Karen Schomaker- Motorcycle Culture

A few of my friends are bikers, and they love it like nothing else. I recently got the opportunity to ride on my first bike with my friend Butler. I couldn't tell you any details about the bike, but I can tell you it was red. I can also tell you that it took him a year to finally convince me that I wasn't going to die. After one particularly stressful week on a Friday night I finally gave in to Butler's pleas and got on the bike.

After the initial freak out of "oh holy heck this bike is going to fall, I'm going to end up in the hospital, and how the hell am i going to finish up my senior seminar's from bed with a thousand broken bones?" it was amazing. We hoped on the I-64 and rode down to VA Beach. The physical experience is one thing- feeling the full force of the wind on your body, seeing the ground below your feet, and knowing that one wrong move could lead to disaster- but the mental aspect was mind-blowing in its own right. I noticed things I had never noticed, and I have driven along this road numerous times. I noticed the stars in the sky, I paid attention to the trees, and as we grew closer to the water I could smell the salt in the air.

Slowly the worries I felt earlier that night regarding all the work I had been trudging through this semester melted away and I could just think about the present. I thought about the future, I thought about the past. I realized that I like where I am in my life, and while there are things I wish I could change, there are other things that I will never be able to forget. I realized how lucky I am to have my friends and my family, and that with their support I can get through anything that comes my way.

There was something about being on the back of that bike that enabled me to let go of worries, and embrace the present. My mind cleared out and I was able to just have on of those experiences where I was fully in the present- the here and now. Once my mind was clear I was able to give way to the random simple thought slowly sift in. It was an amazing experience in that it was a feeling I had never before experienced, and I gained greater understanding for those who are a part of this biker culture.