A Journey on Two Wheels
I had a wonderful and spontaneous small ride with the guys today: Yerevan — Ejmiatsin — Ashtarak — Yerevan in the dusk, enjoying delicious roadside watermelon in the middle. The Ejmiatsin — Ashtarak road is fantastic in the dusk, so if you have two hours in the evening and want to have an immensely aesthetic and atmospheric experience, just hit the Ejmiatsin M5 highway then M3 then M1 (then have some chocolate ice cream at SQ1?).
You won’t regret it.
Get well soon, Vigen.
Only a Biker knows why a dog sticks his head out of a car window.
I can’t decide between a big trip around Georgia visiting virtually all the major places in the country and a trip across Turkey to Sochi in Russia.
Tough decision!
It looks as though the ice is melting in Yerevan — slowly but very firmly. And how could it be otherwise when the weather is so hot and so are the girls!
Season ’09 has started to prove my old claims that Armenians in their essence are people of two wheels, not willing to give up any freedom for any security. I can spot and hear more and more motorbikes in the streets of Yerevan and that makes me excited! I remember how different everything was back in the day, how riding a motorbike was considered outlandish and how criticized the very idea of riding a motorcycle was.
An SUV has stopped me 10 minutes ago as I was approaching the restaurant where I’m posting this from and a charismatic guy in his early thirties asked me how to get into motorcycling. Earlier in the day I was discussing the same with a colleague from my company during a coffee break… And everywhere seems to be this cool atmosphere of people who are tired of watching more TV in their car cages.
This gives me a profound feeling of responsibility. I’m going to do my best, making sure that their starting experience with getting on two wheels is most pleasant and smooth. It freaks me out to think that maybe I had my unbelievably small contribution in making these people want to ride. That perhaps it was my motorcycle they saw in the street that got them thinking. That perhaps it was me entering a curve that thrilled them. These very thoughts get me into this groovy mood! Every time I pass by a child in a car who looks at me with these specific burning eyes and dropped chin, I smile and think that perhaps — just perhaps — I will remain a vivid memory in his small neural network and as years pass — one day, after an intense conversation night with parents, he will open the local dealer’s door with that distinct determined look. I hope his chin drops again, with that same childish amusement he used to have over the motorcycle he gets!
Thank you everyone who has been riding. Thank you all who will be riding. Thank you. Everything will be fucking awesome.
Just hit the fucking road.