Slow is sometimes better 😉

A bellowing “Gaan ons ry?” (“Are we going to ride” for our English readers) greets me on this fine Friday morning, as my father-in-law has just woken up.
As the founder of South Africa Motorcyclist, and considering the fact that I’m the original instigator that got this man on a motorcycle for the first time in his life some 10 years ago, my answer is a very obvious “YES oom!”
Let’s actually back into that for a bit, considering that this is the first real post of this blog shall we…
So I met my father-in-law, oddly enough, way before I met his daughter whom today I affectionately refer to as “wifey” despite her cringing every time I say it. P.s. Love you gogga!
Back then I was still wet behind the ears, working in the local supermarket and of course on the one motorcycle I still regret having sold, a 2003 Honda Fireblade in red and black. Man what a bike she was!
Either way, the old man and I hit it off almost instantly when he first came into that shop after having moved into the area. He was always intrigued by the motorcycles parked outside, yes multiples, and he asked me tons of questions about them. The reason for riding. The reason why I was so hardcore at on my choice of owning a Honda. Where did I ride and why. The list to carrying on with this is quite extensive, so I won’t bore you with it.
Needless to say, a few months after he and I had started becoming friends, he arrived one day on a stunning ’99 Honda VT750 Shadow, which I incidentally own now. Now he owns yet another Honda as well as his more “wife friendly” Harley.
Back to the topic behind the post though. We set off this morning from the homestead, to the garage around the corner for some much needed petrol for a trip to Montana, Pretoria.
He looks over at me, as oddly enough we don’t get a chance to ride together much, and asks me the most obvious question considering that I’m on a far older bike than today’s standard, “What’s the average speed you can hit on the highway?”
With a moment’s thought on my part, “Let’s cruise around 100 - 120km/h”
I can see the joy draining out of his face at these words. He was obviously hoping for the 140 + km/h mark that seems to be a motorcyclist norm from the West Rand to Pretoria via the infamous R28.
I’m grinning from ear to ear to see what happens next though as we climb into the highway.
As the k’s start steadily sweeping by, I can see that he’s starting to enjoy this slower pace. He’s looking around and pointing at things it seems he has never seen before on this beautiful stretch of South African road.
All the way to the North East side of Pretoria and back to Roodepoort we ride at a very chilled pace between 100 - 120km/h. Barely using the amount of petrol we normally would. Cars going past us, without us even bothering to open the throttle and leave them far away in the mirror.
Yes, I’m riding an old girl, but that V-twin motor grumbling between my legs has more than enough power to push the old man’s limits that he normally rides, but that’s not what I’m after today.
I ride tons of various motorcycle makes and types daily, but it’s different testing a bike versus enjoy the ride of a bike.
We finally make it home, safe and sound, every biker’s goal.
As my father-in-law’s helmet comes off, I can see a nice big satisfied and relaxed smile across his face.
“That was the most amazing ride I’ve had in ages! Who would have thought that going slower could be so fun!”
“That was kind of the point”, is all I can reply through my own relaxed smile.