To Ride A Bike is to Ride the Sky...

Well, I've kind of plagarised that saying. It should say to Ride A Horse is to Ride the Sky! But, a bike is up there with riding horses and I've done both!

Putting some photo's away the other day, I happened across one very tiny photo of myself that my mother had passed onto me. I was photographed sitting up on a dirt bike, gripping the handle bars, my feet barely touching the pegs at all of about 5 years of age. Great photo! I can actually remember riding that same bike a few years later all by myself after dad taught me. It wasn't real fast and wasn't all that big a bike but I had fun roaring around on it out at a friends farm near Sofala in NSW.

Now, I am riding that big bike in the above photo. Who'd have thought!? For those of you not in the know, that is a Ducati 900ss. A 1998 model to be precise. The newly reinvented fuel injected model as opposed to carburetted. I could go on but I'd bore the non bike folk out there!

I went out riding again the other day and took that picture. The picture was taken on my crappy camera phone but it speaks volumes to me about riding and the country we live in. It's an awesome photo that speaks of the power and majesty of the bike and the majesty of the beautiful country we live in, even if it is gripped by the worst drought on record. Just look at that sky! It's not called "Big Sky Country" out here for nothing!

I hadn't been out for ages. What with work, school holidays, a trip to Sydney, not to mention a broken part on the bike (how typical for a Duke!) that needed fixing, stopping me from doing it. When I finally got a chance to go, I took my time and enjoyed the experience.

On a Ducati forum, there was a thread started about How Can You Explain Why You Ride A Ducati. Some of the replys were ones that had me nodding my own head in agreeance. There are many reasons why but one of the good ones was because the Ducati chose you not the other way round!

The reason I liked the best however was "Because you ride with your soul and not the throttle." That is what riding a Ducati is. You riding with your soul...

If anyone has in their mind a desire to learn to ride...go and do it. Do it well and do it properly. Learn to ride because you want to ride with your soul...