Nate, despite a great fear of speed, always wanted a motorcycle. It was not that he thought it would make him cool, it was that they aesthetically pleased him. He loved the curves of sports bikes, the forward leaning aggressiveness and the color schemes. When a bike would pass on the road, it would captivate his attention and imagination long after it had left his sight.
What kept Nate from fulfilling this desire was fear. He had dreams where he would be on a motorcycle and it would accelerate against his will and ultimately he would lose control and crash. He would always wake up before impact. Nate didn´t even like to ride his bicycle fast.
Nate was in line at a coffee shop when a beautiful woman caught his eye. She was sitting at a table with a helmet in front of her and she was wearing a European racing style motorcycle jacket. Nate was afraid of speed but he was not shy.
He got his cup of coffee and went straight for the table where the woman sat. He walked up with his eyes fixed on the helmet.
“Full face?” he asked.
“Always” she responded.
“Yeah, me too” Nate said.
“You ride?” she asked.
“I´m very new to bikes, but yeah” he lied.
“What kind of bike do you have?” she asked, clearly interested in Nate.
“Yamaha R1” Nate answered. This behavior was very out of character for Nate. He was not a liar In fact, one of his strongest traits was his honesty. He didn´t know why he was doing this. He only knew, he couldn´t stop now.
“Very nice. I love Yamahas. Do you want to sit down?” she asked.
The talked for a while about motorcycles. Although Nate had never even been on one in motion, save for his dreams, he was very knowledgeable due to his intense interest. At least an hour and a half passed when the woman said “Oh, gosh, I didn´t even notice what time it was! I have to go. You want to go riding some day?”
Nate swallowed hard, “Uh, sure”
They exchanged numbers and both were on their way. For the rest of the day, Nate thought about that woman. Ashley was her name. He caught himself mouthing the name to himself a few times that day. Every time he did, his stomach fluttered. What am I going to do?, he thought.
He knew the only thing he could do. Buy a motorcycle, learn how to ride it and ask her out. The next day, Nate went on Craig´s list and as luck would have it, there were a few Yamaha R1’s for sale.
He picked the newest looking one. He arranged a meeting in a Wal-Mart parking lot to see the bike. The owner was willing to teach him how to ride it under the condition the money was exchanged before the makeshift lesson.
When he arrived the seller was already there. The bike was impeccable. Nate handed over the money, in cash and the seller handed over the documents. The deal was done. After an hour or two of coaching, Nate actually felt comfortable on the bike. The seller was extremely patient and only left when he felt sure that Nate could handle the bike. The owner stressed to Nate to take it very easy because this was a powerful machine he was dealing with.
Nate felt so comfortable that he decided to leave his car in the parking lot and ride the bike home. The first thing Nate did when he arrived was call Ashley. He felt relieved when he noticed she was excited to hear him call. They arranged a date to ride the Turnpike down to the beach for lunch. It was only a forty minute ride. Not so daunting for a new rider.
The big day came and Nate was so nervous he woke up way before the alarm. He decided he would make use of this time. He decided to wax his bike. It also calmed his nerves to spend some of his nervous energy. He had be practicing on his bike one hour a day since the plan was set. He felt ready.
He swung by Ashley´s house and they were off. Ashley is not a fast rider and that was good for Nate. As he saw the Turnpike entrance his stomach shuttered. He was still a little uneasy on the highway at high speeds.
About fifteen minutes on the Turnpike, Nate was settling in. He was feeling at ease and finally started to enjoy the ride. He decided to speed up a little and Ashley followed suit. She passed him. Then he passed her. This was fun. All of a sudden, Nate´s bike started accelerating. He took his hand off the throttle. The bike did not respond in kind. The throttle was stuck. It accelerated even more. Ashley was now far behind. She was flashing her high beams. Nate panicked. He was coming up on a big curve. He had never taken such a curve even at low speed, let alone on a bike that was going this fast.
He lost control. The bike slammed into the median. Nate went flying. He bounced upon the asphalt for what seemed like an eternity. Ashley quickly came up upon the scene. She was in horror. The bike was unrecognizable and Nate laid on the ground not moving.
Nate woke up in the hospital. Ashley was there by his side along with his family. He was alive. Thanks to his protective gear he was relatively in good shape. He had a few broken bones. He looked over at Ashley and she looked back at him in a way nobody had ever looked at him before. He was in love, with her and motorcycles. Both would go on to play a big part in his life from that point on.
By Ryan 