Guest post by Sheila Rainger who I met at the auto blogging day last month. She prefers two wheels to four and rides a powerful Triumph Adventurer 900cc, she loves the “elegance” of it, and this is her story:
There is a condition which affects 1 in 60 of the population in the UK. Women are picking it up faster than men – in fact women over 60 are the most likely to pick it up. It attracts social stigma from the rest of society, so that those who have it tend to stick together, in the face of criticism and discrimination.
I’ve had this condition for a decade. I’m happy to say there’s no cure – it’s a motorcycle license.
I believe that the motorcycle is the perfect vehicle. It has everything you need for travel, and nothing superfluous or indulgent. Responding to consumer pressure for greater safety, modern cars insulate the driver from the journey: cushioned by air bags, protected by a safety cage, filtered by air-conditioning and monitored by ever-watchful electronic driver aids. Great news for casualty figures – but the road outside the car unfolds through a screen, and the environment inside the car never changes.
On my Triumph, the journey unrolls under my wheels – and these days it feels like every inch of it is imprinted my spine! – and in all five senses. Though most bikers these days wear ear plugs so that we don’t go deaf in our dotage, the environment still presses in – in the Home Counties, a sudden blast of buddleia from a well-tended garden; in Dumfries and Galloway, the sharp scent of the coal still woven into the fabric of the land; in the Highlands, the fresh hit of wet pine forest (and yes, it is usually wet, which is good because when it’s dry the midges come out). The road is up close and personal – it even looks different across the UK: in Scotland, the tarmac is made with little chips of mica and the roads sparkle in the early morning sun, while in London it’s hard to see the tarmac between the potholes.
I’m not here to make excuses for the weekend warriors, leathers louder than their exhausts, who know how to make a fast motorcycle go quickly in straight lines – if you want to do three-figure speeds, take it to the track! I like to stop in the places I’m passing through, not scare them to death – in the hope of finding a good cup of coffee and a warm spot, because despite global warming and advanced thermal fabrics, riding a naked motorcycle in the UK remains a fairly chilly experience. The good news is that Clone Town Britain has yet to colonise the B-roads and by-ways which, as any biker knows, are the best roads to travel on. Why use the M1 when you can follow the legions up Watling Street? Why visit Burger King when you can call at Jack Hill’s Café, and put your money into a community not a corporation?
For me, riding is not about speed, it’s about elegance. Every corner has just one perfect line, the one path through which is the most economic, the smoothest and the safest. Expert riders see this line as clearly as if it were written in the air – in the same way that Michelangelo could look at a block of stone and see the lines of the human form inside. The rest of us aspire. Maybe once in 50 or 100 times we get it right. The rest of the time we make a hash of it but the road gives us just enough hope to try again, a promise that we will achieve that perfect moment of harmony when road, ride and rider come together and dance.
Of course, in choosing to ride a motorcycle I have chosen a vehicle disproportionately represented in accident statistics. Some people will trot out the old joke about doctors and bikers – yes, I know they call us organ donors. It wasn’t very funny when I first heard it 15 years ago and it still isn’t. (Let’s not forget that two-thirds of the collisions between a bike and another vehicle are the other driver’s responsibility.) I acknowledge the risks and seek to manage them through taking training, wearing appropriate kit and riding defensively. It’s actually a vital question for us as a society: are we prepared to allow adults to judge for themselves the amount of risk they are prepared to accept, and to face the consequences? I think we should. Motorcyclists make the world go round – they bring your urgent documents, blood and organ donations, your new bank card and your pizza. And we vote!
Sir Anthony Hopkins, playing New Zealand legend Burt Munro, knew what he was talking about when he said “You live more in five minutes on a bike like this…than some people live in a lifetime.� I don’t know if Munro really said it – but if he didn’t, I bet it was a biker who wrote it.
I love your line about riding a motorbike being about elegance, especially in the cornering. I have never ridden a motorbike, and I’m too old to start! However, driving a car gives you a small insight into that feeling. I was driving back home along the Tweed valley last evening, one of the most beautiful drives in Scotland, particularly as the light was just perfect. As usual there were just a handful of cars on the road and so I got that feeling of elegance several times on stretches of the road. Luckily I was not driving my aged Landrover where functionality substitutes for elegance.
Sheila makes a good case for motorcyling and its connection with the world outside. The problem for bikers is that other road users (except pedestrians and cyclists) aren’t so connected or exposed and travel along in a personal bubble.
Bikers also learn a lot about road conditions and looking ahead which could also benefit many car drivers.
We all know the negatives of motorcyclists – so it is good to hear Sheila’s perspective on some of the positives.
Elle,
What a fantastic post. I haven’t ridden a motorbike for 26 years and this is the first time I have wanted to again. Very nice writing. I wondered if you or Sheila were aware (no reason you should be I guess) that one of the best read blogs in Italy is by the CEO of Ducati: http://blog.ducati.com/ . I can’t think of a better way of connecting a CEO with his customer group than this. My Italian is only good enough for ordering food, but I am told that he too rhapsodies about perfect corners and places to stop in amongst technical discussions about performance and new models.
I clicked up your blog, Ellee, and I thought, ‘I recognise that face!’
Sheila Rainger is a local Lib Dem councillor – good article though. Interesting to note that whilst they’re anti-car in Haringey, Sheila’s paymaster is the RAC – the motorists’ friend. You couldn’t make it up!
Hi Justin,
Glad you liked the piece. In the interests of clarity, I should point out that I actually work for the RAC Foundation, which is an independent charity set up in 1991 to protect the interest of the responsible road user. While RAC plc nominate two of our Trustees, we are separate organisations.
All the best,
Sheila
PS – thanks also to David for your kind words 🙂
Sheila,
OK, but it is still a motorists’ Association, isn’t it?
Anyway, what are you thoughts on scooters? There’s a Piagio shop on Tottenham Lane and I’m thinking of acquiring one.
Hi Philpa,
I’m not sure from your post (or your blog) if you are saying that you are in a wheelchair yourself – I’m sorry if you are, I am sure that would be a hard thing to come to terms with.
Your parents’ advice sounds excellent – the road is certainly hard, I fell off while I was learning (through my own incompetence) and it gave me a healthy respect for gravity at an early stage of my learning curve. However, it would be great if we could learn from other people’s mistakes not our own!
I don’t have anything against sports bike riders in general – as you say, each to their own – just the ones who give other bikers a bad name with their behaviour.
Best wishes,
Sheila
What a babe ( on the surface) . I quite recently acquired a 125 and now I look with longing at the big bikes as they growl past . I`m thinking Ducati for the upgrade that must inevitably come, Triumph have some nice new designs but they are a bit retro. I have had mopeds and scooters before and I must say the speed a 250 can do nowadays is a terrifying thing to give to an inexperienced driver. Women , I am quite convinced , are not naturally as good at it. I know we are not supposed to say so but there will never be a Formula One Champion who is female and I don’t see what’s so wrong with the idea that the sexes have different areas where they tend to be better.
Women are good at …shopping …ok ok language skills and social politics . Men are good at driving , slaying woolly mammoths , that sort of thing .
Anyway I was just thinking what a magnificent specimen of loveliness your guest was when I noticed she is a Liberal . Not only that but a Liberal Councillor in our neighbouring Borough .
I think of the motor bike as freedom. I wonder how the Coucillor squares this instinct with the Liberal desire to boss everyone into CPZ`s take their money and self respect and redistribute it via the state usually with some whiney excuse about community responsibilities .. . Not only that but her party are the most anti driving Party and generally at the fore front of dressing up socially illiberal statist despotism as “ Green�. I am convinced that the Liberal Party will soon want to bann motor bikes because they present a danger to others . Why not ? They are supporters of banning smoking on similar spurious grounds; they support hounding car drivers over speed and never wish people to set the risk level they will accept for themselves. The chief problem with the Liberal Party though is its desire,often stated ,to raise taxes and thereby remove from us all the freedom to spend our own money as we think fit . That and having no consistent philosophical underpinning and a n infuriating pretence of being “ Above “ Party politics.
A tough thing to forgive but the bike is beautiful, and she does look a dream on it
Fraternising with the enemy Ellee ? I trust you have retained inner purity .
Actually, I had no idea that Sheila was A Lib Dem councillor until it was pointed out on this post. I do feel slightly peeved about that, especially as Sheila knows my political background.
However, one lesson I have learnt from my MEP Robert Sturdy is that you can successfully mix with politicians from different backgrounds, you judge them as a person. And I like Sheila. I admire her love for this great machine, the spirit that goes behind it.
When I had dinner with Robert in the EP, he pointed out that all the politicians sit where they like, they are not segregated. Whereas in Westminster, the MP I dined with, Malcolm Moss, told me that Labour MPs sat in one area, Conservatives another and Lib Dems fitted somewhere inbetween. I’m not sure if that is always true, but that is what I was told.
Elle and I met at a motor industry event and found we had a shared enthusiasm for blogging and social media. I was delighted when she asked me to write a post about why I ride a motorcyle for her blog.
Because we met outside any political context it did not cross my mind to mention my own affilliation. I am sorry that this has brought criticism onto her.
As Ellee comments above, it is important to meet as people, not just as politicians.
LOL! Nice one! I still have a motorbike licence (had a Norton when I was a student) and have often had the hankering for “one last spree”!.
Ellee, would you mind sending me a test email please, I have lost your address in a computer crash. Ta.
Newmania on a bike? Aaaagh! I used to have a Bonny but the 900 is sweeter.
David, Let’s hope you do get to ride a bike again now Sheila has inspired you. I remember you mentioning the Ducati blog and I agree that it certainly demonstrates the CEO’s real passion and understanding of a machine which is more than a product, but something he clearly adores.
Now where’s my crash helmet and passport…
A fantastic insight into another world. You’d be in seventh heaven over here, Sheila! Everybody has a motorbike whether they have a car or not as well and you should see my 80-year-old neighbour weaving through other traffic on his! Motorbikes are the accepted way for teenagers to get to school and the accident rate does not seem to be high. I had a quick look at the Ducati blog and he does, indeed, rhapsodise about the places he sees from his bike.
Welshcakes, are we going to see you riding on two wheels soon, with Simi as your pillion passenger – safely strapped in, of course?
Maybe, Newmania, Sheila has seen the light and will join us? Certainly, she wouldn’t miss the Trots that form the Haringey Dim Lubs. Her husband has retired as a senior official at the Lib Dems’ Cowley Street HQ, so it wouldn’t be too difficult for her to switch. You could then set up a Bikers for Cameron group and drive around the country in blue clobber, with “winning here” posters plastered all over your bikes?
I must agree with Newmania that Sheila looks a babe astride such a powerful beast. I suppose it’s the same allure as intelligent women who drink pints and play guitar – it certainly works for me.
I have a full motorcycle licence and was once a despatch rider in London (Kwacker GGT 550 at the time). One year I was at a loose end and had a yearning to take one of my passions (motorcycling) to another level by making a living from it. I had visions of hanging around trendy cafes in between drops, posing outside modelling agencies and disappearing off into the evening sunset at the end of each day. Alas it was the hardest and most stressful work I have ever done – being barked at via a personal radio, multiple drops, traffic wardens, lunatic cagers (drivers).
I lasted about six months – several spills put me off and hearing despatchers on the radio calling “I’m being taken to Barts casualty…” and such like with alarming frequency put me right off. The pressure of the work was making me ride differently and I didn’t like it. Infact I sold my bike and didn’t ride again for a number of years when I started afresh.
Your bike looks lovely and I can feel old passions stirring within me once more. As for what Newmania said about the incompatability of your politics with your instincts …
…well, the bike does bring much more kudos.
I used to have a Bonny but the 900 is sweeter.
Respect James .
I am sorry that this has brought criticism onto her.
Oh come on we are allowed to talk to them. How else will they learn ? The problem is Ellee that their Party really is that picky the poor woman probably think I was serious .” Fraternising with the enemy ” Harrumph !
Just kidding of course
hi Electro-kevin – I play the harmonica (badly!)- does that count? 😉 Huge kudos to you for working as a despatch rider, I always leap out of the way if I see one heading up behind me in the mirrors because I know they filter faster than I ride when I’ve got the road to myself..
Welshcakes, I would love to ride in Italy – it sounds like two-wheel heaven! I am strictly a UK biker at the moment but will come through the tunnel one day.
I play the harmonica (badly!)-
So do I ! Seriously. If it wasn`t for that business about not agreeing about anything on god`s green earth we would be made for eachother.
I must compliment you on your post though it was a great read , for all your political sins.
You use rear view mirrors, Sheila ?
Far out, man !
Hi Sheila, Thanks for a great post, made all the more interesting by your political allegiance.
As far as the post goes, however, it is irrelevant. Maybe one day you will rival Bel Mooney, Queen of the Road, a real free spirit. I hope you continue to have lots more adventures on your lovely bike, and yes, take her overseas where she will be admired by lots of other true enthusiasts. Why not start with Rome?
http://www.thisistravel.co.uk/travel/activities/Queen-of-the-Road-article.html?in_article_id=20519
I think Justin`s RAC revelation was worth the post alone
[…] So I asked Sheila Rainger, who used to work at Lambeth Palace and is now head of campaigns at the RAC Foundation. She confirmed my thoughts, that "Your Grace" was fine in a formal setting, but that the less formal "Archbishop John" was also acceptable. I think I shall opt for the latter. […]