Article by Donna Pacchioni, Hawken School
My life with motorcycles pretty much parallels my life with my husband, Joe. We started dating as college students, when I was at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and he was 90 miles away at Penn State. Back then Joe had only one motorcycle, and we would ride around with me sitting behind him. It wasn’t until around 1996, many years later, that I started riding on my own. A friend invited me to join him in taking the motorcycle safety course. My first motorcycle followed, a 240cc Honda, hardly big enough to take on the highway. Eventually, I graduated to a blue 1995 BMW F650. When Joe and I had two houses, I decided that it would be so much more convenient to have a bike at each house, so he found me an identical red BMW to keep at the second house.
Between the two of us, Joe and I own 16 motorcycles in all, though some are better characterized as parts and pieces than operating machines.
More motorcycles joined the family over the years, though I continued to ride only my two BMWs. Between the two of us, Joe and I own 16 motorcycles in all, though some are better characterized as parts and pieces than operating machines. As the collection grew, Joe started housing some in a friend’s garage, in addition to our own. Then, at one point recently, we decided to buy another house nearby, just so we could use that garage for storage, while we rented out the house.
Joe loves to tinker — and he goes to specialized motorcycle shows and reads a hundred magazines — but for me, motorcycles are a social thing and a way to share his hobby. We’ve developed a nice circle of friends we’ll often join for a weekend away. And though we’ve gone on a few long trips (the Smoky Mountains were especially beautiful), for the most part I ride only on weekends when the weather is nice.
Aside from the social piece, there are several things I enjoy about motorcycles. One is that when you’re riding, you’re sort of forced to stay in your own head. You have to stay focused on driving, not listening to music or the radio or talking to anyone or, in my case, thinking about budgets and construction schedules and enrollment and risk management. In that way, riding can be mentally liberating.
I’ve also found my motorcycle hobby to be a nice conversation-starter. I’ve been told that I don’t look like “a biker,” and people often seem pretty surprised to learn that in fact I ride a motorcycle. At work, motorcycling is something to talk about at the lunch table and other social settings. Someone might say, “I haven’t seen your bike in the parking lot. Have you been riding much?”
Will motorcycles always be a part of our life? I think so, as long as we’re healthy. Do we worry about getting injured? People ask that, and I say, not much. We wear helmets, boots, gloves — all the protective gear. Plus, I read a study a while ago about who gets injured on motorcycles. It’s not people in their 50s and 60s who’ve been riding 20 years. At our age, and our level of experience, I think we’re pretty safe.
