Julia on a bike

Tuesday, September 6, and I’m almost at the end of my journey across Canada. I arrive in Vancouver and Noa, a young Israeli-Canadian, has answered my call to offer me room for two days. A young woman in her thirties, with a passion for motorized and non-motorized two-wheelers, soon to be flying to France ; the similarity of our paths is uncanny.

We’ve agreed to meet at the Starbucks café in Squamish, late in the afternoon, to avoid the trafic on the way back to the big city. The place is packed with sporty-looking motorcycles and their drivers. Noa doesn’t cut it. Short hair, boots, pants and jacket more racing than touring, sitting in front of her KTM Duke 690, it only takes one look for me to understand. She’s part of that group that fully appreciates riding a sportbike, where the search for the perfect trajectory to take a hairpin bend, well in excess of the 60km/hour recommended by road signs, competes with the search for the maximum speed at which to ride without fear. For these riders, speed is merely a factor of driving pleasure, not a daily necessity, far removed from the cliché of « hotheads ». That’s why Noa has recently been training on official tracks, such as the one in Seattle, a major American metropolis just a few hours from Vancouver. « My goal is to be able to land my knee like the professionals can, » she explains. While working on her technical skills helps to overcome certain fears, it also ensures safety for herself and other road users. Her father Aric is equally convinced of this.

Originally from Israel, where he had lived all his life before recently moving to British Columbia, Aric had only driven scooters. After turning fifty, he decided it was time to get his two-wheeler license, first to get out of traffic faster, then to make longer trips. And he didn’t count the hours. Despite his age, the instructor was pleased to see him without any bad driving habits. « My first lesson was simple: I understood that we were like a handicap on the bike, he says. Squeezing the grips too tightly, or being contracted when wiggling, is what causes falls or loss of control. It took a lot of training, but now I can ride at 200km/hour without feeling in danger ». This honest testimony may come as a surprise. But looking at him and the lightness with which he moves around on his BMW R 1250 RS, there’s no doubt that the fifty-year-old has perfect mastery of it.

Noa, too, has a natural ability to be at one with her bike, whether she’s tackling the traffic jams of downtown Vancouver or taking a morning ride on the Sea to Sky tour from Vancouver to Squamish. And when she’s riding with Aric, there’s no doubt that the father-daughter duo doesn’t need headsets. They both know in advance how the dance is going to go. Because with them, it’s more of a ballet than a ride.

French version also available here