Yup. I met Elspeth Beard, the first British woman to ride a motorcycle around the world! My buddy invited me along to a local appearance for the tour of her new book, Lone Rider.
I ride alone almost all the time, but I was kinda startled that so many of the questions people had for her about riding by herself are the same questions I get 35 years later. I wondered if after all this time, with a family and fascinating career and all these amazing group rides around the world, she still rides by herself.
Could she have outgrown it somehow?
Could whatever it was that led her out on her own have gone away?
If so, would that happen to me someday?
Fortunately I had just enough beer in me to get over my shyness and raise my hand during the Q&A session to ask, “Do you still ride alone?”
“All the time,” she said. “I prefer it.”
I think I actually glowed.
When I came up to the signing table, I complimented her on her very fancy knit sweater and asked her if it was handmade. I knew it was; I could tell from the construction, but you can’t easily corner strangers to ask why their armscye looks so good. She beamed and told me her friend had made it years ago and that it was her favorite, and when I complimented her on taking such good care of it — it looked much, much newer than it really was, even though it was clearly well loved — she started turning her arms around to point out all the places she’d darned and mended it.
Of course the woman who disassembled and rebuilt her bike from the ground up twice mends her own knits.