Guy Boutin's Motorcycle Touring and Travel Pages

Adventures in Sport Touring with the Honda ST 1100, 1300 and the BMW 1200RT

Exploring North America...One Road at a Time

Self

I have received questions, and queries wanting to know what makes long distance riders such loners.  What causes the 200 riders in the Iron Butt Rally, to almost exclusively ride solo for 11,000 miles?

We each have a role to play-our own.  Long distant riders are incorrigible loners, who far from being troubled by their solitude revel in it.  You will not find them in roaming gangs, or wearing colors.  You find them on the open road, or in quiet campgrounds. You will see them quietly eating a sandwich, and talking to a friendly local in a small cafe.  You will see them at scenic overlooks taking pictures.  We are not hard to spot. 

I understand there are "people" people in this world.  They relish being with others and freely shower their affection.  They are generous and kind, and have little problem showing their emotion.  The kingdom needs such people.  But the true long distant rider is not one of them. That is why they are most at home and at peace when on the road.

I am unique.  I am a one of kind event in this universe.  Just as you are.  Therefore, I have a special role in this life.  I am at once the actor, director, and author.  But many of us forget our roles.  We become absorbed in society, we lose our individuality. 

Idle minds begin to think, the idle body wants to play, and those things are a danger to the herd.  That is why so many of the them look upon the long distant rider as a maverick.  How dare he jump the bounds of the herd!  Who does he think he is riding across the country with no cares?

When we find ourselves thinking such thoughts we become childlike.  We see ourselves as we are, and recognize the life we should live.  A lucky few of us have these reservations early in life, but most of us surrender to the herd rather easily.  We behave docilely till we have fulfilled our obligation to procreate, and used our productive years in support of the herd.

But then what?  The forties have arrived.  The herd no longer needs us, nature no longer protects us, the race no longer cares. There are no more horses to hold.  We are on our own, our purpose has been served.

What are our prospects?  Life renewed!  We are free to return to our childlike ways.  To love the simple things in life as children do, like long rides in the country.  

Riding rekindles the hidden urges that makes us different, rather then the same.  We now can sense the infinite varieties life has to offer, that make each of us unique and whole.  We need no longer be bound by the rules of the herd.  We are free to act out our own drama.  We find the courage and insight to escape the herd and become a individual.  Riding motorcycles is a manifestation of that feeling.

Why must it wait till you are in your 40s?  It need not I guess, it just happened that way for me.  Perhaps it will strike you when you are 25, 30 or 35.  Today maybe YOUR day to leave the herd, and you will soon find yourself astride a sleek machine bound for whatever you can find out there.