I have been so passionate about motorcycles since my childhood.
I do remember my uncle’s BMW 1949 R24 and the summer vacations we had together in Ezine, always first cleaning, polishing and then riding it with the fantastic feeling of hearing its sound in my ears and the feeling of the wind in my face while sitting on the gas tank, clinging tightly to the middle of the handlebar, watching the mileage indicator on the headlight and the road longing ahead of us.
The words are not enough to tell the feeling I had.
Years after, when I think about the peak moments I had in my life, obviously one of them always is the feelings I had during our rides with my uncle, I realised how much I value being with the wind, being outdoors, being adventurous, feeling free and alive in the moment.
Since then, motorcycles and their culture have always been in my life. I think it’s fair to say that I have always been trying and pushing myself to be a competent and better rider, reading, watching, imitating and training, on every occasion I could have.
Then one day, a few months back, at The Virtuous Rider Seminar, I heard a great sentence uniting being a good man and being a virtuous rider.
It was such an a-ha moment for me, as for almost 30 years working along my way in the retail industry, voluntarily I have been reading, studying, getting and facilitating trainings about personal values, beliefs and virtues and how to live by and apply them in our daily work and overall lives.
Not surprisingly, I have been trying hard to apply this to my life, being true to my values and acting accordingly in any case.
Hearing this sentence was so inspiring as the sentence associates all of it directly to motorcycle riding.
Virtues, in general, are globally accepted and shared moral standards. And the virtues mentioned in the Virtuous Rider Seminar (Knowledge, Humility, Discipline, Passion, Compassion, Patience, Prudence, Courage, Confidence, Perseverance, and Simplicity) are the ones we may see within the group of such global moral standards.
They can all be applied to any occasion in which one should behave, not only to motorcycle riding but to all areas of life.
In this short essay, I describe my never-ending journey of becoming the best version of myself and the strong connection I’ve realised with being on the journey of becoming a virtuous motorcycle rider.
I hope this gives you inspiration to consider it and maybe initiate implementing the same consideration into your lives and rides.
First things first; everything should start with a “Why”, as this is what brings meaning, devotion, dedication and loyalty in our miraculous “long narrow” journey of life.
“Why do I need to be a virtuous person and a virtuous rider?”
Before trying to answer this question, let’s first dive into knowledge sharing. Let me make a quotation from The Virtue Theory of Aristotle: Eudemonia. In the most basic form, it means a life well lived, true to one’s self and her/his values. According to this, one should become virtuous to attain the pinnacle of humanity, pushing oneself to be the best person one could be.
As soon as we arrive at the cognitive resonance stage of being a human, we begin to ask this heavy question “Why?”.
It means that we begin to search for a meaning, a cause, a purpose. Then we begin to realise that there are always some guiding principles, the standards of our behaviours that we aspire to and use to navigate our choices and decisions; a moral compass that guides us in deciding what is right and wrong.
These are our values. And here virtues come into the scene as the character traits and actions or practical expressions that we must use to reflect our values.
For instance, if honesty is one of your values, to be true to your value, you act honestly in all your interactions no matter what – otherwise you’d choose to have sleepless nights afterwards.
Therefore, by integrating our values and virtues into our lives, we can achieve a consistent and ethical way of living. If anything is not fulfilling these values and virtues we have, it feels meaningless.
Right here, obviously, lies the answer to our famous question Why… Values give us a sense of purpose. When we align, we feel more alive, connected, energetic and more fulfilled as we bring our force into life, coming from our core.
Values shape us, our feelings, thinking, decisions, behaviour, the way we see and understand life and all others around us.
Values reflect who we are and what we stand for. Misalignment with the values makes one feel like losing the compass in the middle of the ocean. If not aligned or even not being aware of them, we feel disconnected, less authentic and become demotivated at whatever we do. We lose the framework for ethical behaviour and moral accountability, so our decisions might get disconnected and misaligned with our beliefs and attitudes. We found it hard to create meaningful connections with the world around us. We feel unfulfilled and incomplete.
As you become aware of your values, you begin to realise your best version of yourself every day by being true to yourself and in alignment with your values, making sure you’re doing what brings you a sense of happiness, joy, purpose and meaning.
Here let me go back to our initial question: “Why do I have to be a good person and a good rider?”
The building the bridge between being a virtuous person and being a virtuous rider, for me, has come about with the thought of “the rule of consistency of actions and behaviors one has…”, when we apply it to our subject, it means that a person cannot behave one way when riding a motorcycle and another way when not, or that a person can be ethical at home or work and cannot be less ethical while riding. If you think you could do it, well then you must accept the hard truth that it means one of them is undisputedly not true to yourself. It simply means you’re a man with more than one mask on your face. And by doing so, you must eventually see the disconnection and misalignment you build every day in yourself and your relations with others. And begin to realise how it consumes our intimacy and emotional connection. This is not something desirable in life, for any of us, at all.
Character is not a suit one can take off and put on at will.
When a person feels about being virtuous, she/he focus heavily on who she/he ought to be. This is what I have experienced so far in life, that’s, for me, the deep meaning and incentive in being a virtuous person and a virtuous rider at the same time.
It is finding the true meaning, while reflecting my core values into my riding, realising my best-self, being true to myself, feeling the satisfaction, joy and happiness of doing it, and so feeling more grounded and consistent. Being seen, perceived and remembered as a virtuous person and a rider; on the saddle, at home, at work, among my friends and in all moments in life and after.
Therefore, the last but not the least, I do think that I could use my passion of motorcycle riding to enhance being true to my values in life behaving by the virtues, so no compromising my values and beliefs on the saddle as well, feeling whole, satisfied and the joy having the purpose and the meaning.
Therefore, if I am the one who is fully aware of his core values and the virtues I live by, I must surely reflect them in every occasion I have in this life, no matter what; at home, at work and on the saddle as well.
On top of that, by enhancing my riding skills, riding by the virtues, I do know that I’m going to become more grounded, wiser and a better person who rides the motorcycle with his core purpose in mind and soul, all the time.