Ticket to Ride

An actor, author, and mom of three resisted the lifelong desire to get herself a motorcycle, rev her engine, and follow her path forward—until she realized that the only person she needed permission from was herself.

- BY DIANE FARR

FOR DECADES, I got on the back of a motorcycle with anyone who'd take me for a ride. I don’t like roller coasters, race cars, or speedboats, but moving through the air like a turtle outside its shell on a motorized bike does it for me. It might be the only activity I’ve ever been completely present for, maybe because the risk is so great. Which is also what kept me on the back, as a passenger, believing I couldn’t handle a 500-pound machine on my own.

Then I got engaged at age 35, and my fiancé proposed a solution: a Vespa. Same wind in my face, same commitment to the moment, but so much lighter and, in turn, so much easier to control. We planned to buy one just after our wedding, only to discover on our honeymoon that I was already pregnant. This brought my two-wheeled dreams to a halt. Fewer than one in five motorbike owners are female, and I didn’t know one who was also a mother, so it never occurred to me I could be both.