Rides provide thrill

I am gliding along at a steady 100 kilometers an hour over hot asphalt. My motorcycle is humming and the engine whines every time I turn up the throttle.

At every engine acceleration, the four into one exhaust pipes gives off a high pitched growl that make my modest 650 cc Yamaha sound like a powerful sports car. My four stroke motorcycle still runs like it did when it was built in 1982.

The classic shape of the bike has no faring and the open front end leaves me exposed to the open road. The wind through my open face shielded helmet is pushing a steady blast of air onto my face. I can smell flowers, the various trees, the forest and the humid air as all these aromas pass by at highway speed.

I am breathing in so much fresh air, I feel a sort of oxygen high. The air, the sun beating down on my leather jacket, the wind pressing up against my jeans and seeping into my clothes, the fast moving rhythm and the danger of the open road makes me feel alive and exhilarated.

The sensation of gliding along on two wheels also gives me a great sense of vulnerability. I am much smaller than most vehicles on the road. I have more chance of not being seen and a higher likelihood of being in an accident than cars or trucks.

The perceived danger puts me on edge and all my thoughts are dedicated to the car in front me, the upcoming intersection, the blind corner or the gravel shoulder. I have developed an eagle eye for danger.

As uncomfortable or as stressful as it may sound to be on a speeding motorcycle and imagining oneís own demise, I am in fact in a state of relaxation.

As soon as I hop on my bike, start up the motor and veer onto the open road, any anxious thoughts, any worries, anger or negative feelings get put aside until I stop and stand on my own two feet again. Then of course it all catches up with me again.

On my bike I am in a sort of meditation and there is no room for me to feel bad, no time to wonder about tomorrow and there are no worries about whatever is taking place in my life. I am truly in the moment.

Sometimes I just slow right down on a lonely stretch of winding road. The air in my face reminds me of riding out onto the bay on a freighter canoe. The speed, the noise and the sensation of danger are much the same. Although a 24 foot canoe being pushed by a 40 horsepower motor may not be as fast as a motorcycle, the blast of a cool northerly headwind is similar.

The salty air of James Bay sends up aromas that can overwhelm oneís sensations.

I remember the boat ride, the pounding surf and the screaming two stroke motor. I recall that during those rides everyone was left to their own worlds out on the bay yet with the close company of family and friends.

Even though a dozen people usually occupied the space in the boat, we forgot all our worries and life back on the rez for the duration of the ride. We were on the big water and moving.

My motorcycle ride reminds me also of my time back home in Attawapiskat on snowmobiles. I think back. In the bright white world of a February winter, I am alone on my snowmachine flying over the ice and snow on ancient trails that line the frozen mushkeg around the community.

The ride on a snowmachine is a very familiar sensation for me. I prefer riding on trails that took me away from town where I felt I was on a long journey and by myself. The feeling of moving at high speed in freshly powdered snow in uninhabited and undisturbed locations always excited me. My heavy winter clothes, a helmet and heavy boots felt like armour that protected me from the physical world and what at times was like a universe of anxiety and worry.

On a fast moving machine in the dead of winter, there was no time to think about my life or my troubles, I had to concentrate on keeping up my speed, watching for danger and monitoring the mind numbing cold that slowly penetrated my layers of clothing. I was again in the moment.

It is no wonder that I feel a very natural desire to ride a motorcycle.

This is all about getting off the treadmill and riding away from it all.

Many times I end up in scenic locations as I pause my bike ride to stop by the side of the road and admire a river, or lake, the setting sun on a northern marsh, a moose standing in bulrushes or an ambling bear with her cubs.

The world can just wait while I spend my day on two wheels.