Episode 47: The Basics of Motorcycling - Ain’t Nobody Feelin’ No Pain
This past summer, my brother-in-law, Jim, texted me with a picture. He had ridden his motorcycle into the Hill Country of Texas. West of Austin. His destination, a place where maybe you and I need to go too. A place where “Ain’t nobody feelin’ no pain”.
MUSIC: Let’s go to Luckenbach, Texas…
Ah, that sounds like a place I would like to ride to someday. Sounds like a state of mind we can find if we try. I’ll let Jim show me the way out there maybe this summer. Maybe you too can find our own Luckenbach, Texas. Perhaps we can get back to the basics of motorcycling. Let’s talk about it. Stay tuned!
OPENING
That was the country Waylen Jennings, joined by Willi Nelson, singing about a real town, where Jim rode his motorcycle that day and sent me a picture. Luckenbach, Texas, to the west of Austin. That’s getting into what we call the “Hill Country” of Texas. It’s beautiful out there. I traveled around that area, around Kerrville many years ago. Rolling hills, far from the big city lights and noises. Maybe far from the pressure of modern life too.
Some may take the lyrics wrong, those words to “Luckenbach, Texas” when they sing “Ain’t nobody feelin’ no pain”, they may think that people are just sitting around drinking beer or smoking pot. But I don’t think so. I think rather, it’s more of a state of mind. Maybe even finding that “Peace of Mind” that this podcast is based upon. Maybe it’s about turning away from a lifestyle based on wealth, possessions, … position in society, and turning to a life of simplicity, or “the basics of love” as the song says.
Honestly, I like what’s posted in Wikipedia about the song. It says “The song refers to a couple whose position in "high society" has placed strains on their marriage ("this successful life we're livin' got us feudin' like the Hatfields and McCoys") and their finances ("four-car garage, and we're still buildin' on"). Waylen Jennings suggests that the couple return to "the basics of love" and relocate to the small town of Luckenbach, Texas.
MUSIC change
My very good friend and neighbor, Brian, let me know this past week about how excited he is to purchase a 1976 BMW R90S. An airhead. No Brian, I don’t mean you as the airhead, I mean the bike. Ha ha. He’s so excited to ride it in the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride this May. I found the add for that bike that he’s getting. Wow, whoever wrote this add did a fabulous job. This is how it describes this classic bike:
The BMW R90S was sold from 1973 to 1976, designed by German designer Hans Muth, and was designed to compete with the plentiful and competitive superbike offerings from Japan of the time. Hans started with a R75/5 as the foundation and then bored out and improved the engine with higher compression pistons, 5-speed transmission, added an all-new fairing and bodywork, and became the first BMW motorcycle to get dual front disc brakes. The good looks and impressive performance of the R90S are sometimes credited with saving the BMW Motorcycle division; and winning the 1976 United States AMA Superbike Championship was the icing on the cake. It was a bike that aimed to break the mold and bring BMW Motorrad into the next generation that did exactly that.
What does that motorcycle and Luckenbach, Texas have in common? Well, this may be a stretch, but I think everything. For me, the early 70’s is when I first got a motorcycle as a kid. No electronics. A kick start. Carbureted, air cooled engine. No anti lock brakes. Nothing “safe” about it at all. It vibrated like crazy. Slide all over the place when I gave it the gas. It was so simple and so was my life. No worries adult things that come along. No concerns about work or finances. In a sense, it was the ain’t nobody feelin’ no pain like Waylen Jennings sang about. That would my Luckenbach, Texas.
Some folks say that you can never go back in time. But I think we can. As a child on my first motorcycle, I was moving through the air with a motor and two wheels under me. Wandering from place to place with just the sound of the bike and the open road ahead of me.
You and I can do that now! Why not go back in your mind to a wonderful place and time. Your happy place. Your Luckenbach, Texas. On your next ride, go there! So will I.
Thank you for listening! I wish you peace. I wish you love.
LUCKENBOCK, TEXAS ending…
Music by Geoff Harvey from Pixabay
Music by Yurii Kushch from Pixabay