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Motorcycles can make us feel both powerful and small.

 "Why we ride." 

It's a phrase motorcyclists keep trying to complete. 

"Why we ride" has many explanations. Riders probably will not agree on all of them. 

Why do we ride? For the mountains, the prairies, the straights, the curves, the company, the solitude, the joy, the relief, the excitement, the thrill, the relaxation, the destinations. 

All of those, plus a lot more. 

It's safe to say, though, that when I pick up my quarterly copy of "Blue Ridge Motorcycling," the emphasis will not be on speed. 

"I ride to escape computer screens," editor-in-chief Michael E. Gouge writes in his Notes From the Road column in the Summer, 2026 edition, recently arrived in my mailbox.

"The summer weather adds to my enjoyment of today's road trip," he explains.

"I glance down at the (route)numbers I wrote on masking tape attached to the gauge cluster. I have the usual navigation gadgets like most long-distance riders, but they tend to annoy and distract me...

"I keep thinking how great it feels to be back on the bike heading out for a three-day adventure, exploring backroads I've never ridden. The sky shines so bright it hurts my eyes."

Well, alright, we now know what kind of coverage to expect as we page through this magazine.

The Summer edition contains at least two articles by writer Michael Erwin, who also favors taking time to appreciate the scenery.

"On a clear day, you can look a very long way and still not see anything that needs improving," he writes. Well, at least you can from the Blue Ridge.

And he proves it by stopping his ride at all four of the scenic overlooks on his route through the mountains.

Here are some more words from him to ponder:

"There is a modern disease among riders, and perhaps among Americans generally, that causes us to hurry through beautiful places so we can say later we covered them. Route 150 encourages better manners...

"Motorcycles are full of useful contradictions, and one of them is this: They make you feel both powerful and small...

"These are not dramatic side trips. They are modest, civilizing pauses that make a day ride feel generous rather than efficient. The nature center tells you what you are seeing. The lake gives you a place to sit still long enough to believe it...

"Fuel up before you go. Carry water. Do not assume lunch will appear at the next bend in gravy form. This is not deprivation. It is simply the old rule of mountain travel. The place does not organize itself around your appetite...

"Sit down long enough for ice tea to sweat on the table and you notice how people talk, how they nod to one another, how the place wears its wear and tear...

"There was a time when I judged a road mostly by how quickly it could be ridden. That is one of the less useful enthusiasms of youth. A scenic highway deserves better than conquest. It deserves attention. Speed can heighten sensation, but it can also erase memory...

"The motor is not frantic, and I am not heroic. The day becomes less about performance than fluency...

"The best motorcycle roads are not always the fastest, hardest or most famous. Sometimes the best ones are the roads that help you notice your own life again."