Although I have learned many things since starting to ride a motorcycle, there is an important lesson I learned along the way without realizing that I was learning it.  It is a lesson I feel very strongly about and something I have been mulling around in my head on whether I should make the post or not – so I decided “what the hell!”

The most important lesson a person learns as soon as they throw a leg over that machine on two wheels is RESPECT. Sounds simple enough.  When a motorcyclist talks about respect, immediately what comes to mind on quite a few riders is how other people treat them   But lets take this a step further.  You learn respect for the machine and know that if you don’t keep it in excellent running condition, it will get you into a potentially dangerous situation.  Another facet of this is respect for the road and the conditions as well – because any one of those could come up and make you pay a dear price for ignorance or out-and-out stupidity.

Let us go back though to the first one.  Respect for your fellow riders.  It seems that now riding is “en vogue”, as soon as people become ‘bikers’ per say, they feel the need to strut around, be rude, disrespectful and think with their egos instead of their heads.  Nothing gets me more angry than a person who only insures their motorcycle for good weather then talks down to me because I’m ..”.. just a woman.”  Or those people who believe that they only need to respect those who ride a certain brand of bike.  Or that by putting on a vest with a patch, they are entitled to walk where ever they feel like and say whatever they feel regardless of who is around. When people are like that, it shows me they have not learned the important lessons.  They have not learned respect. And depending on the type of crowd they run into – sometimes the consequences can be disasterous.

This does not mean that you only offer respect to people who think like you, ride the same brand of bike as you or are the same sex as you. Many a time I have run across a person (male or female) whom I do not particularly like, but I know that if I go on a ride with this person, they will not try and kill me at every turn.

More importantly, when a person makes the conscious decision to throw a leg over a two wheeled machine they learn to respect life.  However fleeting this life may be – when you are on a motorcycle you learn that one false move by yourself or someone else can bring everything crashing down around you. Those machines teach you how to experience life and enjoy every second of it – because at a moments notice it can be snatched away.

Respect.  It is not just for receiving – you have to give it too