Born To Ride

The first motorcycle he ever sat on was purchased by a high school friend from a Sears catalog. Today, Paul Lemieux is riding a Kawasaki Concours 14, a sport touring bike.

Paul, president of Pro-Link Inc., a marketing and buying organization headquartered in Canton, Mass., says his friend with the Sears motorcycle (an “Allstate” brand) pulled up behind a pizza place on a Friday night and invited Paul to take a ride.

“I sat on the back, the motorcycle took off, and I slid off the back of the bike,” says Paul. “When I got up, I said, ‘That was fun — I’m going to get one.’”

Aside from falling off the back of his friend’s motorcycle, over the years Paul has focused on safety. He rides with full safety gear that looks like a black nylon jacket (but made to slide along the cement), and of course a helmet and all of the other gear that goes with being a safe and responsible rider.

“I’m really, really safety oriented, but I like to go really, really fast,” says Paul. “If you go to an amusement park, you probably want to go on the most exciting ride, but you want to make sure the cars don’t fly off the track. Like an amusement park, with motorcycle riding, you can have excitement and prudence at the same time.”

Paul points out that if you look at the safety studies, you can dramatically reduce your chance of injury by taking certain precautions. Your age, education level, use of safety gear, number of years you’ve been riding, and the fact that you don’t drink and drive reduce the probability of a motorcycle accident, says Paul.

What Paul fears the most is not being able to ride any more.

“I don’t have any fear on the bike, because I concentrate on being on the road and the safety aspects of it,” he says. “You quiet your mind and focus on what you’re doing.”

Motorcycling is a father-daughter sport for Paul and his two daughters, Julia and Rosalyn. Paul says 15-year-old Julia is a “natural rider.” They ride dirt bikes together on weekends, and they’ve been doing so for a few years.

“Julia will be allowed to drive a motorcycle after she’s been driving a car for at least a year,” Paul says. “It’s only prudent to have experience behind the wheel of a car before driving a motorcycle on the road.”

Paul’s older daughter Rosalyn, a Washington, D.C., resident drives a scooter instead of a car, because in the District of Columbia, it’s impractical to have a car.

On the days that Paul doesn’t have to carry things or go to meetings, he rides his motorcycle to work.

“I get close to 50 miles per gallon on my motorcycle, and it’s a 20-minute ride,” he says. “I wish it were longer. Sometimes on the way home I make it a longer ride.”

Besides being able to make motorcycle riding a father-daughter sport and the good gas mileage, Paul told me that the most important thing about it is the amusement.

“It makes you grin,” he says. “People who ride talk about ‘the grin’ you get from motorcycling. It’s all about safety, but it’s also like being 14 years old again.”

Gretchen Roufs, an 18-year janitorial supply industry veteran, owns a marketing and public relations company in San Antonio. To suggest someone you think should be featured in “Freetime,” contact her at Gretchen@GretchenRoufs.com.