rafael pyton

Spring is the greatest invention since summer. I have been lapping it up like a dog, tongue out as far as anatomically possible. Slurp slurp. And the note on the door says “Gone ridin’… may return.”

Truly, bikes are drugs. I spend all my time off my Ducati thinking of when I can get more of it again.

It gets worse. I find myself watching Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman’s motorcycle adventures with a very dreamy look in my mind. Very dreamy.

In case you don’t know, Ewan, also known as Obi-Wan Kenobi, did a fantastic motorcycle run from London to New York in 2004, crossing Kazakstan, Mongolia, Russia (gawd, the road of bones), Alaska, and so on, on big Beemer bikes. This travel documentary, Long Way Round, became a cult hit among those who enjoy the sound of burning pistons.
The follow-up came in 2007, Long Way Down, this time from John O’ Groats in Scotland to Cape Town, South Africa. Oh, those magnificent deserts in Africa… I ache, I long, I turn for the horizon.

Ewan is not your average actor. He is for real. He rides. Not well, but with heart. And he has my vote for president of our planet. I urge you to watch these two movies. They will make you feel better, about yourself, about others, about the state of the world. And if you are anything like me, you’ll want to get out there, get out and go, just go and go and go-go.
But do leave the bloody car at home. When you ride, you taste the earth. You are exposed to nature, you feel the structure of life, you find meaning.

I’ll start humbly with a two-wheeled trip to Tallinn tomorrow. Glada Vappen! But one of these days…

Until then, the messages remain: “Gone ridin’… may return.”

When Hollywood starts screening for lovely actors to star in the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind II, the belle below will be a shoo-in. The rest of you ladies might as well pack it up and go home.

She has the charm. I don’t know how she does it, but when she turns it on, she causes global warming.

She has the fire. Should you not please her exactly as she demands, she will make sure you suffer like the little fool you are.

She has the looks. From the eyes of this beholder, she’s practically identical to Vivien Leigh. Her eyes are bottomless, and just look at the shape of that mouth!

She is Scarlett.

This winter was dragging on and on and ooon, and I was feeling the weight of the world all over, a heavy nausea that would not let go. I had been working too much all winter, and it was getting hard to swallow.

Suddenly, a break, a warm gust. The weather was changing. The air was at once full of great allergies. Better yet, the road was drying up. And the animal in me moved.

I opened the door to the garage. There it sat, still dormant, but ready to roar. I blew the dust from the gas tank. I stabbed a key where it fitted. I moved my thumb to the starter. How reluctant the cold twin cranked… wahwahwah… and then, finally, it cracked into fire, dadadadadadum. Ooh. Loud.

The fumes from the pipes were like musk, and I indulged freely. My heart was pounding. The bike was vibrating. No, kicking. Me, in the nuts.

And I let go of the clutch…

There is no need to express the feeling. I think you might have an inkling anyway. Let’s just say that I put in 100 quality kilometers during my lunch hour… and I screamed in mad ecstasy most of the way.

I feel at least 10 years younger right now, full of spunk, hot to trot, eager to experience, shout at the devil, run the gun, grow wings, fly. To think that they say Ducatis are expensive! Frankly, if they make you feel like I do right now, they are worth ten times what I paid.