Riders often speak of the wonderful things they’ve seen while riding and love the sound of their powerful engines stepping through the gears. You’ll hear them talk of the light touch needed to countersteer their sleek and shiny machines through the twisties but there’s more to it than just those three (admitedly wonderful) senses…

The smells. Wow! In the summertime one often smells the freshly mown grass while tooling through residential areas and out in the country there’s freshly cut hay and pine tree forests. There’s the smell of a quick shower of rain on the hot pavement and burgers being fried at the local squat and gobble. In the fall and winter you’ll often smell the smoke from the woodstoves, as you pass, and leaves smouldering in yards. Springtime brings the scent of warming earth and moldering leaves and early flowers. The salty air as you ride along a seaside route. Sagebrush in the high desert. And there’s the plain and simple – good ol’  fresh air.

Of course, there’s also the seamy underside of riding odors; the dead skunk or deer at the side of the road. That diesel pickup or bus idling away in front of you at the stoplight. Hot tar from paving crews and burning cigarettes and cigars for those of us who are non-smokers. The smell of your raingear burning on your exhaust pipe (OOPS!).  The gas fumes as you fill your bike’s tank.  Smashed grasshoppers on your leathers. And, of course, the sweat inside of your helmet on a hot, summer’s day…

I enjoy the sights of a great ride and love the feel of my machine vibrating beneath me and appreciate the sound of the engine as the bike flips up and down through the gears but, oh, the scents and odors of riding a motorcycle are an additional bonus that I never expected but I truly enjoy.

 

Ride safe,

Zippo and Jax