<-Previous

Next->

Motorcycling with Grace

In the fall of l973 I met a good looking man who rode a motorcycle. Since riding on behind isn't my style, I soon had my own bike, a 250 Suzuki. Six months later, because of a lingering foot problem that was threatening to put me out of running--and the resulting identity crisis: who would I be if I couldn't run?--I saw my first motocross race, and having ridden horseback all my life, said to myself, "I could do that!" I bought a TM 125 Suzuki, all the riding gear, a trailer, and I was off to the races. Raced for three years. I was 39 when I started street riding, 40 when I started racing. But like the old Zen saying puts it, "When the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear. Indeed.

Soon I traded up my street bike for a 600 BMW and less than a year later, that one for a 900 (the R90/6). I took a number of wonderful long camping trips by myself. The first, through New England and Canada in the summer of '74 was the feature story in the Feb. 3, l975 Sports Illustrated. There were a number of other trips as well, but only one first trip. What a lovely adventure!

I raced motocross for three years, then tried my hand at road racing with an RD 250 Yamaha, a little rocket if ever there was one. Raced a season at Nelson Ledges road race track, and about the same time had an operation on my painful foot which enabled me to run again. During the 24 Hour of Nelson in '77, I got hit from behind and put into the pavement about 60 mph. Though I was only horrendously bruised and not broken, I figured, well, if I keep racing bikes, I'll get hurt worse than this sooner or later, and I'd like to run for the rest of my life. So I hung up the leathers and returned to the other track--which I'd never really left during these bike race years.

I wrote a monthly column and occasional feature stories on motorcycling for six years for Rider magazine (l979-l985). What fun that was! I think Rider was the first, maybe the only, motorcycle magazine to use women for motorcycle road testing. They'd put together a small group of us (I'd be flown out to LA from my home near Cleveland, Ohio), give us brand new bikes to ride, and send us off. We'd each write up a bike; I'd do the feature story about the trip itself, our good times and mishaps.

I haven't ridden a lot since l990 when I herniated a disk in my lower back, shoveling snow. Riding isn't a problem, but handling the bike on foot is: shoving it around in a campsite, maneuvering it in the garage as needed. So I don't know where I'll go from here with the bikes. They were a major part of my life for about twenty years. And writing for Rider was such a blast! They actually flew me out to LA again in '92 for another road test ride, but during that trip I learned that I didn't really want to go 100 mph on a strange bike on unfamiliar roads anymore. If I continue to ride, it will be as sedately as possible. I recently gave my old 1975 900 BMW to my younger son since for some years I wasn't home enough to ride it or keep it road worthy. But who knows? I may get another bike one of these days. We'll see.

<-Previous

Next->

©1996 Grace Butcher