Riding with the one you love .....

A recent post talked about - "Are you a motorcycle traveler or a motorcycle traveler?"

That got me thinking ......

For many years I rode my bike and was in one or both of the categories described in that post. Traveler or Traveler.
But now I place myself in a slightly different category.

For the past 5 years I have had the pleasure of sharing my love of riding with my wife. We have ridden two up in the past but 5 years ago she decided to get her license and a bike of her own.
The experience of learning to ride was as much a joy for her and a revisit for me. I'd been riding for more than 30 years on and off, dirt and road, crap bikes and more recently BMW's, but as she developed as a rider my joy of riding has grown exponentially.

She started with an old Suzuki GS500 and me on a BMW F800ST at that time. Now several bikes later she is on a 2012 F800R and me on a 2012 R1200R, but the key has been the helmet to helmet intercom system.

We go off for a ride, long or short, highway or preferably twisties, and we chat, look out for each other (watch each other's backs) and also just have periods of quiet enjoyment without chat, but we are always sharing the love and excitement of motorcycling and the encounters and experiences which evolve from the riding, the places we visit and the people we meet.

Many people laugh and mock me when I say this, with comments like - "You must be kidding, I ride to get away from my wife". But it's completely different for us.
My wife is also a very accomplished rider and although I'm no slouch, I often have to press on hard to keep up with her.

Hence we are planning the big trip to the US and Canada (from Australia) where we will spend 5 weeks and 7,000 miles riding together, on separate bikes and sharing what we expect to be the experience of a lifetime.

So when you ask if I am a traveler or a traveler, I just say "We love to ride, but we love to ride together, anywhere, anytime".

You are a very fourtunate man. I'll be interested to hear others weigh in on this. My wife and I do many activities together, being with her enhances most of them when it comes to riding my situation is opposite but similar, my wife has zero interest in riding, however understands its importance to my well being and is very supportive of my MC time/trips and was the driving force behind the R1200r purchase last spring. We will see how this plays out later in life as Ive intimated at a 5 or 6 month retirement trip around the country, that did garner a rather scornful expression.

Nice story Mark

Did she have you in a headlock when you wrote that? My wife wanted those helmet to helmet intercoms also. I told her, fine, get'em, just don't put one in my helmet.

I took a trip with a friend (2 bikes) a few years ago and he put those helmet to helmet intercoms in our helmets. He didn't shut-up for 2000 miles; I swore right then that was the last time for me. I prefer to ride alone, in the quiet without any new tech toys.

I think it's great that you and your wife are having a new riding experience and enjoying it more. Sounds like ya'll were made for each other.

DW

Annie has been riding about 6 years. We have used some sort of bike to bike commo since she began riding her own bike. Since we retired 2 years ago we have ridden over 40 miles together and find we get along best when we are on the road for long trips or even a day ride. We use the radios (Sena at the moment) sparingly, but they make a huge difference in keeping us on the same sheet of music during the ride.

My wife has absolutely no interest in learning to ride her own bike. But she loves to ride with me and it always enhances the experience. We don't talk incessantly, but over a long ride we remember the things we forgot to mention during a busy week, or we talk about our next trip, or ... It's always better when she's along.

My wife also prefers her own bike, I taught her to ride in '78, before we were married. Intercoms were not around then, a few years ago I thought I would pick up a set, wife wanted nothing to do with them, she figured I would always be saying watch out for this, or that, and didn't want the distraction. And she sings when she rides, and although I love her dearly, she couldn't hold a tune in a basket, so no internet for us, we converse at our destination.

My fiance and I have helmet to helmet communication and I would not be without it. We point out hazards and scenery to each other, coach each others riding, plan fuel and meal stops, etc., etc., etc. She once dropped her bike doing a low speed U-turn and I knew she needed my help instantly, I heard her expletives before she touched the ground! Her foot was trapped under her Yamaha FZ6 (her boots protected her foot from harm). I was on my way down a steep hill and let her know that it was impossible to stop and I would have to turn around the bottom of the hill to race back up to her.

Having intercoms doesn't mean non stop talk. We've both ridden for many years- me over 50, her over 35 from long before we met. Riding is mostly in silence as both of us prefer no distractions - I guess we're both old school, certainly know how to use the std hand and leg signals. But when it comes to details of road conditions and unplanned stops or whatever they're very handy to have. Like any other device, they are what you make of them. We both have gps on the bikes- and don't pipe it into our helmets, no music either.

Voni said:

For years I rode alone but dreamed of the days when I could take Paul along to show him the stark beauty of the twisty backroads I traveled.

Now that we're both retired we treasure the miles together. Hand signals work for us.

Voni
sMiling

Click to expand...

They work for us as well Voni. Nancy waves goodbye when I leave and I wave back.

Riding with my wife is the best thing that I have done. It gets better all the time

I always traveled with my friends. My wife had no interest in riding but we travel well together.

A few years back some friends and I took a trip to Yellowstone. It was the first motorcycle trip I had been on in a while. That trip was the clincher. It was 2 weeks of fabulous, the scenery, and everything was just perfect.

All I could think about as we traveled was ?How can I get Denise (my wife) to do this?? I mean, I like my buddies, but Denise and I travel well together and I thought if I could just get her to try maybe one day we could do this.

When I arrived home I started planting the seed. I told her that travelling with the guys was fun but I really would want her to come. It was also around this time that a few of my friends wives were also either talking about getting bikes or had actually got one.

She finally relented and a few weeks later I found a nice lowered KLR that would fit her perfectly. She ended up really liking it and the next year she bought a new BMW F650GS twin

We have gone on 3 long trips so far and we both love it. I generally travel ahead and we have a set of communicators. We talk about the things we are seeing, I warn here of obstacles. I plan the trips, and take the pictures and now she writes the ride reports.

I now prefer travelling with her to travelling with my friends.

Really in the end, when you started riding, wasn't the dream to be able to ride and go to bed and wake up with a beautiful woman every day?

Here are her ride reports.

Ride 1
http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread...and-her-quot-Biker-Stories-From-the-Road-quot

Ride 2
http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread...and-her-quot-Biker-Stories-from-the-Road-quot

Ride 3
http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread...ted-My-wife-s-Biker-Stories-from-the-Road-III

Excellent thread!! I will have to show it to my fiance tonight; I feel like he wrote the first post! We love riding together and love the intercoms! I don't know what we would do without them! Hand signals frustrated us both. I think we both get so much more out of the ride with the intercoms; he points things out and I do the same, and the experience is even greater! There are times neither of us talk at all. And on the slab, it's difficult to hear so we only shout at each other if one needs to get off the highway for some reason (bathroom, hunger, water). We have a BLAST together and can't wait to see where our travels take us to next! Again, what a feel good thread. Thanks!!!

I dearly wish I could ride with my wife, but she's just not into it. She has a hobby farm and caring for her sheep, chickens and angora rabbits makes her happy...as well as precluding shared vacations. She looks upon Little House on the Prairie or Anne of Green Gables as the ideal, i.e., nice self-sufficient homestead that has all you need.

That is so not me! I love roaming around, discovering new places and meeting new people. I did get a bit lonely on some of the extended backroads camping trips, but solved that when I discovered the best riding buddy I've ever had.

I always ride with the one I love, as I love my bike.
The Little House on the Prairie sounds good, to come back to after those long rides. Sounds like the best of all worlds to me.
It's nice to have someone to come home to. After some long peaceful rides.
dc

Helen was riding already when we met and got me off the V-twin I bought after a long dry spell of riding non-motored two-wheelers and a former spouse that disliked motorcycles. I guess I can see some folks point of view about not wanting their SO being with them, just isn't me with H.

Helen had a Beemer and a H-D when we met and I quickly learned I had a preference and traded mine for a second Beemer...I couldn't keep up with the German bikes in the twisties...and they made me ride sweep.

Anyways, we are both closing in on 200K safe miles together since 2006 if we haven't already. We use hand signals, a few secret signs, and on long trips used two-way capabilities with an Autocomm set-up. This summer we moved to Sena's and use them just to break up the long days with intel or funny comments. If someone is too chatty...they hear about it and I usually stop

The comm is kind of like using a GPS...don't knock it until you have tried it with the right person and for the right reasons. It is a nice tool to have and I am no Techie. Helen sings to me, however she CAN carry a tune and it makes me laugh.

We know each others styles and habits so what a great riding partner...wouldn't trade it for anything. We have ridden more together the last two years than we did prior always riding with our club mates. She is as/more adventurous than me at times and I don't care who is the leader nor does she. I have traveled w/out her , but I prefer to have my WingWoman sharing the time and sights.

We were in Santa Fe/Taos a few weeks back and she rode pillion on a few runs and left her bike at the house...really weird dynamic for me...but still good. On her own bike she can't gut- punch me for doing some dumb male stunt!!

Life is good here garthw nailed it in his post concerning waking up next to a pretty face and planning that days adventure.

And our dogs love it when we roll back in.

This makes roads like this TWICE as fun!

glenfiddich said:

I dearly wish I could ride with my wife, but she's just not into it. She has a hobby farm and caring for her sheep, chickens and angora rabbits makes her happy...as well as precluding shared vacations. She looks upon Little House on the Prairie or Anne of Green Gables as the ideal, i.e., nice self-sufficient homestead that has all you need.

That is so not me! I love roaming around, discovering new places and meeting new people. I did get a bit lonely on some of the extended backroads camping trips, but solved that when I discovered the best riding buddy I've ever had.

Click to expand...

I've immensely enjoyed your stories about Barley!

I'd really love to ride with my wife.

When I met her in 1972 I had a Honda CB350 that was my primary transportation. We did a lot of two-up on the Honda, nothing big but lots of short rides. Another guy she was dating rode a BMW...I'm not sure which model...but the Honda and I won out. After we were married we pretty much stopped riding for several reasons and eventually sold the Honda. Last year I bought my RS from my brother and have been riding it as much as I can. She's willing to ride pillion and we've done some two-up on the RS but it's not the same. That we're 40 years older probably has something to do with it. Also, there isn't much room for the two of us on the RS even tho it's a lot bigger than the CB350 (we're not THAT much bigger than we were then). I'd love to get her her own bike but she doesn't think she could handle one (she has some health issues). Plan B would be to get something that's more of a tourer, maybe an R1150RT or an R1200RT but I don't know if it would fit much better (I'm 6'5" and she's about 5'9"). Plan C is a sidecar rig.

Anyway, I think it's great that you guys can ride with your SOs. Enjoy...

As alluring as the concept is, my GF Cynthia just has no interest in riding her own bike. So we, 2-up it, and have one rally (Finger Lakes, 09) and one major moto vacation (Nova Scotia/Canada- 3K miles and two solid weeks with another couple) under our belts. Mostly, we just day-trip around on weekends- SUMMER weekends, as she doesn't want to go out in real cold. But I, too, love having her along. Guy-time is cool and all, I really love it when my buddies and I get together, which happens less and less these days- but IMO having the ladies along enhances the day/ride.

I absolutely love riding with my girlfriend on the pillion. I couldn't imagine riding with out her. We have a Scala intercom system, and being able to talk to each other is fantastic. We both see things that the other didn't see all the time, and can alert the other to take a look!

We have tried riding with other couples, but with few exceptions, we prefer to ride alone. We can do what we want, stop with out taking a vote, and ride as slow or fast as we wish.

The exception is when we ride with a couple who have well over 100,000 miles of riding two up. When we ride together, we pick a destination and we say, "See you there!" and we head out and meet up again when we get there. I don't need or like to see my friends tail pipe for hours and miles on end, nor does he want to see mine.

Spouse and I ride separate bikes and neither of us are interested in bike to bike comms. It seems to work pretty good for us. We are together, yet apart. I can put on the music that I like (and he hates) and sing to my hearts content. Pretty sure he does the same. hahaha

If there is something important enough to say to him, I'll find a spot and pull off the road.