Motorcycle People are the Best People

Recently I’ve become acutely aware of how hard it is to make friends as an adult. Thankfully, enjoying the same hobby or pastime makes the process easier. But, beyond the initial introduction, there is so much more involved in opening yourself up to people to the point that you can make a friend.

By the time you reach your 40’s, you’re likely set in your ways with regard to interpersonal relationships. Your past and the baggage dragged forth shapes everything you do. 

When it comes to trust, are you the type of person that gives it easily? Or are you someone who hangs back and requires someone to earn it over time?

Today I asked myself whether or not I am a trusting person. And interestingly, I was not able to confidently answer. My immediate reaction was, yes, I am. But, then I started to consider all the ways that I hold most people at arm’s length. It is but a few that get a glimpse of my tender underbelly. All of them happen to ride motorcycles.

The truth is, I don’t know what I’m really like. After all, there is your you and the you that is viewed through someone else’s lens. Is that all there is to measure with – your you and their you? Is there a third you, something like a real you? Or is there nothing “real” and only the perception of the observer? Is the cat really dead and alive simultaneously?

Thinking about the people I call friends, all of them are motorcycle people or spouses of motorcycle people. Is that a common truth amongst those who are passionate about something? It would make sense, really. You can only befriend the people you rub shoulders with.

Are most of your friends motorcyclists, too? I wouldn’t blame you. Motorcycle people are the best people.

Fuzzygalore

Rachael is the whimsical writer behind the 20+ year old Girlie Motorcycle Blog. As a freelance blogger, she is on a mission to inspire laughter, self-examination, curiosity, and human connection. Girlie Motorcycle Blog can be found on several Best Motorcycle Blog lists.

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11 Responses

  1. Mike says:

    I think the answer is that you’re the one. Have a fantastic new year! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH3OYi80vCE

  2. Mike says:

    In my opinion Fuzzy, you only see the real you when you are alone. Maybe riding, maybe not. Nobody around to reflect the you they see as you. Over the years for me I have said this many times: I define who I am, by knowing who I am not.

  3. Glen says:

    Thanks for the thought provoking post.

    I like to think that I move in many different circles with friends from each of these circles. I don’t associate with work colleagues, oh unless they ride of course. The people I generally hang out with from church … ride. When I want to hang out at the pub for a drink I’ll call … riding friends. Okay let me rephrase that – I move in many different circles and I have friends from each of these circles who all ride.

    For me it’s that I share life with these people, we share the road, we sit and chat at coffee shops and service stations all over the country. I am free to be me. These are my people.

  4. Colleen says:

    I’m pretty much a loner…until you talk to me about motorcycles. I’m totally fine being by myself in a crowd so it doesn’t bother me. My husband says motorcyclists are my “people” because I will gladly strike up a conversation with motorcycle people that I don’t even know! I can talk about other things…I just make the most meaningful connections with other riders. Who am I? I’m not sure any of us can see ourselves through a truly accurate lens. We have negative voices in our own heads (at least I do) and we really don’t know if we make a difference for good or bad. Sometimes, you hear feedback from others about who they think you are but most of the time, we steep in our own beliefs. I would add another perspective and that is who we want to be, an ideal. That way we have something to aspire to, to grow into.
    Have a Happy New Year!

  5. Skip says:

    Ma’Lady I do trust you realize you are making my head hurt.. Right?!

  6. Ted Kettler says:

    If not for motorcycles I most likely would not have met all the people I have met in the last 10 years, including you. Yet most of the motorcycle people I have “Met”, i haven’t actually “Met” them, yet i can still count them as friends. Thank you motorcycles.

  7. RichardM says:

    I think you are on to something about trusting those that you have something in common with and spend a lot of time with. Motorcycle friends are the ones that I share meals with most often though not exclusively.

  8. Shybiker says:

    I agree that motorcycle people are special. Scientists will discover some day that we share a gene.

    I’m always intrigued by philosophical inquiry and your question about what is the real us was one I wrestled with early in life. Am I the person I know myself to be or the one society says I am? Do other people get to decide our true selves for us? I suspect, Ms. Schrodinger, you know the answer I arrived at.

    I wish you, Kenny and the kid the happiest New Year!

  9. Ken Haylock says:

    If you wish to find yourself surrounded by your own company, wary of strangers having given up on making friends, can I suggest you try being on the Autistic spectrum? It’s certainly worked for me.

    Incidentally, there aren’t so many women on the spectrum, and they tend not to get diagnosed as a result, but if you are a loner computer geek who doesn’t do people & finds human interaction face to face stressful in abstract social situations, you might actually be one of the female exceptions that prove the rule…

  10. James Sanii says:

    Motorcycle people are the best, my bike broke down today on Lord Montgomery Way, the first person that stopped was a rider (in his car), helped my friend and I push the bike to his house across the street. There are a lot of events I faced with Motorcycle riders wearing Motorcycle clothing which we sell.

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