By now, most on campus have grown accustomed to seeing and hearing motorcycles fairly often. Why exactly are so many students, as well as some faculty members, so enthusiastic about this mode of transportation?
While there are practical reasons, like gas mileage, parking advantages and the ease of getting around a college town, these factors rarely influence one’s decision to purchase a motorcycle. Those who ride say they love the sensation.
Erik Ahlen, sophomore in wildlife and outdoor enterprise management, now 20, first rode a motorcycle with his cousin when he was 12 years old. This summer he plans to ride to South Carolina and back, hitting all the major rallies along the way.
“It’s a sense of freedom you’re not going to get on anything else,” Ahlen said. “When you’re on that road, two tires, open road, nothing around you, there’s not a worry in the world.”
Evan Post, sophomore in civil engineering, said he bought his motorcycle because he hated parking on campus, but that it has become much more than an easy-to-park transportation method.
“Once you’ve been on for a while it kind of becomes part of you,” Post said. “It’d pretty much have to kill me before I thought about staying off. It just gets in your blood and becomes a passion.”
For those who have not experienced the thrill, Post said he feels it is sometimes difficult to let someone close ride off on a motorcycle and not worry.
When Scott Staggenborg, professor of agronomy, got his most recent motorcycle a year and a half ago, he said he encountered opposition on multiple fronts.
“Not many of [my family and friends] were that supportive of it,” Staggenborg said. “My mom and dad hate it. My older brothers, who all owned motorcycles when we were growing up now say, ‘Oh, I can’t believe you bought one; you’re going to kill yourself.’ My wife didn’t want me to get it at first.”
Acquaintances of motorcycle owners sometimes find that being close to someone who rides can be problematic, but Staggenborg said there is a good reason why.
No comments:
Post a Comment