At age 21 I threw a leg over my R90S and headed west, never looking back.
Ever since I read the article “Highway 1 you Ultimate One” in one of the first
Rider magazines, subscriber since 1974, The PCH was a goal of mine to ride. The
romance of the ocean and hills and cliffs was too enticing, and I have ridden it
many times, in fact I will admit to being PCHed out. Both ways I have ridden
it, and each time it is different, from freezing rain to windy, clear blue
skies, each ride takes on its own sense of beauty, and every time I ride it, I
find I am not PCHed out, but have so many more roads to travel. For years it
was the Malibu Canyon roads, living in Durango the Million Dollar Highway Loop
has been done many times. Rocky Mountain National Park, three times now. The
Mogollon Rim over a dozen, three times last year in fact. When reading about
the best motorcycle roads, I often have ridden them, and even better ones just
off the main routes they brag about, with less traffic. Ever ridden the Road to
Escalante, Highway 12 in Utah? How about Highway 49, the Golden Chain in
California? Route 32 winding along the Delaware in Pennsylvania? I could spend
a week in Southern Ohio and never see the same roads twice. Blue Ridge Parkway,
Natchez Trace, and US 1 to Key West? The Chesapeake Bay Bridge? Any road in
Northern Arkansas. Vermont routes 100 and 7? The Berkshires in Massachusetts?
Each a different ride, each one with a memory of its own. With two criteria to
consider on each ride, the bike and who you do it with.
The last ride I ever had with Rex, he died a few days after we split off in
Prescott, was the PCH. A landslide had closed the road about 25 miles north of
Cambria, so finding a motel was easy, no traffic. But the next morning, we had
a 25 mile stretch of the PCH all to ourselves with no traffic. So we rode it
half a dozen times, up and back. Going faster each time, as we got to know the
road better. Think of it as a track day on the PCH, sadly Rex is gone and I am
the only one who has the memory now, but my KZ750 screamed like never before
trying to keep up with Rex on his older Yamaha 750 three. It was 1983, over 36
years ago, but the memories of the last ride with a good friend linger today,
even naming my second son after Rex. So every time someone mentions the PCH,
and what a great ride it is, my take is just a little different. If you don’t
ride, if you haven’t lost a good friend and riding partner, you may not get it.
The road is only a small part of the riding equation, and so is the bike you
ride. It is the people you do it with that make it all come together. So while
some brag they ride it like they stole it, I tend to ride like it may be the
last ride I take with my friends, and I want to make it special. How you see
the ride makes all the difference. I hope you all have a PCH track day in your
riding memory.
We sometimes get the impression that Jesus healed everyone he met. But we
find in one village, due to lack of faith, he could only do a few miracles. It
might have been the limited views that led to a limited life. One of it’s the
same everywhere, so why go. Nobody knows the problems I have. Have you become
so deadened to life that your sense of smell, your taste, and your feeling have
been altered? Do all sermons sound the same, is it the same old Jesus over and
over, and you don’t want to hear about him anymore? Have you condemned yourself
falsely blaming him for your poor choices and negative results? Have you become
hardened to certain roads because you have travelled them so much, but fail to
see how new they are to someone else? Is your spiritual life limited because of
your limited view of Jesus? Some will declare him a carpenter’s son, some even
a great teacher, some go as far as a prophet. But do you see him as the son of
God, God incarnate, the deity who became a man to save us from our sins? Too
much church and not enough Jesus? Know all the verses but never applied them?
Know all the songs but never let them fill your heart with joy? Has your small
mind let you become a small Christian?
Do you know more about him than actually knowing him? Knowledge puffs up,
but wisdom opens our eyes to all the spirit has for us. A chance to see
scripture as God inspired it, making it personal. Nazareth blew it with Jesus,
even going as far as to say “can anything good come out of Nazareth?” It’s time
to let go of old teachings and prejudices that limit Jesus, that hinder the
spirit. To really experience God’s forgiveness, to really see his grace. I
watch as my grandson learns by doing, and he cannot read yet at 18 months. Yet
knows to twist a throttle to make the motor go! Is all the Jesus you know based
on teaching, or have you ever ridden with him in life? When we truly do not
limit God’s grace, his forgiveness, his love and power, we grow in grace and lie
is beautiful. It doesn’t mean it won’t rain, or the bike will always start. It
just means that you are never alone in any situation. For he has left you his
spirit until he calls us home. So maybe the one you ride with does make all the
difference....
Add Jesus to your ride today and let him enrich your life beyond your
wildest dreams. You see at first we were bummed when we found the PCH blocked,
but later were overjoyed as God had made it a special day and ride just for us.
Your ride may not be long or seem special today, but when Jesus is along it is
special to him. He wants to spend time with you, not just hunched over a book
studying, but out living. Jesus spent his life on the road, he was where the
action is. And for one special day on the PCH, we had our track day. May all
your rides be as memorable, for the best is yet to come. You just need to get
out and do it!
Highway 10 south out of Albuquerque, US 76 across northern Georgia,
MacKenzie Pass in Oregon, and the Columbia River Gorge are all great rides.
Don’t neglect the fun to be had while getting there! for some the ride is over
before it’s begun, for the rest of us it is only beginning.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com