[12250]

Good read. That might just be part of what it's all about.

 

[Charlie]

Thank's Paul

 

[Neal]

That may well be the best article ever posted on MO....thanks for sharing.As a rider over the age of 50 myself I completely understood.....I probably wouldnt have 20 years ago.

Neal

 

[F451]

Most rewarding to see how someone has chronologically placed the importance of motorcycling (to those of us who live it) as a golden thread in one's life. Many kudos to Mr. Gordon.

 

[39970]

Captures the joy and grace/fears and pains of motorcycling better than anything I've read in a while. It's real in a way that is sobering to this guy who's had some of his highest highs and lowest lows the same day, on two wheels. Thank you Paul and enjoy the ride. By the way this older guy (42) wouldn't mind it if you came back to Motorcycle Journalism some day, motorcycling is not just a young mans passion.

 

[33304]

Absolutly incredible writing! Can you get this guy to write for MO?

 

[vmx1200_1]

Great story. I've been riding for 36 years with a similar hiatus of about 10 years. This is a great article of what it feels like to ride, and why we do it.

 

[056]

Wow, that was good!

I'm a little teary. After seeing a lot of death and blood and mayhem inte last few years alone, it's easy to forget why I love THE RIDE. I pray to God I never have to live one minute without the ability to get on a bike and go.

 

[8345]

excellent!!

I was a reader of Cycle through the 70's.

I do miss that kind of journalism.

I'll be 50 in Nov. '03

I will try to pick a bike for the historic ride, ala Gordon.

Thanks for the post.

It brings back TOO many memories.

I do miss the old days, but, today is just fine

 

[kirkmoon]

Thanks for steering us to this article. As yet another 50+ yo that has returned to the fold, I can relate to his sentiments almost perfectly. Beautiful writing: sophisticated, nuanced, and wise. He really captures what motorcycling is about for me. And, as an added bonus, I think I can use his article to justify buying that Tuono I've been looking at. Makes it seem almost like an act of poetic duty, don't you think?

 

[longride]

Paul Gordon and Cycle were the best. That was the only magazine I NEVER missed reading in the 70's and early 80's. I was sorry to see it go, but glad to see Paul still kickin'.

 

[KPaulCook]

Thanks MO. Best piece of writing I have read in a long time.

 

[obandoj]

As a 50+ rider I can see where Paul is comming from, oh boy how I miss Cycle magazine.

 

[3360]

Hey Guys,



Let Paul know there is still an audience for him out here.



Cycle was the first magazine subscription I had. I too am getting closer to 50, curently 47 and was suprised I made it to 30.



When I talked about selling one of my bikes to make it easier to build our new home my wife asked if I was looking for a divorce because I would be intolerable to live with without my motorcycles.



It gets in your blood and stays.

 

[32962]

As my own personal Ground Hog Day treat I am compelled to read and re-read . . . or is that live and re-live . . .that piece over and over and over

 

[stogieBill]

Thank you, Paul. Thank you MO. Simply excellent.

 

[jmeyn]

Can it be?

Has JB posted something that everybody likes?

He's toast.

 

[MoeMoe]

what a wonderful piece of writing! Now I can't wait until I hit 50.....only 20 years to go. But that story broght back a lot of memorys of rides I have taken over the years, and brought a smile to my face!

 

[ridinsince59]

SAY Johnny B....

As Neal already said, "That may well be the best article ever posted on MO....thanks for sharing.As a rider over the age of 50 myself I completely understood..."

It WAS the best ever posted on MO, IMHO. Anybody who can write with such original prose should be on two wheels for a living! In case you missed the (now pay to see) article, here's a sample:

"To the hardy women who have made it this far in my tale of the unbearable Lightness of Biking, I beseech you now to listen: The human condition of the adult American male is to flail around in a room crowded with alligators in the dark, with three bullhorns blaring in his ear and a pile of stinging nettles in his pants. One is required to behave like an idiot almost every waking minute, and even if all seems secure, for every guy there is something--a drug, a woman, a low-draft fishing boat--that can make him rise up and abandon his sleeping babies in the middle of the night to prowl the angry streets. Like any hopeless addict, you pray that this will never happen. But then, of course, it always does.'

Say Johny B, why not hire Paul for a little "freelancing" work on MO? It would certainly raise the bar around here more than a few notches!