Sportsters and Wings

Looking back on my first ride after more than twenty years, I am surprised I kept trying to learn to ride. My first solo ride wasn’t quite what I had expected. A few months earlier I won a Harley Davidson Sportster 883. It was a pretty little pearl white bike with chrome spokes, and it was loud, or it seemed at the time that it was loud. It had all of four miles on it when I sold it a few weeks later on E-Bay. I never rode it; although, a woman co-worker had tried to get me to learn. I used the money from the sale of the Sportster to buy my husband a used Wineberry GL 1500 and, for a few months, I was content to ride on the back of the Wing. You can’t beat the Wing for co-riders, it is a very comfortable touring bike. My husband was so proud of that bike. It had more chrome on it than P Diddy has bling-bling.

We rode as often as we could that spring and summer, and while we were touring I noticed there were more than a few women on their own bikes. I started thinking about riding my own bike. I’d learned in the Army I could do any thing I put my mind to, and I went out and bought a brand new Honda Shadow VLX. I still laugh when I think how fast I thought that 650cc bike was going on the little trip across my neighbor’s yards…