Julia on a bike

Arrive as strangers, leave as friends » is the motto of Tanya and Angus. The couple have been fans of the Bunk-a-biker site for a few years now, but this spring they decided to show off their biker hospitality even more clearly. Between two storms and before the start of the motorcycling season, they salvaged an old satellite dish – because in their house, « nothing gets lost, everything gets transformed » – and customized it this way. I remembered reading a post by Tanya on the Bunk-a-Biker Canada Facebook group a few weeks ago, and being enthusiastic about their approach. As luck would have it, their house is right in the middle of New Brunswick, the perfect place to set down my stuff and ride a loop or two to visit the province. But that was before I took part in the Backroad Ball and experienced the windless 35-degree weather, with full motorcycle protective gear for two consecutive days. I couldn’t add a third.

So I arrive in the middle of the afternoon and take the opportunity to meet Tanya’s mom while waiting for my hosts, back from a Sunday getaway. At 74, she’s sparkling with life, and her energy is welcome after a hectic weekend. She moved into the house next door last year and shows me around, giving me some welcome information about her daughter and son-in-law. She confides that the two of them have really found each other. Almost carbon copies, passionate, jacks-of-all-trades, and always ready to help others, especially the motorcyclists they occasionally accommodate and deal with blows of fate – commonly referred to as technical breakdowns. I see this dynamic between the two of them when they talk about their renovated house, their travels, their motorcycles and their desire to get involved in the motorcycling community.

Tanya and Angus have been motorcycle enthusiasts from an early age. In Angus’s case, even before he was born. He tells me with pride and emotion that his mother was one of the first female motorcyclists, back in the 1950s. Surprising everyone with her strong character, she rode her Honda CT50 Trail everywhere. That’s how she caught the eye of Angus’s father, who almost dropped his jaw when he saw her ride through his village. He, too, was an enthusiast. He’d built his own motorcycle from a bicycle, to which he’d « simply » added an engine. With such a kinship, it’s hardly surprising that the young boy, in turn, was seized by two-wheeled fever. In the mile. At the age of twelve, after saving the money he’d earned by helping his father with odd jobs in private homes and newspaper distribution – and getting some very good tips – he bought his first motorcycle. He kept it for three years. « It was small and didn’t go very fast, 35 to 40 km/hour, but it went everywhere, on the tracks and on the road. And it was absolutely perfect. Angus didn’t need much more to get around the streets, fields and forests of his region. He got his license at 16 and went on to own a number of motorcycles: Suzuki 500X, Honda CB300, Kawasaki Vulcan 900 and now a 1997 BMW R1100RS, named Bob as his father, and a Yamaha 1300 Tourer Deluxe, which doesn’t exactly go unnoticed around here.

We’ve got five bikes, » Tanya asks me, laughing, « should we take them all out for the photo? The sixth should arrive soon, as they’re both real enthusiasts. Last year, she saw an ad posted in Quebec for a Kawazaki Vulcan 900 Drifter, red and cream, a rare model with only a hundred units sold. Within a few days, the deal was settled and she and Angus set off to find this incredible-looking cruiser. Not surprising for a woman who also grew up with handlebars in her hands. Or almost. Her father used to take her for rides from an early age, and because he was afraid she’d fall asleep, he’d sit her up front, facing the road, wedged between him and the tank. Good for him, as there are many stories of children falling asleep on the passenger seat, lulled to sleep by the purr of the engine – or is it the rocking of the two-wheeler?

Like Angus, Tanya got her license as soon as she reached the age of majority, and her father gave her a 1974 Honda XL 125 after teaching her how to ride it in just three minutes. She roams all over Nova Scotia, free as a bird, and has lived her whole life with this biker philosophy: riding, traveling, meeting new people, helping each other and concentrating on motorcycles, all over Canada and the United States. It was in this way that she and Angus turned over a new leaf fifteen years ago. While she was working in a barber shop he was visiting, he mentioned his upcoming participation in Laconia Motorcycle Week in New Hampshire. Moments later, it was a done deal: she would be accompanying him.

Before I leave them, they tell me one last story – about motorcycles, of course. A few days before Angus was born, his mother, suffering from the heat of a suffocating June, decided to cool off at the local swimming pool on the other side of town. Not one to walk in the sun, she hops on her Honda and sets off. A hundred meters down the road, one of the township’s policemen spots her, pulls over and stops her. He asked her to turn back because « You are scaring me Mrs. Mac Bean ». I am about to give birth, it is hot, I am going to the pool, and you are going to move out of my way ». Stunned by her determination, all he could say was « Yes M’am ». The story made the rounds of the police station, and throughout his teenage years, Angus was mobbed by policemen who still couldn’t believe that this young woman had stood up to one of their own, up to her neck in pregnancy and riding her motorized bicycle.