#healing

Recently, Can-Am sponsored the annual Road Warrior Ride which was organized by the Road Warrior Foundation (RWF). The RWF is a volunteer-operated foundation that seeks to improve the lives of veterans by “utiliz[ing] powersports and adventure to produce a challenging environment that takes people out and puts them back in the driver’s seat.” In the case of the Road Warrior Ride, this “adventure therapy” took the form of hitting the road from Austin, TX to Charleston, SC for a multi-day ride on Can-Am Spyders.

On the morning of September 11th 2001, I was in New York City, thinking about motorcycles. Specifically, a Ducati and a Honda: my perfect RC45, which I had agreed to trade to a guy in the Midwest for his 1991 Ducati 851 SP3. Both bikes were World Superbike homologation specials, which the factories were required to sell in limited quantities to the public in order to race them. I’d wanted an SP3 for years: it had a tuned, fuel injected 888cc engine with a close ratio gearbox, full Ohlins suspension, an alloy fuel tank & carbon fiber mudguard – very high spec for a streetbike in 1991, a true treasure.