[FIRSTS] - Liam’s First Motorcycle Ride - May 16, 2026

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I’ve been riding motorcycles since the early 90’s. My wife and I got married in 1999. Our oldest son is 23. I’ve been asking all that time to be able to get one of our kids on the motorcycle with me, and while she rides with me all the time, she’s always said no to the kids riding with me.

Until now. :wink:

20+ years of asking — okay, maybe nagging — finally paid off. @Liam-M was the first of our kids to ever ride with me, and he had a blast. Not to mention we got ice cream during the ride, which I’m sure made it even more fun.

And yes, I already know what some people may think when they see my 12-year-old son on the motorcycle with me. I know motorcycles come with risk. I don’t take that lightly. I never have.

But the truth is, everything we do carries some level of risk. Walking down a sidewalk carries risk. Driving to the store carries risk. Letting our kids grow, explore, learn, and experience life carries risk. We all make calculated decisions every day about what risks are worth taking and how to reduce them as much as possible.

I also don’t believe motorcycles are, by themselves, more “dangerous” than other vehicles. It’s the other vehicles that make them more dangerous. A lot of the danger for riders comes from people in cars and trucks — cage riders — who don’t pay attention, don’t look twice, drift into lanes, follow too close, or are distracted by their phones. That’s the reality riders have to account for every single time we’re on the road.

When I ride, especially with a passenger, I’m not just enjoying the road. I’m watching everything — vehicles in front of me, behind me, beside me, pedestrians, animals, driveways, intersections, escape routes — and running split-second scenarios for each situation. I do that so that no scenario is a surprise to me when I ride.

This is about sharing a passion of mine with one of my kids. Liam has been the one most vocal about wanting to ride with me, and he’s been asking for a few years now. He’s finally old enough to experience the joy of riding with me, and getting to share that with him meant more to me than I can really put into words.

And that day finally came. Liam was the first to ride with me.

And without further ado, here’s the video I made of this ride with Liam.

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I can remember getting my 1st ride on a motorcycle, a super 90 Honda. It was loads of fun and made me want to get on of my own..

The two wheeler regardless of how it is powered has to have really defensive skills. My friend Deb has been hit from the front and the rear. I joke she has broken more bones than Eval Kineval (sic).

This is one of her crashes that we came up on. She was already transported to hospital. The deputy and the woman who hit her were waiting for the Texas DPS officer. Deb was stopped at a stop sign. The cage driver cut across cliping the bicycle with the front of her car. This was a brand new $8,000 bike and then there were the hospital bills. The auto insurance held off forever on paying. You might thing the bike is oke, but notice the front wheel is over lapping the

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This is the jersey she wears.

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Sorry to hijack the tread- I am so glad that Liam is the first of his siblings to ride with Dad, and hoping he get to ride on his own one day., Not yet, he needs a few years.

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