You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you’re always in a compartment, & because you’re used to it you don’t realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You’re a passive observer & it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.

On a cycle the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, & the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on, it’s right there, so blurred you can’t focus on it, yet you can put your foot down & touch it anytime, & the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness.

Robert M. Pirsig, Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

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Photographed with my old Canon PowerShot SD1000.
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Tags: 1979 Honda CB-400 | Body parts | Robert M. Pirsig | Self-portrait