From Horses To Horsepower

Ron 0:08

In motorcycle circles, we talk a lot about horsepower, but how often do we think about the original one-horsepower engines and those who rode them? Well, today we're looking at what motorcycle riders can learn from cowboys. Not just about how they ride, but what they wear. Functional gear, gear that matters, and how the most proficient and prepared motorcycle rider can follow the cowboys' lead. Stay tuned.

Welcome To Peace Love Moto

Ron 0:56

And they're slow moving. Recorded in beautiful loveliness, Colorado. Welcome to Peace Love Moto, the podcast for motorcyclists seeking that peaceful, easy feeling as we cruise through this life together. Are you ready? Let's go.

Texas Roots And Cowboy Dreams

Ron 1:38

I grew up in McKinney, Texas, back when it was a small town. Yes, that's where my southern accent comes from, from time to time. My grandparents were farmers and ranchers. Now, I grew up as a town kid, but some of my fondest memories are those summer days spent on the farm with my grandparents and with my cousins. In a place like McKinney back then, the natural path for many of us kids was to become a farmer or a rancher if our family had that kind of background. So for a while in the 1970s, that's what I wanted to do. I spent two years in the Future Farmers of America, also known as the FFA, in high school. And as life would have it, I ended up going the polar opposite direction, you might say, spending my career in corporate America, trading a tractor for a desk. But I still look back on those days of driving a tractor on a farm with my cousin Randy. I so admired my cousin, I still do, because he lived on a farm and very much lived the cowboy way. And I so fondly remember those days of farming with my cousin Randy. Hmm. There's nothing like it. Or is there? I guess I reflect on those days

Riding Dirt And Chasing Memories

Ron 3:00

now. Because in many ways, when I'm out on my motorcycle getting covered in dust on a mountain back road or taking a deep breath as I pass a freshly cut hayfield, I'm right back out there on the tractor with my cousin. When I smell that fresh tilled earth or a forest after a rain, I return to being a kid back in McKinney, Texas, who dressed in cowboy boots and at least pretended to be a cowboy. Today, I love that feeling of getting dirty out on my motorcycle. Then coming into a local cafe, not looking like a clean tourist at all, but looking more like a local moto dude coming into town from some grand mountain adventure. Looking the part to me is important. Makes me feel good. Maybe it's weird, maybe it's a weird approach to vanity. I don't know. But rather than looking clean and well to do with a freshly washed bike, when I'm out of my motorcycle and I come into town, I want to look tough. Or at least look rough and dirty, you know. I don't know. Maybe I need therapy. I probably do, but that's just me. I think in many ways, when I put on my motorcycle gear today and throw my leg over that big adventure bike, I'm finally becoming that cowboy of my dreams. And I bet you are too.

Why Looking The Part Matters

Ron 4:34

Being a cowboy or a motorcycle rider who wants to look like they know what they're doing, well, that requires the right uniform. So let's start with the top. The hat. Now, you won't see a cowboy riding without a hat, and most of the time it's gonna be a full-brim hat. It's not for style, it's for this portable shade tree or this portable umbrella. So as riders, our helmet is our sanctuary. It shields us from the sun, for one thing, the wind burn and the fatigue on the road. And a cowboy doesn't leave his head exposed to the elements, and neither should we. It's about more than a crash, it's about surviving the elements, right? Gotta wear a helmet. And we'll get onto that topic at another time, but a really good quality helmet to protect a really good quality brain, right? Then there's the shirt. You ever notice that cowboys typically wear

Helmet As Modern Cowboy Hat

Ron 5:31

long-sleeve, pearl-snapped shirts, even in the Texas heat? It's for protection against the brutal sun and against brush that they may rub up against, and it's against biting flies that are out there. Well, the same applies to us. A quality motorcycle jacket keeps your skin from burning to a crisp and from drying out at 70 miles per hour, you know, when you're going down the highway and it acts as a barrier for debris that's flying along. Just a quick tip: you know, people think that, oh, I shouldn't wear long sleeves in the summer because it makes me too hot. Well, the thing is, especially out here in the Colorado Rockies, it's very, very dry

Jackets, Sun, And Flying Debris

Ron 6:08

out here. Humidity is really, really low. So if you're riding with short sleeves, then any kind of moisture is coming right off of your arms. And it's making you thirsty, and you're not aware of that, so that becomes a problem. So a little segue there. So the other thing too about wearing protective gear, especially your jacket with long sleeves, you ever been hit by a June bug at 70 miles per hour or a tiny rock off of a gravel truck? That hurts. That hurts a lot. So long sleeves in general and a motorcycle jacket aren't for the look, they're for the armor. And we need that. So now let's talk about the legs. Cowboys wear strong jeans with no holes and often add leather chaps. Why? Because they need to protect their legs from the thorny brush that they'll rub up against, and more importantly, to keep their legs from getting blisters from rubbing against the horse's sides. So we as riders, we're hugging a different kind of beast,

Jeans, Chaps, And Road Heat

Ron 7:14

right? One that's incredibly hot. And we wear reinforced motorcycle pants to protect us from the engine heat and the friction of the road just in case we had a fall. So whether you're on a horse or on a bike, your legs and your feet are the closest thing to the action, so you've got to keep those protected. And speaking of your feet, finally, the boots. A cowboy boot has a heel on it, and it's to keep the foot from sliding through a stirrup. When you slide through a

Boots, Grip, And Control

Ron 7:41

stirrup and you fall, that's really, really bad. We won't go into details there. But for us, when we're at a stoplight trying to hold up a heavy motorcycle and a patch of oily asphalt, maybe that's happened to you, we need that same foundation. A flimsy sneaker is going to be like a folding lawn chair underneath you. That's bad. You'll fall over and look like an idiot. You need a boot that's gonna say, hey, I'm in charge of this machine and I am grippy. So grip is a good thing. Any kind of support for your legs, your ankles, so forth is a very, very good thing.

Confidence, Vanity, And Lineage

Ron 8:26

I know that this episode has been more practical than philosophical, but I think wearing good gear is important. It gives you confidence that you need out there. Your gear will be there for you when you need it. And from a vanity standpoint, good motorcycle gear makes you look like you know what you're doing when you walk into the coffee shop and all of the tourists stare at you. That dude that's wearing a t-shirt that has I got high in Colorado on it. Yeah, that's a tourist. That's somebody you can impress. I like that. The gear we wear connects us to this long lineage of travelers. For me, it connects me to the cowboy I once tried to be.

Close And Blessing

Ron 9:10

And when we zip up our jackets and we pull on our boots, we aren't just dressing for safety, we're preparing for an adventure because we just don't know what might happen, and it may be just wonderful. So look like a pro. Look like a hero. Be a cowboy. And until we visit again, I do wish you peace and I wish you love.

Speaker 1 9:36