If you follow anything to do with the motorcycle industry media, you know about the buzz created about the documentary “Why We Ride.” The story is pretty neat. A few film makers set out to do a motorcycle movie, one about racing, but what they found in conducting interviews was that the sport of motorcycling in general is MUCH more than racing. Motorcycles are a way of life, and this crew of directors and cinematographers captured it as well as any one has since Bruce Brown made the original “On Any Sunday”.

I’ll admit it, until last night, I hadn’t seen a “new” motorcycle video since I binge watched the entire “Moto” series of movies last winter while recovering from a twisted up knee I suffered while ice racing. I’ve always been a motocross movie fan. I love racing. Heck, I am a racer. The fast paced music, the behind the scenes perspective, the incredible riding talent that is showcased, at the end of one of these films, you are ready to load up the bike and go ride until you rip your knobbies off. As I watched this DVD disappear into the player, I highly doubted this movie would have the same affect. Besides, I know why I ride, why do I want to hear it from other people?

I may be a bigger motorcycle geek than most. I live it, I breathe it, it is my job. I am fortunate to work in the motorcycle industry and when I’m not thinking about motorcycles, I’m thinking about motorcycles. It never ends for me. These people weren’t going to showcase anything that I didn’t know, that I hadn’t felt. Then I discovered Ed Kretz. Oh yes, I had heard the name. I knew about Daytona, but I didn’t know the man. I didn’t know his children. I didn’t know his dedication. That’s just a scratch on the surface of this film.

All of this time I believed that it took a lot of insane guys hucking huge transfers while having my ears blasted by unsigned punk bands to get me into the mood to ride after watching a film. This movie completely changed that. Hearing the older riders talk about their roots in motorcycling, listening to the young riders explain the exact same feeling you had when you started your two-wheeled life, it brings it all back. It puts it in perspective. It sums it up perfectly: Why We Ride.

You have to see this movie. Not only do you have to see this movie, you have to show this movie to the non-riders around you. It’s ANY audience friendly. This film is going to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with me so that my family may finally understand why I will drive 6 hours for a race but 1 hour to see them is a bit of a chore. Perhaps they’ll understand why taking my motorcycle away from me as a child worked much better as discipline than the dreaded fly swatter. Perhaps…they will ask to go riding. That is the goal, that is the vision. No matter what, and no matter how cold the weather is today, I have warm gear and a fuel injected street bike. I’m going for a ride today just to remember why I ride.