Friday, October 7, 2011

mine started witha 350 Honda




I have noticed lately when I go to vintage bike meets that more of us older guys are huddled around the older, smaller 250cc sized bikes. With the common theme being these were our first bikes. The ones we learned to ride on, the ones that we first experienced they joy and freedom of riding on. The ones that took us to places we never knew existed, on roads we still ride today, and that started a love affair with motorcycles that 40-50 years later we still enjoy. Many bikes will have come and gone over those years, but there will never be ones like the first one you owned. It will be the one that all others are judged by, because it will have been your first love. And there is nothing more precious than your first love.
Mine was a new 1972 Honda CB350, bought so I could ride with my friend Bill on his CL77. Once I had ridden such a big bike with 305cc, I had the fever and only the 350 would cure it. No more puny 50 or 125cc dirt bikes-I was out of the dirt and onto the highway-cruising at 80 and flirting with 100mph when able to. Motorcycles from that day forward would surpass girls in importance, until I met my bride years later. I learned more in the six months I owned the 350 and the 6000 miles I put on it than at any previous time in my life. And being a senior in high school, I thought I knew it all, but that Honda would teach me things that no class room could offer, and no text book could explain. It was the entry fee to life, and life suddenly appeared the day I rode away from Ralph's Honda in South Orange on it. I experienced more firsts on my 350 than I would on any other bike to date. It was with mixed emotions I sold it for a 1972 BMW R60/5, but more roads and farther destinations were calling, and the BMW was to take me to them. Maybe not better, but farther. I can still remember the excitement of riding out of the dealer, and on being torn between wanting to show it off to all my friends, or to go riding-friends would have to wait, the road called. What good is a new bike if not ridden? Truly there would never be another bike to me like my first one-and the Honda has forever earned top recognition in my memory files of bikes owned.
I never could imagine anything taking the place of motorcycles in my life until Jesus came into it. I had a new first love, that made me love and enjoy motorcycles and riding even more. I had a new riding partner-Jesus, and He not only loved to ride, but He loved to ride with me. Now I was never alone. Where I had a lifestyle, now I had life to go with it. He put girls, jobs, and even motorcycles in perspective-and whereas at one time girls would accuse me of loving my motorcycle more than them-the bike had less maintenance and was more exciting, now I was glad when they told me Jesus was the most important thing in my life. He gave me a passion for Him, and displayed it in my life via two wheels, in a way only a loving God could. And still does today.
You never forget your first love. Maybe that is why when we get together we share our testimonies and how Jesus first came into our lives. How exciting it was to meet Jesus personally, and how we once hated church and all religion, He had made it personal, and now we enjoyed getting together with other believers and sharing what He has done and is doing in our lives. Sadly for some they have lost their first love-but you can come back, His arms are waiting to accept you again in love. But to those of us whom never left our first love, there are more memories, sweeter memories, and even better ones to come.
There were many better bikes I owned after the 350. They would go faster, stop better, and be more comfortable than it was. But they all would lack the first time experience factor my Honda had. Way beyond the spec sheet, or how fast the speedo said, or how many miles the odometer showed, your first bike is more personal than that. And when we gather together around them, I am amazed how a bunch of crusty old bikers can reminisce so fondly over something so old and so small. First loves will do that to you. In a way all the ones to follow didn't and won't. Maybe the difference between men and boys is no more than the amount of miles on their memory odometer.
Make Jesus your first love today. If you have you know what I mean. If not, start the precious memory file with Him in it today. He makes life worth the living by showing you things through His eyes. He makes you come alive, and see life that you never knew existed. And He takes you into eternal life someday-it doesn't have to ever end. Someday all we will have left is our memories, but those of us who have Jesus will still have it all.
In over 40 years of riding and over 700,000 miles, there has never been anything to compare with my first bike. And after 35 years saved, nothing will ever compare to Jesus.
Many loves will come and go-it is the first love that you will always remember. Sometimes it's ok to travel back to see how far we have really come. They only get me more excited about the future. Only with Jesus are the best times and rides yet to come. These are the good, old days.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com