Riders Rising

With the rising cost of gas, people are turning to motorcycles and scooters as efficient options for transport. As a result, a number of new and returning riders are appearing on the roads. Never a bad thing, right? With the number of riders on the rise, motorcycles are gaining attention in the media. Here's a prime example from The Washington Post. I've read several sources over the previous months citing many of the points outlined in the above article. Some new riders are purchasing their two-wheeled transport based solely on fuel economy. Don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't appreciate getting my dollar's worth at the pump, especially with the gallon in rural Kentucky climbing above the $4.00 mark. Safety, at least according to the above article, doesn't seem to be lacking. Record numbers of riders are enrolling in training courses across the country. Realistically, the number of new riders creates a demand disproportionate to the number of instructors and courses.

What concerns most long-term riders, this one included, is what will happen to these new converts as we progress toward the winter months. Here in the States, motorcycles make up a minute amount of the total vehicle traffic. Such a position gives rise to a particular bond among motorcyclists, a commonality that stretches across such boundaries as socioeconomic class, age, and brand affiliation. While some outright hositility exists between riders of various makes and models, most longriders will stop for a fellow rider stranded on the roadside regardless of what badge the tank carries. Truth be known, even in the recent past, there have been too few of us gracing the highways to let a simple thing like bike preference interfere with helping another motorcyclist.

It's homogenization of motorcycle "culture", if such a thing exists, that worries me the most. Do we teach, if only by example than no other method, to stop for a rider in need? Why do we wave to one another? These questions, and others similar to them, while not as immediate to the introduction to motorcycling as issues of training, are central to the passing on of this "culture" from one generation to the next, a generation measured in miles and stories told by gatherings at the road's edge.