I met Gary at a conference. I was doing a keynote on story telling and showed some pictures of me on motorcycles and mentioned my deep interest and miscellaneous ramblings on these vary pages. Gary tracked me down and we wound up having an email conversation.
Tell me a little about yourself. What do you do, do you have family, that sort of thing. I love your varied background . . . salesman, artist, tennis instructor . . . so tell me about some of that. I’ve got a slightly less varied, but definitely varied, background as well, so I’m always interested in folks who make big moves along the way.
I’m currently a National Account Manager for Kone elevator/escalator company. I’ve always been interested in art, athletics, and in how things work. In High school I took the vocational ed path in drafting because I got to take welding, metal shop and architectural drafting which I thought was fun.
I started at Mississippi State as an architecture major. After a semester of total BS (have you ever listened to what architects really say?) I changed to commercial art and graduated with a degree in that.
While at State, I wasn’t quite good enough for a scholarship in tennis, but they let me practice with them. That was incredible fun and I greatly improved my game. I helped put myself through school by teaching tennis lessons. Great summer and part time work for a college guy.
After I graduated in 1979, I worked for Dover elevator as a Graphic artist in their training dept putting together slide shows and presentations. This was in the days before computers, so all artwork was hand done, camera ready work. I had an opportunity to move into their sales dept and eventually was the Branch Manager for them in Macon, GA. I moved back to Mississippi in 1997 with Kone and in 2001 started in their National accounts dept.
I have a wonderfully supportive wife. We’ve been married 26 years and have a 22 year old son who is a senior at Mississippi College. He is on a tennis scholarship and will graduate in December 2008 with a degree in Business administration. we also have two horses, one black cat and one Australian Blue Heeler named Cobber.
Do you remember your first bicycle? Is there a good story about it? For me, it was a very large, very second hand bicycle my dad fixed up and painted red. Later I realized it was really quite small.
It was a Sears 24″ standard. When the “Spider Bike” craze hit, My Brother and I modified ours with high rise handle bars and banana seats. And there was also the custom krylon paint job.
When did you first ride a motorcycle?
I think it was on a Cushman scooter that our neighbor bought in the 60’s. We weren’t rich growing up but I rode all my friends’ bikes. The best was an Elsinor 125.
What was the first bike you owned?
The first one I bought was a 1984 Honda Ascot V twin 500cc. Great little bike: water-cooled, 6 speed, drive shaft. Pretty peppy. Put many miles on it.
How many bikes have you owned?
Five so far.
1984 Honda Ascot VT 500, 1991 Honda Nighthawk 750, 1984 V65 Sabre (Had for about 12 years . . . one of my favorites. Fantastic motor early sport tourer), 1987 BMW K75T (still have and ride it when I can get my son off of it) and a 2004 BMW K1200GT I really like those “Brick” motors.
How many bikes have you ridden?
Don’t really know. Lots from Harleys to mopeds to various Hondas, Kawasakis and BMW’s.
How many miles do you expect to ride this year? Doing what? I will do most of my miles on an FJR in big chunks. I also have a go-fast bike that is mostly for track riding. Not much in between.
Not as many as I would like but probably around 6-8000, mostly on weekend trips. The K 1200 GT is a recent addition so I hope to put most of the miles on it. I’m odd in that I don’t really like the large rallys. I always tell people that I ride a bike to get away from the crowds. I do enjoy riding in small groups though. A friend describes me as a motorcyclist not a biker. I call myself the anti-biker biker.
How would you describe your involvement with motorcycling now? Casual? Fanatic?
Fanatic. Just ask my wife
What attracted you to motorcycling? Why do you ride?
I’ve always liked the go fast things: Cars, boats, bikes, airplanes. Bikes allow me to escape the normal everyday pressures and be alone with myself. I’ve tried listening to music when riding, but to me it’s annoying. I love to hear all the mechanical goings on in the motor and trans as you wind it up or just high speed cruising on the interstate. I like tinkering and modifying the bike to suit my ergos. (I’m 6′-6″) It’s all fun and it puts a smile on my face.
I know you’re married, was it something you discussed? Were there issues? Were there deals made?
No deals made. My wife understands that it’s something I love and is supportive. She is the one that suggested that I buy the K1200GT.
Does she ride with you? Or perhaps wants nothing to do with it?
She rides with me on occasion. But she says a horse would be her first choice.
What do you think about when you ride?
Everything. I listen to the bike and think about how smooth everything is working. I think about the scenery and how beautiful and fragile it is. I also think about where do I fit in. Lately, I guess it’s age showing, but I’ve given a lot of thought about will it have really mattered that I have lived and died on this planet. Will any one care? [Me: I know exactly what you’re talking about!]
This is perhaps an indelicate question, but how do you think about the “dangerous” part about riding?
Well I went down about two years ago at @ 45mph. It was a very hot south Mississippi day and the tar was weeping up out of the asphalt. As you know, when you lose all traction you go down. I had on all the right equipment and only had a small skinned place on each knee and one elbow where the pad in my jacket shifted. That said, everything in life worthwhile is dangerous in some way. But you can help your self by being prepared.
What one piece of advice would you give to someone coming to motorcycles for the first time? I’m thinking about the “mid-life” rider now?
You don’t have to have the biggest, newest, fastest bike out there, even if it does get great reviews on the internet. [Me: It is amazing how people get twisted up in what are really inconsequential differences, isn’t it? Having said that, it’s not difficult to tell yourself you need one of everything.]
What’s the coolest thing you’ve done on/with a motorcycle?
Rode the Natchez Trace from Natchez to Nashville with a close friend that I grew up with. We used to ride bicycles together as kids. 420 miles of National Park with no stop signs, red lights, or commercial traffic.
If you could pick one place you’d recommend as a riding destination / experience, what/where would that be?
The Old General Store, Lorman, MS. just north of Port Gibson. Best Fried Chicken in the world and great rural roads to ride to get there.
If someone handed you a blank check and said “go buy a motorcycle you’d enjoy riding (not just collecting), what would you pick?
I think I just bought it. An early BMW K1200GT with the “brick” motor. My wife just commented that she would like me to have a BMW 1200 GS adventurer all tricked out so we could climb mountains if we wanted to. [I felt the same when I bought my FJR and again when I bought my Aprilia. When I was agonizing over the priller, it was between the one I bought and a used one that seem so much more sensible given that it was and is a fundamentally silly bike. Someone said something like, “If you’re not going to buy the one that really lights you up, why bother? Amen on the GS.]
Tags: LormanMS, The Old General Store, Natchez Trace, Port Gibson, BMW K1200 GT, Honda Ascot, V65 Sabre, BMW K75T, Cushman Scooter
