Passes & Canyons Blog

The time has come, the walrus said
to talk of many things:
Of shoes–and ships–and sealing wax–
Of cabbages–and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot–
and whether pigs have wings.
–Lewis Carroll

Although I had wanted a motorcycle at least since I was 14, I never actually got one till far too much later in life.

I did, however, get into hang-gliding. I had a hang-glider and I was flying it, and I was pretty happy.

Then I crashed. In a major way. The only helicopter ride I’ve ever been on was when I was med-evaced to the hospital that day.

After I healed I repaired the glider and went back out several times to fly but each time it was the same frustrating thing: I would get up early, load everything into and onto the car, drive a good distance, set up the glider and haul it up some hill, and then wait all day for the wind to be right. But the wind was never right. So I would break it all down, load it back up, and drive home, having never gotten an inch off the ground.

Can you say frustrating?

Then one day I got the idea to sell the hang-glider and use that money to buy a motorcycle, where as soon as I would throw my leg over the bike I’d be doing what I came to do. And that’s what I did. The rest is history.

Well now someone has combined these two avocations. Watch this amazing video. Yes, he’s using a para-glider, not a hang-glider, but same difference. I was very interested to see his landing, because I figured that would be the really tough thing, but he pulled it off nicely. The ideas some people get!

Biker Quote for Today

Learning to ride at 41 is better than never learning to ride at all!