For many, riding a motorcycle is almost a Zen-like experience, so much so that Los Angeles motorcyclist Leslie Reyes is publishing a book that meshes Zen qualities, life lessons and her experiences learning to ride an electric motorcycle.
Merriam-Webster partially defines Zen as “a state of calm attentiveness in which one’s actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort.”
My path crossed with Leslie’s because we both own Zero Motorcycles and share the love of riding and sense of community and peace motorcycling can bring.
Leslie recently learned to ride during the California wildfires. She took a Motorcycle Safety Foundation course where an old Zero was being used.
“And they put me on this bike and I fell in love with it. I was like, ‘this is what I’m going to get.’ I’m going to get an electric motorcycle. lt almost felt like the universe was like, ‘don’t buy a gas bike,’ because it was raining ashes. We were about 60 miles away from the nearest wildfire. And it was raining ashes, so that’s sort of how I decided to ride a motorcycle after age 50,” said Leslie with a chuckle.
Riding motorcycles runs in her family. Her Filipino uncle, who was a rider before he passed away, inspired the family to move to the U.S., and her husband rides a Harley-Davidson.
Leslie started a YouTube channel to share her adventures and her book is called The Zen of Learning to Ride a Motorcycle.
“So it really started with being like teaching myself how to pause a little bit without being so impulsive all the time. And so when I looked up how you do one thing is how you do everything, it turned out it was a Zen concept.”
As this story was being posted, Leslie’s book was in the publishing stage. It will be available in early 2022 on Amazon and in select book stores.
“I’m already working on a second book and they are all kind of mental health related. Even my book, The Zen of Learning to Ride a Motorcycle, it’s not really about learning to ride a motorcycle. I had a friend tell me , ‘it’s sort of like an owner’s manual for your life,’” said Leslie.
Motorcycling has also resulted in her gaining new friendships. “I feel like I found my niche. I found my people, you know? And I feel like I’m part of my family tradition a little bit now.”
She’s bonded with a group of women riders. “Southern California is great. There’s a lot of female riders out here, and I’ve gotten to meet up with some other female riders and had brunch with them and it’s been great.”
She’s also virtually meeting fellow YouTubers that ride, including Doodle on a Motorcycle, who spearheaded a calendar called “Women Who Ride.”
“She he invited me on a live stream in November and she put me in her calendar, which is a calendar of real women riding, not women in bikinis on motorcycles. But women with their motorcycles that they ride. She wanted to showcase that.”
Leslie says her only regret is she wished she had started riding sooner.
For anyone considering learning to ride, she offers this advice: “You’ve got to respect where you are in the process. That was a big one for me, respecting where I am in the process. If, you know, I’m not ready to ride on public streets and I was getting frustrated and wanting to give up, and that’s sort of when I came up with it. Listen, you’re going to follow these rules that you gave yourself. You’re gonna respect where you are in your journey. If you’re in the parking lot for a year, it’s OK. You’re not trying to impress anyone. You’re trying to learn how to ride a motorcycle.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. And Leslie, I hope one-day we get to meet-up in person for a ride.