However…as time went on I became the “older more mature woman” in my group of friends, the person everyone went to for advice…I developed a reputation for a kind of advocacy work amoung my friends and WyzWmn began to evolve. That coupled with the fact that I am a practicing Wiccan with a lunar lien and a generational story teller (descendant from a long line of women story tellers)…so get comfy…I’m long winded!
When did you start riding? Or how old were you? And why? (There is no need to give your age, or a year that would give away your age, if that makes you uncomfortable.)
I think I originally started riding as a means to piss my father off…he was an Ontario Provincial Police officer (OPP) for 30 years and as regimental as the day is long…so my version of rebellion became motorcycling…when my means of rebellion became fine-tuned that is…
I went for my first motorcycle ride on the back of a 450 Honda with my Uncle Ron…He is my mother’s youngest brother and only 10 years older than I…at 51 that’s not a big age difference but at 10ish it’s massive…I thought Ron was cool and sexy and all those illicit things that my father disliked for his little girl. At the time, we were on holidays in Merritt BC (from Perth ON) where my Mom’s family lived and Ron had got stuck babysitting me (in those days 10 yr olds had babysitter’s now days they have boyfriends and shop at the Rubber Rainbow…but that’s another story)
Anyway Ron took me on this long ride around Merritt, a here to fore unknown to me and we ended up at the drive-in with a bunch of his friends where by he got horrendously, gutter puking drunk and I had to walk home by myself in the dark…it was a smozzle…my father roared my mother and grandmother shrieked like fishmongers…my grandfather just smacked his lips and drank beer as was his wont.
Quite the scene….but all these years later the thing that sticks with me is that feeling of exhilaration…that elicit thrill. I can still close my eyes and see him in his chino’s and baby blue short sleeved cotton sport shirt, penny loafers and white cotton sox (sheesh, how schmaltzy eh?) and I can see me holding on for dear life more afraid and out of my element than I ever had been before…but still exhilarated, the kind of exhilarated that kids feel when they are first discovering their sexuality…those naughty and nice ingredients that in later life define us. (No helmet either…my my my we were brave and stupid in those days…)
Long story short – we went back to ON and I was riding my own in the bush around Thunder Bay by the time I was 13. My Dad didn’t forgive my uncle Ron until I was in my 40’s…well at least he said he’d forgiven him – but who knows?
What was your first bike?
My first bike was a 2 stroke dirt bike. It was so beat up it was always a wonder when it kicked over (and in those days I had the knees to be able to kick it!) I’d leave the house in the morning and not return until I ran out of gas or darkness descended.
I stopped riding for a while when I discovered boys. Then I discovered men and rode as a passenger for a while. I rode an old triumph chopper that was mostly held together with baling wire and luck. I then graduated to a chopped Sporty with a real 50's version back rest that looked like it had been stolen from the iron fence at the cemetery along with a coffin tank and fish tail pipes. I was young and thought I was smokin!
Over the years, I've had many bikes and I’ve been involved in many accidents, from dropping the bike myself, to spinning out on a lawn and flipping, to cresting a hill on a dirt road in first ride of the season in spring to find that the road had washed out. (I landed on the coffin tank and flattened the damn thing with my butt!) But all in all the greater majority of my accidents were as a result of riding as a passenger with someone who was not in “good control of his machine” so I went back to riding my own.
I rode without a license until I was 40 (shhhh – it’s a secret) and at 40 decided that I would impersonate an adult and take the Canadian Safety Council MC course so I could get a discount on my insurance. I discovered instead that my riding skills were comprised of a clabbering of bad habits and the course gave me a healthy understanding of the need for me to be accountable to my actions while operating a motorcycle…and an understanding that I was not immortal and could in fact die if I didn’t start paying attention.
What has been your best experience?
There are too many experiences to have one single “best experience”.
The phenomenon of truly amazing people from all walks of life coming together under one theme….riding.
All the years I spent volunteering for the Ride for Sight, culminating in 4 years as BC’s Ride for Sight Chair. Riding in the snow, the first ride of spring every year, the first time I had a riding story published, dealing with many years of health issues and not being able to ride for both health and financial reasons culminating in a move to Vancouver Island and the purchase of my current ride (a 1974 VW trike called “the Pickle” as in my motorpickle)….becoming a member and then a “core member” and then an officer of the Southern Cruisers Riding Club(SCRC) here in Victoria and discovering another “family”. Having members of my club work tirelessly and at their own expense to restore my old trike to beauty and safety, having perfect strangers approach me to talk about my ride!
The people, the places, the people, the parties, the people, the road, the people the weather, the people, the wind in your face, the people, the events, the people, the fun, the people, the agony, the people, the love and of course, the people.
Even after all these years – the feeling of the open road and no specific place to go…but going.
What has been your worst?
I broke my back in the early 80’s and then was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. I wasn’t able to ride for a long long time. I was miserable…and probably earned “Aunty Kranky” during that period…stayed in touch with many of the people but didn’t actually ride for reasons of health and finance.
Anything else you might want to share.
I write, have a couple of blogs and write for the Busted Knuckle Chronicles. http://wyzwmnswords.blogspot.com/ http://wyzwmnsworld.blogspot.com/ http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/joomla07/index.php
Why do you ride now, or what does riding mean to you?
Being a business woman and spending my days dealing with administrative issues, I find more and more all the time that the only time I really feel “me” is when I’m riding…even when I’m riding in traffic I feel so much more “liberated” than I do at home or in my office. So much so that my family will often tell me – “you need to get out for a ride…yer like a bear with a cut butt!”
I have found the largest group of truly honest, loving, respectable, trustworthy people in the riding community. For every person I have come across that is a boor, or un-integral I have found a half dozen really wonderful people to counter the negative pull…with odds like that – one can’t go wrong
Words of wisdom, or lessons learned.
My wisdom is nothing more than repeated practice. I am able to “sound” wise because I have (without bragging) had some truly serious trials and have come through…not always on top but come through….I have retained my sense of humour through it all – only because of an undying need to laugh and love.
Only because: "Ya gotta laugh or yer hair falls out!"
Karen aka WyzWmn©
Nickname? And if there’s a story behind it, would you share it?
I am called WyzWmn….an anagram meaning Wise Woman although I have close friends that continue to pronounce it Wiz as in Wizard (I’ve never been able to figure that one out) Wyz started out as a nick name given to me as a joke – because it was opposite to the person I was as a very young woman – originally I was called “PMS365” and that evolved to “Aunty Kranky” by family….although why anyone would name me cranky is beyond me *snicker snicker*
However…as time went on I became the “older more mature woman” in my group of friends, the person everyone went to for advice…I developed a reputation for a kind of advocacy work amoung my friends and WyzWmn began to evolve. That coupled with the fact that I am a practicing Wiccan with a lunar lien and a generational story teller (descendant from a long line of women story tellers)…so get comfy…I’m long winded!
When did you start riding? Or how old were you? And why? (There is no need to give your age, or a year that would give away your age, if that makes you uncomfortable.)
I think I originally started riding as a means to piss my father off…he was an Ontario Provincial Police officer (OPP) for 30 years and as regimental as the day is long…so my version of rebellion became motorcycling…when my means of rebellion became fine-tuned that is…
I went for my first motorcycle ride on the back of a 450 Honda with my Uncle Ron…He is my mother’s youngest brother and only 10 years older than I…at 51 that’s not a big age difference but at 10ish it’s massive…I thought Ron was cool and sexy and all those illicit things that my father disliked for his little girl. At the time, we were on holidays in Merritt BC (from Perth ON) where my Mom’s family lived and Ron had got stuck babysitting me (in those days 10 yr olds had babysitter’s now days they have boyfriends and shop at the Rubber Rainbow…but that’s another story)
Anyway Ron took me on this long ride around Merritt, a here to fore unknown to me and we ended up at the drive-in with a bunch of his friends where by he got horrendously, gutter puking drunk and I had to walk home by myself in the dark…it was a smozzle…my father roared my mother and grandmother shrieked like fishmongers…my grandfather just smacked his lips and drank beer as was his wont.
Quite the scene….but all these years later the thing that sticks with me is that feeling of exhilaration…that elicit thrill. I can still close my eyes and see him in his chino’s and baby blue short sleeved cotton sport shirt, penny loafers and white cotton sox (sheesh, how schmaltzy eh?) and I can see me holding on for dear life more afraid and out of my element than I ever had been before…but still exhilarated, the kind of exhilarated that kids feel when they are first discovering their sexuality…those naughty and nice ingredients that in later life define us. (No helmet either…my my my we were brave and stupid in those days…)
Long story short – we went back to ON and I was riding my own in the bush around Thunder Bay by the time I was 13. My Dad didn’t forgive my uncle Ron until I was in my 40’s…well at least he said he’d forgiven him – but who knows?
What was your first bike?
My first bike was a 2 stroke dirt bike. It was so beat up it was always a wonder when it kicked over (and in those days I had the knees to be able to kick it!) I’d leave the house in the morning and not return until I ran out of gas or darkness descended.
I stopped riding for a while when I discovered boys. Then I discovered men and rode as a passenger for a while. I rode an old triumph chopper that was mostly held together with baling wire and luck. I then graduated to a chopped Sporty with a real 50's version back rest that looked like it had been stolen from the iron fence at the cemetery along with a coffin tank and fish tail pipes. I was young and thought I was smokin!
Over the years, I've had many bikes and I’ve been involved in many accidents, from dropping the bike myself, to spinning out on a lawn and flipping, to cresting a hill on a dirt road in first ride of the season in spring to find that the road had washed out. (I landed on the coffin tank and flattened the damn thing with my butt!) But all in all the greater majority of my accidents were as a result of riding as a passenger with someone who was not in “good control of his machine” so I went back to riding my own.
I rode without a license until I was 40 (shhhh – it’s a secret) and at 40 decided that I would impersonate an adult and take the Canadian Safety Council MC course so I could get a discount on my insurance. I discovered instead that my riding skills were comprised of a clabbering of bad habits and the course gave me a healthy understanding of the need for me to be accountable to my actions while operating a motorcycle…and an understanding that I was not immortal and could in fact die if I didn’t start paying attention.
What has been your best experience?
There are too many experiences to have one single “best experience”.
The phenomenon of truly amazing people from all walks of life coming together under one theme….riding.
All the years I spent volunteering for the Ride for Sight, culminating in 4 years as BC’s Ride for Sight Chair. Riding in the snow, the first ride of spring every year, the first time I had a riding story published, dealing with many years of health issues and not being able to ride for both health and financial reasons culminating in a move to Vancouver Island and the purchase of my current ride (a 1974 VW trike called “the Pickle” as in my motorpickle)….becoming a member and then a “core member” and then an officer of the Southern Cruisers Riding Club(SCRC) here in Victoria and discovering another “family”. Having members of my club work tirelessly and at their own expense to restore my old trike to beauty and safety, having perfect strangers approach me to talk about my ride!
The people, the places, the people, the parties, the people, the road, the people the weather, the people, the wind in your face, the people, the events, the people, the fun, the people, the agony, the people, the love and of course, the people.
Even after all these years – the feeling of the open road and no specific place to go…but going.
What has been your worst?
I broke my back in the early 80’s and then was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. I wasn’t able to ride for a long long time. I was miserable…and probably earned “Aunty Kranky” during that period…stayed in touch with many of the people but didn’t actually ride for reasons of health and finance.
Anything else you might want to share.
I write, have a couple of blogs and write for the Busted Knuckle Chronicles. http://wyzwmnswords.blogspot.com/ http://wyzwmnsworld.blogspot.com/ http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/joomla07/index.php
Why do you ride now, or what does riding mean to you?
Being a business woman and spending my days dealing with administrative issues, I find more and more all the time that the only time I really feel “me” is when I’m riding…even when I’m riding in traffic I feel so much more “liberated” than I do at home or in my office. So much so that my family will often tell me – “you need to get out for a ride…yer like a bear with a cut butt!”
I have found the largest group of truly honest, loving, respectable, trustworthy people in the riding community. For every person I have come across that is a boor, or un-integral I have found a half dozen really wonderful people to counter the negative pull…with odds like that – one can’t go wrong
Words of wisdom, or lessons learned.
My wisdom is nothing more than repeated practice. I am able to “sound” wise because I have (without bragging) had some truly serious trials and have come through…not always on top but come through….I have retained my sense of humour through it all – only because of an undying need to laugh and love.
Only because: "Ya gotta laugh or yer hair falls out!"
Friday, March 16, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Authoress Wisdom
The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been - Madeleine L'Engle
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Theoretical Physicist Wisdom
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe. - Albert Einstein
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Cartoonist Wisdom
Not being able to sleep is terrible. You have the misery of having partied all night....without the satisfaction - Lynn Johnston
Monday, March 12, 2007
Motorcycling Author Wisdom
Driving a motorcycle is a sensual, visceral, and immediate response. It’s the blast of air parting in an almost physical way around your body. It's the feel of heavy steel machinery between you thigh’s and knees as you move through turns, running a good road on a clear morning. It's the taste of wet grass, deep woods, damp river banks, and freshly cut hay that finds its way to the back of your throat. You know and experience what is around you and feel the very sensation of motion itself, in a way that you never can behind the wheel of a car.
In a car you drive a road; on a motorcycle you feel it. On a motorcycle every rise and dip, every change in surface or cant, every turn and straightway, is a temporal and physical experience. In a car you are enclosed, removed from what is without by the machinery that moves you, the windshield, the air-conditioning, the heater, the radio, the upholstered cradle of your seat, the locked doors the surrounding frame, they all separate you from the reality of the road and the weather. On a motorcycle the machine and the environment are an integral part of the experience. Coming home in the afternoon, the sun touches your shoulders with great warm hands. Somewhere in the middle of a long day of riding - especially on curves, where the lean and torque, body and bike angle, gravity and speed, determine the physics and the line of movement - the machine becomes an extension of the body, a melding of what is human and what is mechanical.
- Karen Larsen "Breaking the Limit"
In a car you drive a road; on a motorcycle you feel it. On a motorcycle every rise and dip, every change in surface or cant, every turn and straightway, is a temporal and physical experience. In a car you are enclosed, removed from what is without by the machinery that moves you, the windshield, the air-conditioning, the heater, the radio, the upholstered cradle of your seat, the locked doors the surrounding frame, they all separate you from the reality of the road and the weather. On a motorcycle the machine and the environment are an integral part of the experience. Coming home in the afternoon, the sun touches your shoulders with great warm hands. Somewhere in the middle of a long day of riding - especially on curves, where the lean and torque, body and bike angle, gravity and speed, determine the physics and the line of movement - the machine becomes an extension of the body, a melding of what is human and what is mechanical.
- Karen Larsen "Breaking the Limit"
Friday, March 09, 2007
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Science Fiction Writer Wisdom
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Monday, March 05, 2007
Friday, March 02, 2007
Buddhist wisdom
If you find yourself saying, once too often, "Someone should do something about that!," tell yourself: "I am Someone." - Dalai Lama
Thursday, March 01, 2007
French (Russian-born) author and salonist Wisdom
We should not be simply fighting evil in the name of good, but struggling against the certainties of people who claim always to know where good and evil are to be found - Tzvetan Todorov
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
Science Fiction Writer Wisdom
The popularity of conspiracy theories is explained by people's desire to believe that there is some - group of folks who know what they are doing - Damon Knight
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Cruising Rider Quote
The walls of my church are made of asphalt, brick and solid steel; it`s lined with rock and wood, river and ocean. I ride its pulpit and I preach its damn gospel.
Friday, February 23, 2007
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