Guys and Bikes

So, I'm a girl in a boy's club. I 'hang out' (i use that term loosely) with a bunch of guys. all the time.

Guys that are basically restricted on what they can and can not do, and what they can or cannot talk about. At least when i am present.

when I drive around (how did I get stuck on driving detail anyway? i'm a horrible driver), I've noticed that guys tend to notice something more then anything else.

you know, I would think it would be members of the opposite sex. But no, because I am there, they know they can't say anything about me, or anything about women in general because I might throw a boot up their ass, and I make myself as unflattering as I can be (I wear ACUs and not a lick of makeup) as I don't want to attract undesired attention (i still do). But I degress, I don't notice the guys noticing women, and if they do, they don't comment on it.

They comment on Motorcycles. And I swear every single one of them do it. They see a motorcycle, they check it out. they gawk at it. they comment how much they miss theirs. They rattle off the make and model of it from a two second glance. they spend the next couple minutes talking about motorcycles until I tell them to shut up.

I've discovered that guys like motorcycles. Now, this may have been a well known fact, and I knew some guys did like motorcycles, but I wasn't aware of how many of them were into them.

Or maybe I just hang out with the select few guys that do like bikes, and because I hear about bikes from them, it makes me assume that every one of them likes bikes.

Well, I do have a confession to make in regards to motorcycles. I have a fear of them.

It might be related to the fact that I burned my scrawny little leg on the exhaust of one when I was four years old and for some reason I have been traumatized by them ever since, but growing up, my dad (who has always wanted a harley) would take advantage of the opportunity if somebody let him ride their bike and would give us rides. I was an adventurous kid, I enjoyed adrenaline enduced activities such as this. Which made me wonder, when I was reluctant to get on the back of a motorcyle with my father, why I was this way.

Later I kind of linked that perhaps this traumatic event that happened to me when i was four psychologically scarred me to a point where I now don't like motorcycles, but i think I'm past that. Or at least, I would hope so.

I mean, I ran into a freakin' tree snowboarding and I will still get on a snowboard even though if I was going much faster at the time it could have very well killed me.

But with the economy and gas prices they way they have been, a part of me was thinking of getting something to commute on that would be quick and save me some gas money. I was thinking more along the lines of a scooter or something, but after a little research, I think in the long run a motorcycle might be funner.

The only problem is that in the long run, it might not save me much money. With the cost of insuring such a thing and the fact that it would undoubtedly kill me.

I am a huge klutz. But a part of me is intrigued with the notion of getting over this fear of Motorcycles. If I stay here for any longer for whatever reason, I may even consider buying one.

So, is it anything like riding a bike?