The Joy Of Motorways

Blog Date - 20 December 2013

Bikers hate motorways don't they. Long straight dull slabs of tarmac without proper bends and intricate switchbacks with which to challenge our skills and abilities. Just endless hours sat still on the motorcycle getting cramp and bored. Damn. Sometimes I agree, motorways are dull, but these days I really enjoy a long motorway ride. I was going to type the words "motorway blast" but for me that would be wrong. That would spoil what I love about motorways. 

Motorcycling for many is cathartic. The act of riding is involving and engaging which provides distraction from the everyday stresses and the mundane duties. It's a break from the routine and a hedonistic indulgence involving the rider and the machine. When the rider is on a particularly twisty road and riding in full attack mode the "work" required to navigate the motorcycle through the curves safely and quickly is all consuming. There's no time to worry about the gas bill or the report for work. It is also scary and in these days of super-safety the human condition requires some danger to feel alive.

And so it is for most riders. The motorway is simply a method of access to those places where the traffic is light and the roads are sinuous. A 3 lane piece of black top that must be navigated to reach the fun parts of the country. As such most riders whizz down them as fast as they think they can get away with to get the chore of being on the motorway over and done. 

I prefer to ride them slowly. I find them to be a space in my life, often a positive space. I'm not very good at sitting still. I've tried to meditate but I soon get bored, I don't have the mental discipline. I feel like I'm wasting precious time, I feel guilty for not doing something constructive, I feel twitchy and tense. Yet on the motorway I am doing something. I'm going somewhere be it work or a friends or even that quiet roller coaster road where I like to play. So I don't feel like I'm wasting my time. 

Riding slowly on the motorway, usually 55 to 60 mph keeping pace with the trucks, does not require the intense focus that attacking a road does. Whilst I must stay alert to the ever present dangers all around I also have space in my head to think. To think. To think about all those things I rarely take the time to think about. To think about philosophy. To think about space and time. To think about what my friend or my girlfriend talked about. To think creative thoughts. To imagine what it might be like to be someone else. To daydream. 

I've noticed these last few years as I've chosen smaller motorcycles and stopped trying to be a road racer that my motorcycling is making me happy again. Now I have some rides where I do press on, attack and submerge myself purely in the challenge of going fast. On a 125 I face that challenge without fear of the law in the 60 zones. To add to that I have rides where I travel at a safe, steady and easy pace, I can take in my surroundings and all that nature has to offer. Now another facet to my riding is growing, that of cruising the motorways so I have the time, space, and freedom to think.

On my way home from work last night I took a different route. It was a little cold, 4 degrees according to a display on the side of a factory. It was a little wet, just enough to create that spray that clings to a visor. I could have opted for the 25 mile high street route. I could have opted for the 40 miles motorway route. I chose a 60 mile motorway route. Part way through I was so indulged with my thoughts I decided I wanted a little more time. I diverted another 40 miles making my overall ride home 100 miles and 2 hours. By the time I got home I was thoroughly cold, a little wet and I completed some thoughts I'd been working on. This made me happy.

What made me even happier was when I filled up the CBF 250 my mpg calculated out to be 95. Hot damn, it's not as good as the CBF 125's 140 mpg but it's still bloody good.

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