The Wave!

I'll never forget my first motorcycle ride.  I was riding on the back of my friend's (who's now my BF, teehee) R6 and were on the way to Skyline with a buddy from SF.  It's a beautiful drive with curvy roads and rolling hills in the background.  We passed by a motorcyclist going the other way and my BF stuck out his left hand.  "Uhh, what?"  I thought.  "Are you trying to signal something to him?"  Then I noticed that he did it again to another biker...and again...and so did my friend in front of us.  I was confused.  When we stopped to eat, I asked him and my friend about it.  They explained how you just do that to other motorcyclists on the road as a friendly gesture.  "HOW COOL!!" I thought.  I love the idea of being part of a community and that acknowledgement of "hey you have a bike too."  What I also learned is that you DON'T stick your hand up and start waving side to side like a dorky "hello there!!" (although I'd love to do this anyway).  It's a casual extend your arm and open your palm kind of thing.  When we got back on the bike, I was tempted to start waving too.  I didn't care if I was on the back!  I wanted in on some of the action.  Soon enough a biker passed by and I wanted to wave, but I was too afraid to let go of my rider.  I still felt like I needed to hang on for dear life.  Eventually I summoned the courage to offer a stick-out-my-hand-super-quick wave.

Courtesy of TimeRider's Blog

What I learned not too long ago is the head nod.  This is done when you're on more local roads and you're at a stopped at a light.  You see a motorcyclist next to you or across from you.  One does the head nod of acknowledgement and the other returns the gesture.  When I'm on the back of my BF's bike and he gets the nod, I return it from the backseat, heehee.  The reason I bring is up is because of last night.  I was at a stoplight and I saw a biker pull up in a lane across the way.  I actually had a lot of thoughts in my head, "Oh my gosh do I nod?  I was here first so am I supposed to do it first?  What if I do it wrong and I look stupid?  Do I wait for him or is that rude??"  While I was thinking all these stupid questions, sure enough, he gives me the head nod.  I return it back.  If you could see inside my helmet, you'd see a big grin.  It felt like, "OMG.  He thinks I'm one of them!"  Oh man that totally made my day.

Update:  Okay just found out that my BF actually did the head nod first, then the guy, then me.  So not as cool, but I'm still in the club =)

written on 8/11/11