Is it over? Ride and no smile!

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

When I got bored/fed up with riding on the road, I focused on dual-sport riding for a year or two. Now I'm back enjoying road riding again and the XT500 languishes. Sometimes a change in scenery (literally!) can bring the fun back.

[Silver Goose]

Gary, unless your health is a problem, everything else can be delt with. I retired in 2012, due to a health issue, my bikes were only place holders of another time. The thrill of riding(50 years) was fading and the thought of not doing the things that other people do when they retire was in my mind.

Moving ahead, after a surgery and a report of stable condition after my last doctor visit I bought a new bike. My thrill has returned. Moving into a new place is always trying and I am not trying to preach, but the grin will return.

Good Luck

[Huzo]

If you were denied the opportunity to ride your bike when you wanted to Gary, it might put it back into perspective just how much a part of your life it is.seperating yourself or being separated might be where the difference is? Who can say mate, I'd think a couple of days away on it and you'd wonder how you managed without it.

[HardAspie]

I've been in and out of motorcycling since 1971. Sometimes I get a bike that is more trouble than either fun or practical use. Sometimes I am away because some life change has made motorcycling less than possible or useful. At once I lost a business and my house and found that my mom had found her way into heart disease and Alzheimer's. I needed a four wheeled vehicle to get her to doctors and labs and hospitals and could not leave her alone for long. Life happens and we adapt. My plan is to get back to motorcycling very soon and I hope the right bike and I hope a few other things too. I also want that smile back! I will be hoping big grins to us all.

[Huzo]

As well as anything else, there's little denying that as aGuzzi rider you feel you are a part of a "group", good or bad, a bit like a dysfunctional family, but a family none the less. Try going to a Guzzi rally in a car or on the back of someone else and I bet the first person that asks "where's your Guzzi" will make you wish you were there on one, or even more likely if you help someone on the side of the road in strife, that'll have the same effect. My Norge is currently on the surface ( I hope!) of the Indian Ocean on it's way to England for two months in Europe, and I'm missing it already, it's because I currently "can't" ride it so that's when I seem to want to the most sometimes.

[AH Fan]

I am POSSESSED by my MCs/scooters and have been for decades.  Almost every night I go out in the garage and admire them, think about past trips and future ones on them.  Some cover their steeds up until the next time they want to ride them.  Not me.  I go out there  w/some beer or wine, and sit on them, or work on them planning the next ride.  Luckily my wife understands this obsession I have had for over 50 years.     

Ok .......... Its really good to know Im not alone on this type of behaviour.

[canuguzzi]

No, it isn't because its a Honda.

We all go through phases were something once important isn't as much anymore. Whether it becomes important again depends on lots of things. Its nothing to be concerned about and dumping the Honda and getting a Guzzi isn't some magical fix for sure.

OP, you might just have a fuller life where riding a motorcycle isn't the biggest part of it. For some people, riding a motorcycle defines their lifestyle and without it not much else is going on. For others, it is just something they like to do, a part of something bigger and more important.

Maybe something else is more important now or is about to become more important. So what? Its a motorcycle, it doesn't define you, you define it. Its like motorcycles in general, it isn't what brand or model you ride, its that you ride. Once you get wrapped up in a brand name of anything you might as well become a Kardashian.

[Arizona Wayne]

No, it isn't because its a Honda.

We all go through phases were something once important isn't as much anymore. Whether it becomes important again depends on lots of things. Its nothing to be concerned about and dumping the Honda and getting a Guzzi isn't some magical fix for sure.

OP, you might just have a fuller life where riding a motorcycle isn't the biggest part of it. For some people, riding a motorcycle defines their lifestyle and without it not much else is going on. For others, it is just something they like to do, a part of something bigger and more important.

Maybe something else is more important now or is about to become more important. So what? Its a motorcycle, it doesn't define you, you define it. Its like motorcycles in general, it isn't what brand or model you ride, its that you ride. Once you get wrapped up in a brand name of anything you might as well become a Kardashian.

This is true if riding a MC doesn't fill some voids(you find important) in your life that  you can't find any other way.  MC riding isn't for everyone, that's for sure.

[charlie b]

Well, it may or may not be the bike. 

I had a Honda NT and it was a great all around bike.  But, whenever I wanted to get on a bike and ride it was the Guzzi that I got on.  Once I got the fairing and extras mounted on the T5 then I sold the Honda.

But, it may also be riding is an issue.  Like you said, sometimes it is easier to just get in the car and go rather than put on the boots, jacket, helmet, gloves and then have to remove helmet and gloves every time you want to go in a store.  For short errands I frequently just put on the helmet and go if I really want to take the bike.

Then there is winter.  I am getting tired of suiting up for a cold 20min run.

Once I retire (in a few months) it will be interesting to see how often I do ride.  Right now it is my everyday commute plus a few extras thrown in for fun.  When I don't have to commute then how often will I take the time to ride?  Only time will tell.

[Arizona Wayne]

If I lived in a cold climate I could see the rigmarole of putting on/off all the safety gear a PIA for short trips.   That's why I live in a relatively warm climate and can ride year round w/o all the gear needed except on long trips.  I do not do the ATGATT ritual.