I Taught My Son to Ride and Three Weeks Later I Had to Bury His Helmet

I taught Caleb to ride on his sixteenth birthday. I taught him on the same 1978 Shovelhead my father had taught me on. Same field behind the same barn. Same patient circles in the dirt.

I told him the things every father tells a son about a motorcycle.

Ride like every driver is trying to kill you.

Assume nobody sees you.

Two fingers on the brake. Always.continue reading …